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#26 2011-08-06 01:53:27

hauzer
Member
From: Belgrade, Serbia
Registered: 2010-11-17
Posts: 279
Website

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

Well, I've ditched slim, I simply don't need it.


Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

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#27 2011-08-06 02:57:23

anonymous_user
Member
Registered: 2009-08-28
Posts: 3,059

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

What about a situation where you use multiple WMs/DE? Repeatedly editing ~/.xinitrc gets tiresome.

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#28 2011-08-06 02:58:53

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

anonymous_user wrote:

What about a situation where you use multiple WMs/DE? Repeatedly editing ~/.xinitrc gets tiresome.

You can have multiple .xinitrc files e.g. .xinitrc1, .xinitrc2 and use e.g. init levels to boot the one you want.

Last edited by karol (2011-08-06 02:59:44)

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#29 2011-08-06 03:03:18

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

Here is what I do:

ewaller@odin:~ 1006 %cat ~/.xinitrc

DEFAULT_SESSION=openbox
xset b off
setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps

case $WM in
gnome)
    ck-launch-session dbus-launch gnome-session
    ;;
xfce4)
    ~/bin/xfce4&
    ck-launch-session dbus-launch startxfce4
    ;;
lxde)
    ~/bin/lxde&
    ck-launch-session dbus-launch startlxde
    ;;
*)
    ~/bin/openbox&
    ck-launch-session dbus-launch $DEFAULT_SESSION
    ;;
esac
ewaller@odin:~ 1007 %

Then, for OB, I just use startx
If, on the other hand, I want lxde, I would use WM=lxde startx


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#30 2011-08-06 03:25:00

drcouzelis
Member
From: Connecticut, USA
Registered: 2009-11-09
Posts: 4,092
Website

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I use mingetty to automatically log in.

I used to use SLiM, but then I realized I always did the same thing every boot: enter username, enter password, start email, chat, and feed reader, then leave my computer on for the day. Doing all that is a big hassle while holding a new baby, so I setup my computer to do it all automatically. I have a desktop, so I'm not really worried about random people jumping on and accessing my data. hmm

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#31 2011-08-08 03:09:36

nicoooo
Member
Registered: 2011-07-16
Posts: 5

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I just started using slim because zsh's history file kept getting corrupted after shutting down from the console.

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#32 2011-08-08 03:19:04

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

nicoooo wrote:

I just started using slim because zsh's history file kept getting corrupted after shutting down from the console.

Shutting down what? What WM are you using? Does it have a way to cleanly quit?

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#33 2011-08-08 18:15:59

nicoooo
Member
Registered: 2011-07-16
Posts: 5

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

karol wrote:

Shutting down what? What WM are you using? Does it have a way to cleanly quit?

The WM works fine. It's when I close X11 and issue "shutdown -h now"  from the console that the history get corrupted. This happens with both mingetty and agetty.

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#34 2011-08-11 15:28:26

BlackMagic1337
Member
Registered: 2011-07-23
Posts: 16

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

Awebb wrote:
lolilolicon wrote:
startx &
logout

I was just hit by the obvious train, I guess ~.~
Thanks :-D

@Inxsible: :-)

Doesn't work for me. :-( I am using zshell and my .zprofile looks like:
#
# ~/.zprofile
#
startx &
logout

Help would be appreciated. ;-)

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#35 2011-08-11 15:50:37

Army
Member
Registered: 2007-12-07
Posts: 1,784

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I also use startx. Everything's fine with that method, except of one thing: When I started using startx instead of a display manager, Jack didn't work anymore, so I couldn't record anything in Ardour. That's a no-go for me. But I have the solution:
Add

session        required  pam_limits.so

to /etc/pam.d/su, that's all you need.

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#36 2011-08-11 16:02:42

BlackMagic1337
Member
Registered: 2011-07-23
Posts: 16

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

Army wrote:

I also use startx. Everything's fine with that method, except of one thing: When I started using startx instead of a display manager, Jack didn't work anymore, so I couldn't record anything in Ardour. That's a no-go for me. But I have the solution:
Add

session        required  pam_limits.so

to /etc/pam.d/su, that's all you need.

Hey amy,

Thanks for your quick response but X will be started but it won't automatically logout from tty. I don't know why - I just migrated today from /bin/bash to /bin/zsh...

Maybe it's a bug (or a "new" feature? big_smile)

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#37 2011-08-11 17:50:48

jlacroix
Member
Registered: 2009-08-16
Posts: 576

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I've been enjoying this discussion. I set up an Arch Linux install with XFCE and no login manager, and it was mostly successful. I didn't feel compelled to install a display manager at all, but the thing that killed it is that apparently Thunar doesn't support Samba shares like it claims it does, so I am back to KDE now. Anyone run KDE without KDM? Part of me thinks that KDE kind of demands to have KDM or GDM.

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#38 2011-08-11 18:08:41

throdon
Member
Registered: 2008-07-21
Posts: 13

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

if you have the shell sign in , then sign in as root  when you have a root console type 'kdm' that should bring up the kde sign in.

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#39 2011-08-11 18:10:59

hauzer
Member
From: Belgrade, Serbia
Registered: 2010-11-17
Posts: 279
Website

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I think Gnome/KDE demand their own DM because it initializes some of the daemons they need.


Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

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#40 2011-08-11 19:06:01

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

Have you tried
exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch startkde


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#41 2011-08-11 19:51:18

jgreen1tc
Member
From: St. Louis
Registered: 2011-05-16
Posts: 251

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I use KDE and no display manager. I just put the startx script into my ~/.bash_profile like the wiki said. I haven't noticed anything wrong.

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#42 2011-08-11 20:00:21

ozar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2005-02-18
Posts: 1,686

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I think it might depend on the user. Some find them necessary while others don't.

I've not used a display manager in about 7 years now and haven't missed them a bit.


oz

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#43 2011-08-12 11:53:33

BasT
Member
Registered: 2010-08-28
Posts: 112

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I'm interested in getting rid of kdm but I'm not quite sure I understand what the alternatives look like in practice. Would it be possible to automatically log into kde as a certain user, but with the screen locked?

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#44 2011-08-12 12:40:10

MrCode
Member
Registered: 2010-02-06
Posts: 373

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I use SLiM on my lappy because I'm in X 99% of the time anyway.  The GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce 310M, using the binary-blob driver; framebuffer console support sucks (slow as molasses when scrolling), and IMO 80x24(5?) is ugly on a laptop. tongue  It's also so that I won't look like a total geek/nerd when/if I'm using my lappy in public, LOL.  (…but I don't use splashy or anything for the boot sequence…so I'm insecure/paranoid/self-contradictory… tongue)

My main desktop machine, however, boots to runlevel 3; no DM.  It's also got an NVIDIA GPU card (with the binary-blob driver), but 80x24/5 is more acceptable on it for some reason IMO. tongue

Last edited by MrCode (2011-08-12 12:43:07)

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#45 2011-08-12 12:51:24

bernarcher
Forum Fellow
From: Germany
Registered: 2009-02-17
Posts: 2,281

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I double most functionality of display managers simply by some useful /etc/issue text, a few shortcuts mostly bash-defined, and several start scripts reacheable with a few keystrokes according to the number of WMs/DEs currently available on my system:

=================================================================

This is bpmachine, the universal computing tool for everything.
Log in and then start a display environment with:
    _X    to start Openbox (standard)
    _G    to start Gnome
    _K    to start KDE

Internet connection can be controlled by:
    ION  connects to the net
    IOFF closes the connection

To turn off the system use:
    _YY   restart
    _ZZ  halt the machine

To log in as guest use:
    account name: guest
    passwort:     guest

=================================================================

The default "_X" just calls startx, for the others (not always there) there is some start script defined.
And the "_" prefixes proved necessary as an additional measure against inadvertent calls.

This proved to suffice in any practical case for years now.


To know or not to know ...
... the questions remain forever.

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#46 2011-08-12 16:06:23

hauzer
Member
From: Belgrade, Serbia
Registered: 2010-11-17
Posts: 279
Website

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

I just want to link this thread here. The guy got a black screen without using GDM to log in into Gnome3, although it could be a mere coincidence or a misconfiguration.

Last edited by hauzer (2011-08-12 16:07:04)


Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

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#47 2011-08-12 16:52:23

ANOKNUSA
Member
Registered: 2010-10-22
Posts: 2,141

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

hauzer wrote:

I just want to link this thread here. The guy got a black screen without using GDM to log in into Gnome3, although it could be a mere coincidence or a misconfiguration.

That thread merely says that one person with one specific setup had one particular problem that was alleviated by the use of one particular piece of software; there's no "how" or "why" explanation, nor does it prove DMs to be either necessary nor unnecessary.  I don't think it's pertinent to this thread.  Some people for example have trouble without DMs because they're unaware that the DM enables dbus and console-kit interactions for them, which can easily be enabled in .xinitrc.

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#48 2011-08-15 22:01:17

Viper_Scull
Member
From: London, UK
Registered: 2011-01-15
Posts: 153

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

Interesting thread.

since i use systemd, and /etc/inittab is ignored and

x:5:respawn:/bin/su - -- karol -l -c '/usr/bin/xinit -- /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp :0 </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1'

is not read, how can i auto login without a display manager?

I use .xinitrc to start wmfs, etc.

Last edited by Viper_Scull (2011-08-15 22:01:40)


Athlon II X4 620 + Gigabyte 785GPM-UD2H + 4GB DDR3 + SSD OCZ Vertex2 60GB

Archlinux x86_64 + Openbox

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#49 2011-08-15 22:59:55

falconindy
Developer
From: New York, USA
Registered: 2009-10-22
Posts: 4,111
Website

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

Viper_Scull wrote:

Interesting thread.

since i use systemd, and /etc/inittab is ignored and

x:5:respawn:/bin/su - -- karol -l -c '/usr/bin/xinit -- /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp :0 </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1'

is not read, how can i auto login without a display manager?

You can write a getty unit that logs in automatically. agetty has this feature in util-linux 2.20

Last edited by falconindy (2011-08-15 23:00:10)

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#50 2011-08-16 10:05:59

Viper_Scull
Member
From: London, UK
Registered: 2011-01-15
Posts: 153

Re: Display Managers, How Necessary Are They?

falconindy wrote:
Viper_Scull wrote:

Interesting thread.

since i use systemd, and /etc/inittab is ignored and

x:5:respawn:/bin/su - -- karol -l -c '/usr/bin/xinit -- /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp :0 </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1'

is not read, how can i auto login without a display manager?

You can write a getty unit that logs in automatically. agetty has this feature in util-linux 2.20

Thanks. I'll wait til util-linux 2.20 hits core. I hope it wont take long.

Last edited by Viper_Scull (2011-08-16 10:07:31)


Athlon II X4 620 + Gigabyte 785GPM-UD2H + 4GB DDR3 + SSD OCZ Vertex2 60GB

Archlinux x86_64 + Openbox

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