Hey folks,

I decided to replace KDE/GNOME with FLUXBOX. I discovered FLUXBOX today so certain background is new to me.

First of all i want to remove GNOME and leave KDE as a backup if FLUXBOX fails or something. I found out that on RH 9, the only way to remove gnome is to remove the RPM's from command line.... however I'm a bit concerned about dependencies. I have found these gnome packages:

libgnomecanvas-2.2.0.1-1
gnome-spell-0.5-5
gnome-desktop-2.2.0.1-4
gnome-print-0.37-4
gnome-session-2.2.0.2-4
gnome-vfs2-extras-0.99.10-1
libgnomeprint-1.116.0-6
gnome-applets-2.2.0-8
gnome-terminal-2.2.1-3
gnome-mime-data-2.2.0-1
gnome-vfs2-2.2.2-4
libgnome-2.2.0.1-8
gnome-python2-gtkhtml2-1.99.14-5
libgnomeui-2.2.0.1-5
gnome-python2-canvas-1.99.14-5
gnome-python2-1.99.14-5
openssh-askpass-gnome-3.5p1-6
gnome-libs-1.4.1.2.90-32
gdk-pixbuf-gnome-0.18.0-7
libgnomeprint15-0.37-4
gnome-vfs-1.0.5-13
up2date-gnome-3.1.23-1
libgnomeprintui22-2.2.1.1-1
gnome-panel-2.2.0.1-9
gnome-vfs-extras-0.2.0-5
libgnomeprintui-1.116.0-4
gnome-python2-bonobo-1.99.14-5
gnome-pilot-0.1.71-2
libgnomeprint22-2.2.1.1-3
gnome-icon-theme-1.0.0-4
gnome-utils-2.2.0.3-2
switchdesk-gnome-3.9.8-15

Which ones are safe to uninstall? Removing them will remove GTK stuff? (Cos i don't want the latter thing to happen).

Also, when installing FLUXBOX, i've read that i need to edit some Desktop manager files (KDM/GDM/XDM), but the problem is, How can i know which login session I'm using???

I really want that somebody clarifies my query so I can begin moving on FLUXBOX. (PS: Do you normally remove GNOME/KDE when moving to a lightweight Window Manager?).

Thanks in advance.

hi

rpms can detect if you have a dependency.so if rpm doesnt report an error its pretty safe to remove those rpms

start with the high level things and move down to the libraries. its better to leave the gtk libraries and just remove the gnome stuff otherwise programs which are based on those libraries wont work

example: gaim depends on gtk and gdk.

you have a graphical package manager inside the settings menu. its a little slow but you might find it more comfortable.

redhat by default comes with Gnome display manager aka gdm. if you havent changed the settings its probably that

in the login screen if you can only enter the username and after that a password its gdm.

if you have a windows like login screen with login name and password one below the other its kdm.

if you have a non coloured old login screen its probably xdm.its unlikely you are using xdm

if you are comfortable with fluxbox go ahead and remove kde and gnome but leave the basic libraries around. i advice that you keep either one of these heavy weight desktop environment just in case you dont find fluxbox friendly enough.

take your own time and you can make your choices later on if you arent worried about disk space

Thanks for the reply - so by removing GNOME, i will also remove GDM, right? And if GDM is my default Display Manager, uninstalling GNOME will cause havoc? If so, how can i switch the Display Manager to KDM?

Removing Gnome is frankly an extreme action as soo many apps need the libraries and programs that come with it.
Fluxbox is only a window manager and so doesnt have it's own suite of apps, it just deals with organising the Kde and Gnome apps on your screen in a different way.

Sounds like you just want to edit the entries in whatever graphical login you use, and maybe change the DM, but that isnt needed.

Thinking it several times, i think i'm gonna leave KDE and GNOME there, and add fluxbox with them. my prime motives where to free up some space, and since i do not use GNOME i thought i would be fine without it. but you're right, a lot of appz need libs which come with gnome. But just for my personal info, how can i move from GDM to KDM in redhat 9, or as a general rule?

Ok i found out how to move from GDM to KDM in redhat 9. You have to edit /etc/sysconfig/desktop file and put these two lines:

DESKTOP="KDE"
preferred="kdm"

Mandrake is slightly different, so sorry I couldnt help with that.

Hmm... I'm using Slack and want to change from GDM to KDM, but I'm having trouble. I've edited my /etc/rc.d/rc.4 file to comment out the lines that start GDM, and I even moved the KDM to be above the others, thus making it default, but I still get the GDM login/session manager. It doesn't matter which session manager I use, but I've added fluxbox to the menu in KDM, but I don't know how to change the GDM to have fluxbox as an option, so I figured it would be easier to just use KDM session manager.

You have dropped out of runlevel 4 and back in havent you? Eg. rebooted.

Err, maybe I haven't I'll try this again really quick.

Okay, that worked. I don't know why that idea never came to me. I'd assumed that just by logging out that it would go to the KDM, but apparently not so.

However, by only adding the session type fluxbox using the KDE control panel, it doesn't boot into fluxbox when I select it. Where is the config file to add that option? I don't like this GUI stuff, it's slow and sometimes ineffective.

hi

read the kdm handbook.google it. it has detailed docs