How do I switch desktops?

[Boomer67]

I've been using KDE on Mandrake 8.1 since my install and now I want to try Gnome but I can't seem to find out how. I looked in the manuals as well as the help files and tried "switchdesk gnome" on the console to no avail.

Yes, I now, I'm a noob in a big way. :D

[medrewsclues]

are you using the gui login? if so look for the session tab at the bootm of the thingy there.

[cyberhwk]

Try this just go to the console and type in switchdesk. It should give you a popup of choices of all the diffrent gui's installed. I hope this helps.

[Boomer67]

I'm using the CLI login.

I tried typing switchdesk in the console and got a command not found message.

I tried it both as user and root to no avail. :(

Any ideas? :confused:

[afterthefall]

Whenever you start the X server, it searches for a file called .xinitrc in your home directory. At the end of the file you can specify which GUI you wish to use - "exec gnome-session" for gnome, "kdestart" for kde, and so forth.

If you don't have .xinitrc in your home directory, you can find one in /usr/lib/X11/xinit/.

:D Brian

[Boomer67]

The file isn't in my home directory. When I try to go to /usr/lib/x11/xinit it goes to /etc/x11/xinit instead. Is this weird or is it likely just something that I'm unfamilar with?

This is what it says:

#! /bin/sh
# (c) 2000 MandrakeSoft

exec /etc/X11/Xsession $*

Do I need to copy this to my home directory or do something else?

Thx :)

[shakes]

On the CLI, try xwmconfig

That's what I do on Slack. I don't know if that will work in Mandrake.

[Boomer67]

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

[Boomer67]

It says "command not found".:confused:

[fancypiper]

Put this in your ~/.bashrc# launching window manager/desktop environments from console login
alias a="echo DESKTOP=AfterStep > ~/.desktop;startx"
alias ice="echo DESKTOP=icewm > ~/.desktop;startx"
alias kde="echo DESKTOP=KDE3 > ~/.desktop;startx"
alias wm="echo DESKTOP=WindowMaker > ~/.desktop;startx"
alias sf="echo DESKTOP=Sawfish > ~/.desktop;startx"
alias g="echo DESKTOP=Gnome > ~/.desktop;startx"
alias x="echo DESKTOP=XFce > ~/.desktop;startx"
alias bb="echo DESKTOP=BlackBox > ~/.desktop;startx"
alias fb="echo DESKTOP=FluxBox > ~/.desktop;startx"
alias e="echo DESKTOP=Enlightenment > ~/.desktop;_STARTX"
Now, you can use those commands to do it.

[Boomer67]

At the risk of sounding like a total dozehole where is the file (and what is the ~ symbol mean anyways)? It isn't under my root directory and when I did a search I got bashrc files of various sizes all over the place.

I am such a noob...thanks for the patience. :o

[shakes]

the " ~ " is a tilde and it stands for your home directory. You can just type " cd " and then return and you will be in your ~. You can type this instead of typing /home/(User's home directory name)/ . No parentheses.

[fancypiper]

Originally posted by Boomer67
At the risk of sounding like a total dozehole where is the file (and what is the ~ symbol mean anyways)?~/ is shorthand for the /home/username directory. In my case, it would refer to /home/phil.