On Sun, Feb 01, 1998 at 10:29:51PM -0500, Wayne Topa stated:

Subject: Re: [S.u.S.E. Linux] Running SuSE Linux Date: Fri, Jan 30, 1998 at 12:37:14PM -0800

In reply to:Bodo Bauer

Quoting Bodo Bauer (bb@suse.de):

...

Eric L. Green wrote:

...

I don't see any way to start up a different window manager other than the SuSE-offered ones, without modifying the actual "startx" script. Most installations' "startx" respects the .Xclients file and sources its contents prior to doing whatever other stuff is desired. I didn't see anything in SuSE's "startx" that did that.

and Bodo replied

...

Yust set environment variable WINDOWMANAGER to the wm you like...

Well I tried that. As a user, I did, export WINDOWMAKER=/usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm95 and then startx. Nope still fvwm2. So I exited and logged in again. Same thing. So I then modified /etc/profile and changed IT to fvwm95. Logged in the user again and STILL fvwm2. Checked WINDOWMANAGER and it was still fvwm2. So rebooted the system ( This really should NOT be necessary!!!) and YES WINDOWMANAGER is now /usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm95. Logged in the used and did startx, again. Windowmanager is STILL fvwm2.

For those that might write and so SO WHAT, the user can change it to what ever he wants. NO SO /etc/profile is common to all users. If the change HAS to be made there it will be the same for ALL USERS.

I still don't know why I have to reboot the system to get changes logged in. There MUST be a better way but I have not found it yet.

I still have not finished RTFM yet tho. Who ever told me that this was just like Slackware must have never run Slackware!

In playing(!) around in X with the window managers (switching back & forth checking them out) I had something happen that I have never seen on Linux before. I had finally had enough and Hit the button to exit fvwm2 & X. Windows did not exit, just closed a couple of xterms and HUNG. So I hit ctrl/alr/BS and at that point the system HUNG. By HUNG I mean, I could switch to other consoles but nothing was accepted from the keyboard on ANY console. The hard disk was clicking away but ALL users were locked out. After 15 minutes of this I shut down the power to the computer. Rebooting went normal (all partitions had to be fsck'ed of course) but the system came up fine. With WINDOWMANAGER pointing to fvwm95 but X coming up in fvwm2.

This is starting NOT to be fun, guys!

Another interesting thing with kde and SuSE 5.1 here. If I edit .xinitrc in my home directory to reflect exec kde I get kde but not the actual guts of kde. I get the windowmanager only but no functionality, if you know what I mean. I can only change windowmanagers by changing it in /etc/profile, logging out, and letting my profile be read again. I would like it if someone would explain how /etc/profile sets the windowmanager and why it cannot dynamically be changed. It seems to change the windowmanager one must edit /etc/profile, change it there, then logout and enter the console again. Is this correct, in essence?

Wayne

-- Windows95 (noun): 32 bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that can't stand 1 bit of competition. -- To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e

-- --Michael Perry-- mperry@mperry.basin.com -- To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e