GDM and sawfish

c0c0deuz · 10-28-2002, 04:53 PM

It seem's that i can't get that clear...
looking in the Complete reference RH Linux 7.2 it say that sawfish is the default display manager of Gnome. Is it the same in RH8? does GDM is sawfish?
Also nothing refers at KDM for KDE is it still the default DM of KDE?

I also understands that KDE was not open source at the begining of KDE, and that when you where using both desktop you had to use KDM because it was working with both desktop. Since KDE is open source now is it still the case or else what is the dm used if you installed both desktop?

tks
Dan

neo77777 · 10-28-2002, 05:24 PM

GDM is a grarhical display manager that has nothing to do with Sawfish, as for RH8, Gnome and Sawfish, I am not clear what version of Gnome is shipped with RH8, but 1.4 had Sawfish as a default window manager for Gnome, Gnome2 seems to move away from Sawfish and it basically supported by GTK2

Thymox · 10-28-2002, 05:31 PM

I have been led to believe that Gnome2 uses MetaCity as the default WM.

c0c0deuz · 10-28-2002, 05:57 PM

Is there a way to check what dm i have on my system?
Also, i installed both KDE and GNOME, do i have one or two dm?

Thymox · 10-28-2002, 05:59 PM

You will probably have both, but only one will be used. If you want to check if the other exists, then open a console and try to run it.

c0c0deuz · 10-28-2002, 06:02 PM

What do you mean?
how do i do that?

Thymox · 10-28-2002, 06:14 PM

When you're running X, open up one of those things that looks like the ol' Windows DOS box, and type in either kdm or gdm

c0c0deuz · 10-28-2002, 06:29 PM

in both case in the Gnome and KDE window it tells me that gdm is already lunched and i just received a cursor back with KDM...
so, by default, the gdm is used if both are installed.
if i type sawfish it tells me that only one window manager can be run... Does that tell me that kdm was not installed at all?
thanks

Thymox · 10-28-2002, 06:35 PM

No... I think you're confusing things, a little.
KDM is a GUI login program
GDM is a GUI login program
KDE is a GUI environment that runs the WindowManager KWIN
Gnome is a GUI environment that used to run the WM SawFish but now seems to run MetaCity.
Therefore, if you are running KDE or Gnome, you won't be able to run another WM like SawFish at the same time.

What exactly are you trying to do? Perhaps once we have established this we can help you better.

c0c0deuz · 10-28-2002, 06:41 PM

That's exactly what i am trying to do. To tangle all that!
So gdm and sawfish are not both dm? i tought they where...

Thymox · 10-28-2002, 06:51 PM

No... GDM is the Gnome Desktop Manager aka the Gnome-based login manager. SawFish is a Window Manager.

Basically, the way you get to a GUI in Linux isn't the same as how you'd get to it in Windows...

Code:

^ KDE or Gnome - Desktop Environments
^ WindowManagers - such as SawFish, FluxBox, Blackbox, Enlightenment, KWin (in the case of KDE)
^ XClient - the local running portion of the most basic part of the GUI setup
^ XServer - usually also running locally, the bit that deals with the hardware for the GUI (including the mouse and keyboard)
^ Virtual Terminal - the text part of Linux that sits on top of:
+ Linux - the kernel itself

Now, GDM and KDM (and XDM) sit on top of the XClient. Although it does sort-of run a Window Manager itself, it allows you to select which WM to use, and more importantly, it is a Login prompt.

Is this helping, or is this as clear as particularly dirty mud?

c0c0deuz · 10-28-2002, 06:59 PM

Thanks!
it makes the mud a bit clearer:-)
I'm going to read back a couple of time your last statement.
If i open a terminal window is it possible to lunch a command that would show me that dm and desktop mgr it is actually using?

Thymox · 10-28-2002, 07:08 PM

You could try ps -aux | grep "dm" - it won't say 'here, you're running xdm', but it might say something like:

Code:

root      7179  0.0  1.1 10960 2860 ?        S    00:05   0:00 /usr/bin/gdm-bina
root      7186  0.0  1.1 10972 3060 ?        S    00:05   0:00 /usr/bin/gdm-bina
gdm       7512  1.6  7.1 24060 18368 ?       S    00:05   0:01 /usr/bin/gdmgreet
thymox   10206  0.0  0.2  1668  592 pts/0    S    00:06   0:00 grep dm

if you're running GDM, for instance.

c0c0deuz · 10-28-2002, 07:18 PM

Euhm! mud is quite clear, this is worst than mud...
There is:
display manager: manage the physical screen
window manager: manage the software window that is displayed
login manager: this i don't get it at all
x server and client: the control of where it is displayed
virtual terminal: this is total mud

c0c0deuz · 10-28-2002, 07:52 PM

X is it the same as XDM...
now i have xdm, gdm and kdm

Is there any hope :^(