To switch between DEs, you can do it with the usual connection
managers, IIRC.
But I personally prefer to login on TTY and then start the window
manager/DE of my choice. Usually, DEs have a 'start-my_favorite_de'
command to do that. If you are tired about starting them by hand
everytime, you can add those lines to your ~/.bash_profile file:
============
if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ $(tty) == /dev/tty1 ];then
startx
fi
============
Of course, starting from here can allow you to think about other
things, like using startx for tty1, gnome for tty2, kde for tty3,
etc.
It is like the usual connection managers, but without the mouse or
eyecandy stuff, and more lightweight. My current only problem with
that is that I still need to enter my login and password at start,
which is boring on my desktop, but I never tried to fix that for now.
Le 16.09.2013 20:57, Richard Owlett a écrit :
Dan Ritter wrote:
On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 10:06:32AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
As I have minimal to *NO INTERNET* access, when Debian 7.1 DVDs
became available from vendors I purchased the 10 DVD set. I also
purchased the live DVDs for Gnome, lxde, kde, and xfce. I did
some
test runs of each. I chose xfce for my initial Wheezy install
based
almost exclusively on "look and feel". It felt "comfortable" and
seemed to express my somewhat vague ideas of how a GUI should
'act'.
It was an educational experience. Each had something I'd like to
see
in an ideal installation. I also did more web browsing comparing
"Desktop Environments" to "Windows Managers" and product
comparisons
within those classifications.
/Questions
1. Given that I prefer LILO over GRUB and xfce over
Gnome/lxde/kde,
what GUIs should I investigate further.
If you're happy with xfce, you shouldn't need to look further.
xfce is a fully supported, first-class environment.
I don't _need_ to, but I'm involved with other projects which might
benefit. Also I'm retired with lots of free time and I find the
topic
interesting.
If you like XFCE, you might also look at LXDE. It's tools are less
linked between them than those of XFCE, and it's even more
lightweight. I now use some carefully chosen parts of it in
combination with i3, such as the primitive text editor (for notes. I
use vim when I need a strong one) and the terminal emulator.
Now, it seem you only know about stacking window managers. Let me
give you a different direction to explore: tiling window managers.
I will try to be as objective as possible, but remember that when I
tried them, I simply fell in love with that paradigm, probably
because
I always was a computer tinkerer. So you are warned.
There are, AFAIK, no DE with some of them (well, I have heard that
KDE had an optional one in previous versions, but it was removed. No
idea about the truth in those words, KDE is too heavy for my computer
uses) but if you use lightweight DE, you can usually change the
window
manager.
If you want the name of one on official DVDs, I think I would speak
about i3, which is the first one I successfully tried, and the one
which remain on my computers, bot netbook and dekstop with 2 screens.
It's documentation claims that it is for powerusers but... I think it
is only to not have people come and bother them with stupid questions
like how to edit a text file, because the doc itself is very clear,
and the configuration of that DE is *NOT* made with a programming
language, which is a strong point and something which makes it very
easy to use. In short, it uses a real configuration file, and it
works
when you install it, unlike all other TWM I have tried (but others
have other features which can be useful as well).
Now, why could someone be interested in that kind of managers?
The difference is simply that, instead of having a stack of windows
of different sizes that you have to manually set, each new window is
automatically placed on the desktop and all windows are resized to
fill the entire space without overlapping.
This allows, for example, to control everything with your keyboard
(pretty useful if you are mostly working with text, because you do
not
have to move a hand to the mouse.), or if you have more than one
screen, it is really easier to be efficient with them, when it's
painful with classic window managers (moving a mouse from a screen to
another just to focus another application is painful, and using
alt-tab is not always very fast).
The problem is that they are usually not beautiful. I guess that the
reason is that they are not very well known, and so, often made by
power users for power users, like i3 claim.
The beauty problem resides in the fact that there is no transparent
windows, no rounded corners, no buttons to control the windows, etc
(but there is still an optional title bar). This imply that heavy
mouse users will find them harder to use, but maybe ( I never tried
that ) it can be fixed by using window decorators or integrating them
into a lightweight DE such as XFCE or LXDE.
On the other hand, that lack of beautiful stuff also implies that you
spend less screen space for theoretically beautiful things (beauty is
a matter of personal tastes), and less computer resources. Thanks to
that kind of wm, I made a netbook faster and nicer to use than
computer with more space and faster CPUs. At least, in my opinion, of
course.
The problem which come with the fact that they are made for power
users is proven by the fact that most of them needs to know
programming languages or techniques ( such as compiling ) to
configure
them. However, it is not true for i3, and it's why I have started
with
it and am still with it. I tried others, but learning a new language
and it's API or having to recompile my softwares to simply change a
key... I do not like that idea, even if I am myself a software
developer. So, i3 is very good on that point (but have less features
than some other, and older, TWM, like templates)
So, if you want to try them (you said you have time, right? ;) )
start with an easy one like i3, and if and when you will like the
idea
behind, feel free to try more advanced ones.
I know that i3 is on official DVDs. I discovered it like this, thanks
to debtags. Unlike some others, it works out of the box, but read the
doc before.
Here are some basic shortcuts for a first try:
_ starting terminal: $mod + enter
_ starting launcher: $mod + d ( it will need suckless tools, which is
a recommended package. It is one of the rare recommended packages
that
I have installed, so I strongly advice you to install it, at least in
a first time. Then you might want to replace it with another one.)
_ moving focus: $mod + jklm ( 'm' might be ';' if you are using a
qwerty keyboard. It's simply the key after 'l' ) but it'll work also
with mouse.
_ closing a window: $mod + q
_ switching to resize mode: $mod + r
_ resizing windows: jklm
_ switching back to standard mode: esc
$mod is a key i3 will ask you at first start, but that you will be
able to change in configuration file.
Starting a terminal is made by $mod + enter, starting an application
launcher is made by $mod +d (if you installed suckless tools, which I
recommend for your start. You will find them in your apt browser
easily, then are recommended by i3-wm package), $mod being a key i3
will ask you to choose at first start (but you can change it in the
configuration file of course)