setting default window manager [FC3]

plutek · #1 16th June 2005, 07:54 PM

greetings!

i am at a loss as to how to set a default window manager, when it is not one of the switchdesk choices.

i have installed ion3 as follows:
download source
make
make install
write a "desktop" file (/usr/share/xsessions/ion3.desktop)

now it shows up in the "sessions" menus of the login screen, and operates properly when chosen there, but does not show up in switchdesk to be chosen as default. i remember that on FC1, i could put it in a ~/.Xclients-default file and that made it default.... but that doesn't seem to work on FC3.

any hints?

thanks very much.

-p

jtang613 · #2 17th June 2005, 05:34 AM

Try adding an entry to the /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession file. Copy the 'Gnome' entry.

Check out this text explaining how to configure the 'Entrance' login manager for Enlightenment, it has a few useful insights that might help. http://sps.nus.edu.sg/~didierbe/shar...p_entrance.txt

hth,
Jason

dnar · #3 17th June 2005, 05:38 AM

Your thread title says "window manager" not desktop manager, I am assuming this is what you mean.

You kill your current window manager and immediately launch a replacement, then exit saving your session. For example, your running Metacity now, you want to use XFce's window manager:

killall metacity; xfwm

If your meant "How do I change my desktop manager" then use the Gnome desktop switcher tool, available on the Gnome menu tree.

plutek · #4 17th June 2005, 01:49 PM

thanks for your responses.

i've just had success by adding a few lines to /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients, in the section at the beginning where it's determing the preferred desktop, so it now looks like:

Code:

PREFERRED=
if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/desktop ]; then
    . /etc/sysconfig/desktop
    if [ "$DESKTOP" = "GNOME" ]; then
        PREFERRED=gnome-session
    elif [ "$DESKTOP" = "KDE" ]; then
        PREFERRED=startkde
    elif [ "$DESKTOP" = "ion3" ]; then
        PREFERRED=ion3

    fi
fi

...and then also changing /etc/sysconfig/desktop to:

Code:

DESKTOP="ion3"

yes, ion3 is a window manager, not a desktop manager.... i don't use a desktop manager, but that seems to be immaterial to this method.

-p