[Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

renordw · 2018-03-04 01:24:27

First time poster here, just got Arch installed yesterday, and it's a very satisfying distro so far. I followed the advice of the wiki, and got it up and running with no problem.

Only problem is I don't like gnome that much because it reminds me of Ubuntu.

I have installed KDE/Plasma, but I haven't been successful in starting it up. I have tried "startkde", and I get the splash screen but then it launched into a black screen. I figured it was probably because gnome was already running.

So I tried, the advice of the wiki - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KD … ing_Plasma, "start Plasma with xinit/startx, append exec startkde to your .xinitrc file." I didn't have a ~/.xinitrc so I created one with only that line in it "exec startkde" but it still loads gnome.

Last edited by renordw (2018-03-04 05:13:37)

jasonwryan · 2018-03-04 02:22:16

How dod you start Gnome? With GDM? Did you disable that service?

renordw · 2018-03-04 03:43:00

Hi thank you for the hint. It does start with gdm.service, I believe. When I disable gdm.service, then I am unable to startkde as well, it says the $DISPLAY is not set or cannot connect to the server.

Last edited by renordw (2018-03-04 03:43:24)

jasonwryan · 2018-03-04 03:44:55

That's because your xinitrc is broken. Read the wiki article and source the necessary files.

circleface · 2018-03-04 03:47:57

Please post your ~/.xinitrc in [ code ] [ /code ] tags. Did you copy the sample file and then append "exec startkde" or is that the only thing the file has in it? Make sure you have all the stuff from the sample file as well, because having only that one line will lead to problems.

Edit: like Jasonwryan said, he has quicker fingers than me

Last edited by circleface (2018-03-04 03:49:31)

renordw · 2018-03-04 04:18:49

Here goes,

#!/bin/sh

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap

# merge in defaults and keymaps

if [ -f $sysresources ]; then







    xrdb -merge $sysresources

fi

if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
    xmodmap $sysmodmap
fi

if [ -f "$userresources" ]; then







    xrdb -merge "$userresources"

fi

if [ -f "$usermodmap" ]; then
    xmodmap "$usermodmap"
fi

# start some nice programs

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ] ; then
 for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/?*.sh ; do
  [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
 done
 unset f
fi

twm &
xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login
exec startkde

jasonwryan · 2018-03-04 04:37:51

Reread the xinitrc page: only one exec line is read; everything after that is irrelevant.

And you are backgrounding a WM (twm). That won't work.

renordw · 2018-03-04 04:57:48

Yeah I'm not getting anywhere. I took out all the execs except that one, and it still launches gnome.

When I do

systemctl disable gdm.service

then I go into teletype mode, and if I try to do a startkde there, I get an error saying $DISPLAY is not set or cannot connect to X server

Last edited by renordw (2018-03-04 05:02:16)

Scimmia · 2018-03-04 05:02:08

*what* launches gnome?

renordw · 2018-03-04 05:03:04

Scimmia wrote:

*what* launches gnome?

gdm.service is launching it, but when it's gone, it only gives me teletype

Scimmia · 2018-03-04 05:06:20

You said back in post #3 that GDM was disabled. Now it's enabled again? The rest of this thread has been about your .xinitrc, which is about startx, not about GDM.

Either pick the plasma session in GDM or get rid of it and use .xinitrc/startx. Not both.

renordw · 2018-03-04 05:07:07

Sorry I didn't realize I had to type "startx"

It's fixed now!

Last edited by renordw (2018-03-04 05:10:01)

jasonwryan · 2018-03-04 05:10:21

Spend some time actually reading the wiki, and not being in such a rush to get to a full-blown DE.

Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved] by editing your first post and prepending it to the title.

renordw · 2018-03-04 05:12:09

Thanks for the hints. I did read the wiki. The biggest problem is that for xinit, it gives a ton of examples of pieces of what should be in there, but no full-length sample.

jasonwryan · 2018-03-04 08:05:38

The sample is the example file you copy from /etc/X11/xinit

Trilby · 2018-03-04 12:16:37

FWIW, it's not directly relevant to this thread, but JWR, there is nothing strictly wrong with backgrounding most WMs as long as something after them in xinitrc stays alive. Backgrounding TWM is the "recommended" way of running it, and the exec'ed xterm keeps the session alive until that xterm is closed.

Arch Linux

#1 2018-03-04 01:24:27

[Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#2 2018-03-04 02:22:16

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#3 2018-03-04 03:43:00

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#4 2018-03-04 03:44:55

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#5 2018-03-04 03:47:57

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#6 2018-03-04 04:18:49

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#7 2018-03-04 04:37:51

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#8 2018-03-04 04:57:48

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#9 2018-03-04 05:02:08

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#10 2018-03-04 05:03:04

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#11 2018-03-04 05:06:20

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#12 2018-03-04 05:07:07

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#13 2018-03-04 05:10:21

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#14 2018-03-04 05:12:09

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#15 2018-03-04 08:05:38

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

#16 2018-03-04 12:16:37

Re: [Solved] Switching from Gnome to KDE

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