[THE 1st TIME] Changing window managers

[machinebacon]

Every now and then I will write something like a beginners guide for those who have not yet got the experience in setting up a base system with a window manager.

If you have a Debian netinstall or LinuxBBQ noX (Spring 2014.1 for example), you can safely follow this guide.

1) Set up an X environment

This is needed to have a graphical interface for working.

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sudo apt-get install xorg xinit x11-utils x11-common xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-input-mouse xserver-xorg-input-evdev  xserver-xorg-input-kbd

You get more than you actually need, but this way we have definitely everything working.

2) Get your window manager

Now this depends largely on what you like. We take i3 here as example ;)

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sudo apt-get install i3 i3status i3lock

3) Edit the startup file

To actually get our xsession with i3 starting, we create an .xinitrc file:

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nano ~/.xinitrc

with the following content:

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#!/bin/bash
xset s off &
xset -dpms &
xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources &
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr &
setxkbmap us &
exec i3

The two xset commands disable screensaver and blanking, xrdb fetches the .Xresources file for a more beautiful terminal. xsetroot makes our mouse pointer look right ;) and setxkbmap sets our keyboard to US layout. The last line, starting with exec, actually executes our window manager. More about refinements in another episode ;)

Save and exit the editor (Ctrl-o , Enter, Ctrl-x) and now enter

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startx

If all is fine, you will be greeted in i3.

[machinebacon]

Addendum:

What if we can not make a decision on which WM to use? I surely know this problem, because I always switch between at least three of them, depending on mood.

1) Install some other WM

Well, an easy task. LinuxBBQ users can start

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roastyourown

and get to the menu where Window Managers can be chosen in a dialog. Of course we can install these easily, manually, from the repos:

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sudo apt-get install pekwm pekwm-themes

2) Start the right session

The easiest way is to edit .xinitrc again:

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nano ~/.xinitrc

and change the very last line to:

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exec pekwm

The clever guys comment the previous entry, so it looks like:

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#exec i3
exec pekwm

i3 gets skipped, pekwm gets started. Save and exit, then

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startx

and we are greeted by PekWM, a very openboxish window manager.

[pidsley]

Thanks for posting these mb.

[GekkoP]

Oh yes, thanks a lot, I'll use this next time I'll go with netinstall/Spring.

[rhowaldt]

awesome shit. thanks so much for writing these, all the 'Loosing your Virginity' posts are great :)

[paolo]

very good articles... I'm always a n00b, thanks !

[dkeg]

Soon your .xinitrc will have a long list of commented out wm's. I wanted to share a solution I have been using for awhile now. I used to just comment/uncomment the various wm options. Now all I do is just a simple xinit wm. It's great when you have an array of wm's. Just copy paste into your .xinitrc and replace with the wm's you have installed. Of course, pids also has a random wm chooser around here also!

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# Start your window manager using xinit, xinit [wm]

DEFAULTSESSION=herbstluftwm

case "$1" in
        "cwm")
                exec cwm
                ;;
        "i3")
                exec i3 --shmlog-size 0
                ;;
        "monster")
                exec monsterwm
                ;;
        "spectrwm")
                exec spectrwm
                ;;
        "2bwm")
                exec 2bwm
                ;;
        *)
                exec $DEFAULTSESSION
                ;;
esac

[GekkoP]

^ pretty cool. I usually have custom .xinitrc for every wm I try, but your solution is better.

[MrPink]

You get more than you actually need, but this way we have definitely everything working.

The smxi script can identify and purge the xorg modules you don't need. It is required to have run X at least once (twice if you have switchable gfx cards, once with each card turned on).

edit: spelling, doh

[machinebacon]

Thanks Mr Pink, there is a reason behind it: some people want to port their snapshot to other computers, that's why I did mention 'more than we actually need' :)

BTW, for those who haven't noticed, smxi is included in all BBQ spins.

[elixir]

If only I read this sooner while I was struggling! :p

These tutorials are a good idea for new people! (like me)

[wuxmedia]

They are bloody good, for old people like me too!