xorg xfree86 kde gnome

chil326 · 08-11-2005, 05:29 AM

hi
i updated from mandrake 10.0 to mandriva le 2005
now it seems the xserver is xorg but i still have some packages of xfree86...
i don't understand the difference beetween xorg and xfree86.
which one do i use in fact?
furthermore i boot in runlevel 3 and launch x with startx. i want to switch to gnome. how to?
could you give me a link that explains all the process of starting x, kde, etc...?
i need help and manuals...
thanks

dracolich · 08-11-2005, 06:51 AM

xorg is the successor to xfree86. You've updated from Mandrake to Mandriva and have seen indications that the active xserver is xorg. I would say it's ok to remove the xfree86 packages. But be careful not to remove the xorg packages. IIRC, xfree package names all start with xfree and xorg with X. You can probably find a complete list by using a package search at Mandrake's website. I did the same thing for my Slackware installation.
Runlevel 3 is my preference, too. I always start X with kdm since I have KDE. If I used Gnome I would start with gdm. The xserver comes with xdm, which had no session management. kdm and gdm both provide a menu to select a window manager. That menu is basically a frontend utility. When you choose the WM you're telling it to run startkde (KDE), gnome-session (Gnome) or any other WMs that you have installed.

Hope this helps.

chil326 · 08-11-2005, 07:02 AM

i usually start kde by "startx" command
what are kdm, gdm, xdm?
how to start them...?
what is a window manager? are kde and gnome window manager?
thanks
i tried to find out websites where everything is explained but i didn'nt find some good tutorial

dracolich · 08-11-2005, 01:13 PM

I don't know if you'll find any tutorials on this. It's really a matter of explaining the difference between using two different commands. I'll try to give a brief explanation. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about any of this.

When you use any command to start your graphic environment you are starting what's called and Xsession. Within that session you can have open the desktop manager (kdm, gdm or xdm) and one or more window managers (kde, gnome, fluxbox, etc.) When a user starts an Xsession some information is logged about the window manager and personal settings for the X environment. In my Slackware installation the previously used window manager is logged in ~/.dmrc. If I boot into runlevel 3 and type startx, whichever window manager is stored there will be the one that starts. However, if I type kdm to load kde's desktop manager there is a graphic login for any user with an account on my computer, a list of window managers so I can choose KDE, Gnome, Fluxbox, etc. and also options to reboot or shutdown. After I choose, say, Gnome, and login Gnome will start and my ~/.dmrc will be replaced with the new information.

Xsession - an instance of the X graphics environment - executed with the startx command
desktop manager - a graphic utility for logging in and out of a window manager - executed with either xdm, kdm or gdm commands
window manager - the graphic environment for using applications (M$ Windows is a window manager) - executed with the appropriate command (startkde, gnome-session, etc.)

chil326 · 08-11-2005, 05:19 PM

thank you very much for the explanation

chil326 · 08-12-2005, 07:37 AM

http://jili.over-blog.com/
that's my blog where i tried to see how to launch gnome with mandriva le 2005 while booting in runlevel 3
the file Xsession has been modified by mandriva...everything is not clear but i try
in mandriva i tried "startx GNOME" and it works
i try to explain why in my blog
please leave any comments and help
http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-01/desktop_01.html

dracolich · 08-12-2005, 08:40 AM

That's a very good article you found. It explains all the "behind-the-scenes" when starting X. I saved a copy for myself. So the command that actually starts X is xinit and startx is a shell script that reads the user's resource files and supplies parameters to xinit. I never knew that. Apparently Slackware and Mandriva have some differences in the dot files stored in a user's $HOME. As the article says, xinit with no parameters will start the bare x environment. I've seen it. It's so bare it's ugly.
To avoid mispelling any parameters I would create myself a script file in my home directory to start gnome. Something like

#!/bin/sh
startx GNOME

I would probably name it gnome and make it executable with 'chmod +x gnome'
And do the same for KDE and any others.

chil326 · 08-12-2005, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dracolich
That's a very good article you found. It explains all the "behind-the-scenes" when starting X. I saved a copy for myself. So the command that actually starts X is xinit and startx is a shell script that reads the user's resource files and supplies parameters to xinit. I never knew that. Apparently Slackware and Mandriva have some differences in the dot files stored in a user's $HOME. As the article says, xinit with no parameters will start the bare x environment. I've seen it. It's so bare it's ugly.
To avoid mispelling any parameters I would create myself a script file in my home directory to start gnome. Something like

#!/bin/sh
startx GNOME

I would probably name it gnome and make it executable with 'chmod +x gnome'
And do the same for KDE and any others.

can also add a file ~/.desktop with in it :
DESKTOP=GNOME
by example
and just launch startx
the command /usr/sbin/chksession -l lists the desktops
[cyril@localhost ~]$ /usr/sbin/chksession -l
KDE GNOME IceWM Default failsafe

another url interesting for mandriva user"s is :

http://www.troubleshooters.com/lpm/200209/200209.htm