On Mon, Jun 11, 2007 at 11:29:39AM +0530, Sudev Barar wrote: > On 11/06/07, Telly Williams <TWilliams001@elp.rr.com> wrote: > >Sudev Barar wrote: > >> On 11/06/07, Telly Williams <TWilliams001@elp.rr.com> wrote: > >>> I'm currently using the Gnome Desktop environment. As I learn to > >>> use Linux/GNU more, I find that I want to slim down my computer as much > >>> as possible. Hence, I would like to use just a window manager instead > >>> of a full GUI. Is it possible to revert (maybe, apt-get remove gnome) > >>> my GUI and simply use a window manager, or will I need to do a complete > >>> reinstall? Will removing the GUI (Gnome) break my system? Are there > >>> any links on the web that anyone has that discusses this issue? Thanks. > >> > >> Additionally you will also have to look at using something other than > >> gdm...maybe xdm or ?? > >But, that's only if I have more than one X-server, correct? I > >understood that only one X-server is needed. Am I thinking about that > >right? ~Telly > > Replying on the list as this may end up in more learning for me as well. > > Since the objective is to reduce resource pressure on the system you > may use alternative X-server. I do not know answers but gurus on the > list may give more pointers as to which X-server is most efficient. > > As far as only use of alternative display managers is concerned you > can just do apt-get install icewm or xfce4 or matchbox. the *dm's are not "X servers" the X server is X itself (currently x.org, was xfree86 in sarge). the *dm's are "Desktop Managers" and they do a number of things: control login, setup x sessions, and ultimately launch some window manager and various acoutrements to go with it. A *dm is a high level system that controls the entire X session. You may also breakdown to much simpler levels of starting X with a basic window manager; you could develop your own *dm type operation by layering different X apps together. The list is pretty much endless. If you want to experiment, there are a few things you can try. I would start with, as root: update-rc.d -f gdm remove this will remove the symlinks to gdm in the your rc levels so that you can start up your machine without gdm starting up. If you later want to start up gdm manually, as root do: /etc/init.d/gdm start if you later want to redo gdm so it start automatically, then do, as root: update-rc.d gdm defaults to recreate the symlinks for automatic start-up. Will take effect next reboot, or next time you change run-levels. Okay, now you can start your machine and log in from the command line on a VT. edit a new file in your home directory and call it ".xinitrc". The "." is important. put one thing in that file x-terminal-emulator and save the file. now logged in as yourself, type startx you should see the usual X screen come up and then it will pop-up an xterminal for you. you cna play around for a bit and then type exit from the xterm and you will drop out of X and return to the CLI. Some fun things you can do here are: 'iceweasel &' in the xterm to start up iceweasel. you can use this xterm as a sort of session manager by starting whatever x apps you need from it. what happened? you started a bare X session, without a *dm and using ~/.xinitrc, told it to run the X app pointed to by "x-terminal-emulator" (part of the alternatives system, which is another issue altogether). you could have easily specified *any* x app. change .xinitrc so that it has only the line: iceweasel and then try startx again. you should get a screen full of iceweasel only. When you quit, you'll drop back to the CLI again. onwe more quick lesson and then we'll move on: edit xinitrc again and put in x-terminal-emulator & save it and try startx. It should start an xsession, launch an xterm and then because the xterm is backgrounded (by the &) then X will move to the next line of xinitrc, and with nothing there, will kickout and drop back to the command line. This is proper behavior. X will run until it reaches the end of your .xinitrc and then it will die. To keep your x session running, the last program in xinitrc must stay running in the foreground. Now have fun. install a few window managers. edit your .xinitrc: icewm and run startx. a window manager is just like any other x program. It keeps your x session going until it exits. But a wm has lots of other cool features -- it lets you launch other x apps, it helps you contorl the size and placement of the windows. it provides handy menus, etc etc etc. you can put lots of things into your xinitrc... at one point mine looked like this, which is pretty simple, but give syou an idea eval `gpg-agent --daemon --sh` numlockx on xscreensaver -no-splash & rox-filer --pinboard=mypinbd xsetbg -fullscreen /home/andrew/earth2a1.jpg & icewm-session this did several things: started my gpg-agent, turned on numlock (must be on for my sanity), launched the screensaver, started up rox-filer and my desktop stuff from there (rox-filer daemonizes itself and doesn't need the &), set my background image with xsetbg and finally launched icewm-session, which pulls in a whole bunch of icewm stuff. I used that setup for about a year before moving on to wmii for a while. The point of all this is, if you *really* want control of your desktop, this is a way to do it. have fun A
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