Installing blackbox
 

I have Red hat 8 and I have downloaded Blackbox and am trying to figure out how to use it. I extracted the tar.gz to the root directory (I'm a real n00bs here so if it shouldn't go there let me know) then i went:
./configure
make
make install

That all went smoothly but now how do i use it? I think i am supposed to edit a file in the etc/X11/something (im at another PC right now so i cant check the exact path) anyway i found the file i was supposed to edit but i have no idea how do edit it (Where to enter the text) and i don't want Black box to be my default GUI anyway. I know i know next to nothing about linux but i can navigate the basic command line. Thanks for anyones help if i left any important info out let me know.

Are you using kdm, gdm or xdm as your
graphical login manager?


Cheers,
Tink

Do you boot to GUI or text mode? In both cases you may try the small trick:
1) Switch to console mode (ctrl+alt+f1), log in.
2) Edit your .xinitrc (in your home dir) and put 'blackbox' inside. Edit the file or use
echo blackbox >.xinitrc
3) Start X using 'startx' if you boot to text mode or 'startx -- :1' if you start in GUI. The difference is that the second command starts X using second display (ctrl+alt+f8, default is ctrl+alt+f7, you can switch between them).

If you use kde, and kdm is your session manager, you can do this:

Find a line beginning like this in /opt/kde3/share/config/kdm/kdmrc:

SessionTypes=

Insert blackbox among other session types listed on that line.

If you use kde, but you do not know if you use kdm, you can still do as above; only it will not work if it turns out that xdm is your session manager.

ok i created a .xinitrc in my home directory but how what do i enter into that file? Thanks

i have the default session manager that red hat uses. I could change it if i knew how :-p

does it matter that i untared it to / ? I didnt think it mattered it compiled and make and make installed with no problems. I dont seem to have that file in my home directory so i made on but i dont know what to enter into it.

It does not matter where you untared the tarball. I myself prefer to untar such files into /usr/local/, but this is only a matter of preference: I like to keep the / directory clean.

The 'make install' command must have taken care to copy (or symlink?) the blackbox binary to the right place.
The following command shows you where the blackbox binary has actually been installed:
which blackbox

I do not know what is the default session manager of Red Hat, since I use SuSe.
Anyway, it wont hurt if you do what I suggested before.
It is simply editing a specific file, which can be easily undone if you backup the original file previously.

I believe that Red Hat uses gdm as the default picker for your windows session.
The paths used below may not exactly match your system but should be real close.

First you'll need to edit /etc/X11/gdm/Xsession to include a case for blackbox. This is what will call blackbox. (note: it may be xdm, gdm, or kdm depending on your system)

There should be a section that looks like this:You'll want to add a case for blackbox.Once that's done you'll need to add blackbox to the actual drop down menu, this is done by placing a file in the /etc/X11/gdm/Sessions directory called Blackbox. That file will need to run Xsession with an argument for blackbox, you can copy the format of the other files in this directory and just change the argument to blackbox.

Should look something like:
$cat /etc/X11/gdm/Sessions/blackbox

#!/bin/sh
#
exec /etc/X11/gdm/Xsession blackbox


Hope this helps

i will give that a shot tonight when i get home. (at school now) let you know what happens