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Hi
Fresh Centos 7 + MATE install. Was wondering if there was some way to possibly install different desktop environments at the same time, and then switch between them on boot?
I'd like to try perhaps GNOME but would prefer not to un install MATE.
You can install the Gnome Desktop Mgr and switch between it and Mate when you log in.
Click on the little gear next to the blue sign in button to choose which DE you want.
lxdm allows different desktops / Windows managers changes, you have to wait to boot then before logging in change to whatever you want to use. You can install every desktop and window manager Linux has then have loads of fun, some you will have to make a desktop file for it, but that is easy to do too.
You can also log out, choose a different desktop or window manager, and log back in.
I think every DM includes some way to change the DE/WM, but some are more, as they say, "user-friendly" than others.
Slackware comes with six GUI environments out of the box. With the latest Debian, you can choose from multiple GUI environments at time of install, install one or more, and switch back and forth at time of login. On my Debian install, I selected MATE and KDE, but I use Enlightenment, which I installed from the repos because I like Enlightenment much more than I like anything else except Fluxbox, which is my hands-down favorite.
Basically command line starting of X with .xinitrc being the "exec dwm" that launches the environment. Exit X and change that file to switch. It's what I used on Fedora 24 since their desktop switching things didn't work. Where multi-user.target is a config file of sorts in /etc/systemd/system/ (in debian) and graphical.target would be the default gui login. The rough equivalent of changing /etc/inittab BITD.
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