How do I change my default WM?

[Rinnt]

Hi,

Newbie question here:

How do I change my window manager/desktop in Linux Mandrake 8.1? I forgot the command that brings up the menu of options. Thanks

 

[jollyroger]

Mandrake if I remember is a by product of SuSE linux, so do you have the yast program, type in yast at the command line to see. Within this menu under system administration you can change your default windows manager.
If not there is probably a file in your home directory called .Xsomething which will contain the value for your default WM.
If not you can check the file /etc/rc.config, in here I am sure there will be an entry for the default WM.
Best of luck
Ben

 

[Rinnt]

thanks for the idea, but unfortunately it didn't work. I didn't try modifiying any files because I know there is a command (I've used it before, just can't remember what it is). Something like Xwm or Wmconfig ...i dunno... maybe I'm way off

 

[bgarlock]

Try running 'switchdesk' I know this works in RH, so it might be available in Mandrake. Bruce Garlock
bruceg@tiac.net

http://bruceg.dyndns.org

 

[Rinnt]

Sorry. That didn't work either.

 

[bgarlock]

Well, then you can always try by hand:

create a file in your home directory called .xinitrc and put in which
window manager you want to run.

To run gnome:

exec gnome-session

then when you type startx it will run gnome

For KDE:
exec startkde

Try searching for the RPM 'switchdesk' I would think that you could use that under Mandrake, or they must have something similar. Bruce Garlock
bruceg@tiac.net

http://bruceg.dyndns.org

 

[Rinnt]

nope, so results from the switchdesk search either... man I really wish I could remember the command. I searched the web quite extensively but found nothing :-/

 

[bgarlock]

How about:

/usr/sbin/chksession -l

I saw that on google groups as a command to list Window managers in Mandrake.

Here is a clip from the post:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...selm=8tn0ek%242gq%241%40nnrp1.deja.com&rnum=1

O.K., I finally figured out how to start the Window Manager of
my choice via shell commands. Upon careful review of the scripts:
/usr/X11R6/bin/startx, /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc, and /etc/X11/Xsession,
it appears that the command: /usr/sbin/chksession -l
will give a list of the Window Managers available.
In my case:

$ /usr/sbin/chksession -l
KDE Gnome WindowMaker Enlightenment BlackBox XFce AfterStep IceWM
Sawfish Fvwm2 Fvwm1 default failsafe

To start X with GNOME, I simply have to type:
$ startx Gnome

and it works! (The same works with KDE, WindowMaker, etc.)
One word of caution, however, if you use "startx Enlightenment",
it will create the file: $HOME/.xinitrc, $HOME/.Xclients, and some
other file (I think $HOME/.xsession, but I'm not positive at the
moment). Just be sure to delete those files/links before trying
startx with any other Window Manager, or you'll just get
Enlightenment starting.

Of course, you can make an alias for each of the startx sessions.
For me 'g' is aliased to "startx Gnome", 'k' is aliased to
"startx KDE".

Cheers,
GenEric Bruce Garlock
bruceg@tiac.net

http://bruceg.dyndns.org