Window Manager Help [solved]

Message

jimd · Post by **jimd** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 6:59 am

Ok, i just decided i want to try the wm Fluxbox, so i emerged fluxbox and when i try to start it, it gives me "cannot to connect to X Server, start x first" blah blah blah....

In the past( past few days since i started toying with Gentoo ) i have been using KDE 3.2 and running kdm as root to get it to start up because it wouldn't let me do it as a user ( which i now know from reading around on these forums i'm not supposed to be doing....argh )

Anyway, i'm trying to figure out how i'm supposed to be configuring all this stuff so that when i boot up my computer it comes up to a command line, then i can either work from there or start up my wm of choice i.e: KDE, fluxbox...

originally i had tried setting up KDE to start up automatically but it didn't work ( another argh ) and ended up i like it booting to the command line first anyway! I've also been trying to figure out how to STOP kde, kdm, xdm whatever it is..... was reading this post: KDE - how to back to console mode ? among others trying to get this figured out but i haven't managed to piece it together yet

allucid · Post by **allucid** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 7:20 am

you might want to check this out to get started.

but quickly:
to start fluxbox you can create a file in your home directory called .xinitrc

in this file put

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fluxbox

then type "startx" at the command line (it runs all the commands in your .xinitrc file)

To start kde try (as root) "/etc/init.d/kdm start" if that works you can "rc-update add kdm default" to start it automatically everytime you reboot. I'm not sure if that is correct because i don't use kde but it might work

tihkal · Post by **tihkal** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 7:21 am

Have a look at the bottom of /etc/rc.conf, You can see I'm using KDE. So when I use startx it start kde for me, change it to your wm of choice i.e. fluxbox.

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tail /etc/rc.conf

#        2) even if a ~/.xsession exist, if XSESSION can be resolved, it will
#           be executed rather than ~/.xsession, else KDM breaks ...
#
# Defaults depending on what you install currently include:
#
# Gnome - will start gnome-session
# kde-<version> - will start startkde (ex: kde-3.0.2)
# Xsession - will start a terminal and a few other nice apps
#XSESSION="Gnome"
XSESSION="KDE-3.2.0"

jimd · Post by **jimd** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 7:57 am

ok....thanks for the help but that doesn't really answer my question....

how do i set it up so it doesn't auto start a wm and i can manually start them?? right now the only way i know how to start KDE is by typing kdm as root....which isn't good. if i type startx it brings up some nasty GUI that's basically just like 4 terminal boxes, from the Gentoo manual it calls it TWM ...

if i type kdm as a user it says "only root wants to run KDM"

also trying to figure out how to kill KDE....if i type xdm stop it:

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# xdm stop
xdm error (pid 1343): extra arguments on command line:xdm error (pid 1343):  "stop"xdm error (pid 1343):

allucid · Post by **allucid** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 8:53 am

xdm is a login manager just like kdm. that is not how you quit kde. There should be a menu option to quit. If all else fails then you can kill X by ctrl+alt+backspace...this isn't a good way to exit, though.

startx started TWM instead of fluxbox because you didn't create an .xinitrc file in your home dir. startx executes whatever is in the .xinitrc file. If there is nothing there it starts TWM.

here, type this as your user (NOT as root):

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cd && echo fluxbox >> .xinitrc

and then "startx" will start fluxbox.

if you want to be able to easily switch between kde/fluxbox (and not edit a text file every time) then you will have to use and configure you're login manager (kdm) and add it to the default runlevel to autostart (like i said above). This way when you start your pc the graphical login manager will pop up and you can select a session (kde or fluxbox) and log in. when you log out it will go back to the login manager.

tihkal · Post by **tihkal** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 9:02 am

Ok, I'm not sure what you want t achieve. Perhaps that is why we are at cross purposes

Correct me if I'm wrong, you are booting into runlevel 3 (console, multi user, no X).
You want to start the one WM of your choice from the command line, or do you want to have a choice of which WM to use each time you start X.

If it's the same WM every time then you can set up your WM choice in either /etc/rc.conf as I mentioned, or write a ~/.xinitrc file as allucid pointed out. Either works. You then just use "startx" to get X and your WM to run.

also trying to figure out how to kill KDE

If you've used either of the above methods then just logging out of KDE should shutdown X and drop you back to the console.

Or have I misunderstood, and do you want KDM to start and greet you whenever you boot up?

tihkal · Post by **tihkal** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 9:05 am

Sorry Allucid, did not mean to talk over the top of you. Wandered off to feed the cat's mid post. Must type quicker

jimd · Post by **jimd** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 10:44 pm

ok i'm sorry i didn't realize this before, but when i do "kdm" from the console and it brings up the login box, i can shoose the wm to use from a drop box there, or go back down to console level...if i can get it to boot to that login it would be great!

right now in my rc.conf file for the display managers i have:

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DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm"
XSESSION="KDE-3.2.0"

When i reboot my computer it doesn't start x or anything, it just sits at the console login...is there somewhere else i have to change settings also to get it to boot up?

Also, if i login as a user and type startx, it initializes x, my nice nvidia splash screen comes up, then it drops back to console and says "only root wants to run kdm", and if i su and run it as root, "startx not found"...

ecatmur · Post by **ecatmur** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:42 pm

Set DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm" and use "rc-update add xdm default". Yes, that is "xdm" - Gentoo works out which display manager to actually run from the DISPLAYMANAGER setting.

allucid · Post by **allucid** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 1:01 am

ecatmur wrote:Set DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm" and use "rc-update add xdm default".

he meant "rc-update add kdm default"

EDIT: ok maybe he didn't mean that :p

you can only start a login manager as root (since it is for all users) which is why you need to add it to the default runlevel (described above). root doesn't have startx because root is not supposed to run X.

kongit · Post by **kongit** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 1:03 am

he meant "rc-update add kdm default"

I used rc-update add xdm default for gdm, and it says add xdm for kdm in the docs too.undefined

allucid · Post by **allucid** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 1:07 am

ok i'm not sure i don't use a login manager. sorry.

rberry88 · Post by **rberry88** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 1:53 am

And after you get all the above taken care of you still need to change your /etc/inittab file to show your default run level as 5 (for graphical login) from 3 (text login).

rberry88

Souperman · Post by **Souperman** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 7:31 am

rberry88 wrote:And after you get all the above taken care of you still need to change your /etc/inittab file to show your default run level as 5 (for graphical login) from 3 (text login).

rberry88

No you don't. You select your preferred *dm in /etc/rc.conf and do 'rc-update add xdm default' and that's all.

jimd · Post by **jimd** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 2:56 pm

wow major controversy going here

thanks for the input, i'll try that out and see what happens

rberry88 · Post by **rberry88** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 5:27 pm

Souperman wrote:
rberry88 wrote:And after you get all the above taken care of you still need to change your /etc/inittab file to show your default run level as 5 (for graphical login) from 3 (text login).

rberry88
No you don't. You select your preferred *dm in /etc/rc.conf and do 'rc-update add xdm default' and that's all.

Oops, sorry you're correct. I had my distros confused for a second since I was posting from Arch.

rberry88

jimd · Post by **jimd** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 12:50 am

i got it working thanks for the help