How to switch wm's...

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: How to switch wm's...
started by: DAaaMan64

Posted by DAaaMan64 on Jan. 20 2006,02:41

I am trying to get xfce working on dsl, very cool distro by the way, easy to use. Excellent job everyone.

Anyways, I installed xfce, but I don't see it in my "system" menu. You know, like "switch to xfce" How can I get to xfce, that's all. Thank you.

Posted by mikshaw on Jan. 20 2006,03:05

If you want to switch to it from fluxbox, you'll need to add a line to $HOME/.fluxbox/menu:

Code Sample

[submenu] (WindowManager) {}
[exit] (Exit)
[reconfig] (Reconfigure)
[restart] (Restart){}
[restart] (Switch to xfce) {/path/to/xfce}
[exec] (Switch to jwm){switcher.lua}
[end]

where "/path/to/xfce" is the program that starts xfce.

If you want to start it with the startx command, edit the "case" command in $HOME/.xinitrc:

Code Sample

case $DESKTOP in
fluxbox)
blah blah blah
;;
xfce)
exec /path/to/xfce
;;
*)
exec fluxbox
;;
esac

and then change the window manager in $HOME/.desktop.
Instead of "wm: fluxbox" it would be "wm: xfce"

Posted by DAaaMan64 on Jan. 20 2006,04:27

Ok, I am tryin not to be a total n00b or anything but, how come it doesn't look like the normal xfce? Is there anyway I can accuire the packages to install something that looks and works like the new xfce or even kde or gnome for that matter? Thank you again for your help.

Posted by DAaaMan64 on Jan. 20 2006,04:29

oh, I am so sorry I missed the "x window system" section. I looked for it I swear, sorry.

Posted by pr0f3550r on Jan. 20 2006,10:21

Quote (DAaaMan64 @ Jan. 19 2006,23:27)

how come it doesn't look like the normal xfce?

Good question! I roamed among various distros and I have neve found a consistent look and feel for xfce, which by the way I love...

Posted by mikshaw on Jan. 20 2006,15:06

Fluxbox and JWM are window managers only, so the application is basically one file. Xfce, on the other hand, is a desktop environment containing many parts and programs. Each distro has its own idea of what works best, so each package is built to run a different set of apps (or maybe different themes as well) by default. This could result in xfce looking quite different from one distro to another.

An application like this is usually started from a script. This script is in charge of loading the individual elements that make up the desktop environment. I have xfce on my suse system, and it appears that the individual parts are run from /usr/local/etc/xfce4/xinitrc, which is started from startxfce4 (i assume this is used as a replacement for startx, though i haven't touched xfce in a while).