startx -> gnome, want kde again

Adam

While working on the "read core temp" problem, I used mcc to install a
batch of packages. Now when I boot up, log in, and then run 'startx',
it starts up gnome instead of kde. How can I get it back to kde? I
looked through mcc, startx docs, etc. and didn't see any obvious switch.

Also, while it's running gnome, none of the web browsers I've tried can
access any web page ("[whatever.com] could not be found"). However, if
(under gnome) I use VMware to run W2K (as I'm doing now), there seems to
be no problems accessing web pages or newsgroups.

There's probably something simple to do that would solve both of these,
but I can't seem to find it. Can anyone point me in the right direction
for solving these? Thanks!

Adam

David W. Hodgins

On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:07:15 -0500, Adam <look@bottom.of.message> wrote:

> While working on the "read core temp" problem, I used mcc to install a
> batch of packages. Now when I boot up, log in, and then run 'startx',
> it starts up gnome instead of kde. How can I get it back to kde? I

Try "startx KDE". To get back to gnome, "startx GNOME". Note the KDE or
GNOME must be in uppercase.

> Also, while it's running gnome, none of the web browsers I've tried can
> access any web page ("[whatever.com] could not be found"). However, if

This is strange. Which window manager you're running should not have any
impact on the dns/network access. Check ~/.xsession-errors, to see if
there are any messages regarding authority problems, etc.

You may also want to install Xtart, and use it to select which window manager
to run.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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Bit Twister

On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:07:15 GMT, Adam wrote:
> I used mcc to install a batch of packages.
> startx starts up gnome instead of kde.

Hmm, I have a fully updated system and it has never changed to Gnome
from my KDE setting.

> There's probably something simple to do that would solve both of these,
> but I can't seem to find it.

And I cannot remember anything in MCC to set it.

> Can anyone point me in the right direction
> for solving these? Thanks!

Hmm, first thing to do is
cat $HOME/.desktop

Next I would see if it a system wide problem by creating a new
account user account (say normal), log into normal, startx
and see what happens.

$ type startx
startx is /usr/bin/startx

$ edt /usr/bin/startx
where we see
sysclientrc=/usr/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc

$ edt /usr/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc
where we see
exec /etc/X11/Xsession $*

$edt /etc/X11/Xsession

Where I find
if [ -f $HOME/.desktop ]; then
. $HOME/.desktop >/dev/null 2>&1
elif [ -f /etc/sysconfig/desktop ]; then

So, I would try doing a

echo DESKTOP=KDE > $HOME/.desktop

And try the startx again.

That is if you do not want to do something like
startx kde (I guess)

David W. Hodgins

On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:07:15 -0500, Adam <look@bottom.of.message> wrote:

> While working on the "read core temp" problem, I used mcc to install a
> batch of packages. Now when I boot up, log in, and then run 'startx',
> it starts up gnome instead of kde. How can I get it back to kde? I

Try "startx KDE". To get back to gnome, "startx GNOME". Note the KDE or
GNOME must be in uppercase.

> Also, while it's running gnome, none of the web browsers I've tried can
> access any web page ("[whatever.com] could not be found"). However, if

This is strange. Which window manager you're running should not have any
impact on the dns/network access. Check ~/.xsession-errors, to see if
there are any messages regarding authority problems, etc.

You may also want to install Xtart, and use it to select which window manager
to run.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change nomail.afraid.org to ody.ca to reply by email.
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Jim Beard

> On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:07:15 -0500, Adam <look@bottom.of.message> wrote:
>
>> While working on the "read core temp" problem, I used mcc to install a
>> batch of packages. Now when I boot up, log in, and then run 'startx',
>> it starts up gnome instead of kde. How can I get it back to kde? I

There are several places where the widow manager/desktop can
be specified. If nothing is set, the system should default
to the first one found in /etc/X11/dm.d /etc/X11/dm/Sessions/ or
/etc/X11/wmsession.d (I forget which). You might
check those first, to see if the order was changed.

Also, take a look at the contents of
/etc/sysconfig/desktop
/etc/X11/prefdm
/etc/X11/Xsession


On my 64-bit system, places checked by startx are:
userclientrc=$HOME/.xinitrc$
sysclientrc=/usr/lib64/X11/xinit/xinitrc$
userserverrc=$HOME/.xserverrc$
sysserverrc=/usr/lib64/X11/xinit/xserverrc$

If none of these specify which desktop to start,
it will probably be specified in a window manager
file, and may be keyed to something called
..KDE or .GNOME found in your home directory (IIRC -
I have not depended on this for eons its seems, but
that used to set the desktop).

I think you can also put this in your .bashrc file
and start kde with the comand kde.

alias kde='xinit /usr/bin/startkde'

Cheers!

jim b.

--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely
expects users to be computer-friendly.

Adam

Thanks, Bit Twister, Dave, and Jim!

David W. Hodgins wrote:
> Try "startx KDE". To get back to gnome, "startx GNOME". Note the KDE or
> GNOME must be in uppercase.

See comment below.

>> Also, while it's running gnome, none of the web browsers I've tried
>> can access any web page ("[whatever.com] could not be found").
>
> This is strange. Which window manager you're running should not have
> any impact on the dns/network access.

Several strange things had been happening -- unrequested switch from KDE
to Gnome, no web access (except through VMware), sound driver suddenly
not found, and more. I said "the heck with it," copied my personal
files elsewhere, and reinstalled Mandriva 2008.0 from scratch. That got
rid of those problems. I think part of the problem may have come from
upgrading my kernel to 2.6.22.15-desktop-1.uc1mdv but parts of the entry
in GRUB's menu.lst still pointed to earlier versions.

Jim Beard wrote:
> There are several places where the window manager/desktop can
> be specified. If nothing is set, the system should default
> to the first one found in /etc/X11/dm.d /etc/X11/dm/Sessions/ or
> /etc/X11/wmsession.d (I forget which). You might
> check those first, to see if the order was changed.

I think that was it. Before OS reinstall:

[adam@eris ~]$ ls -l /etc/X11/dm.d
total 12
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 127 2007-09-30 11:20 10kdm.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 138 2007-09-30 11:20 20gdm.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 80 2007-09-30 11:20 30xdm.conf
[adam@eris ~]$ ls -l /etc/X11/dm/Sessions
total 16
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 140 2008-01-07 15:17 02GNOME.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 140 2008-01-07 15:17 07IceWM.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 144 2008-01-07 15:17 16evilwm.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 140 2008-01-07 15:17 29drak3d.desktop
[adam@eris ~]$ ls -l /etc/X11/wmsession.d
total 20
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 129 2007-09-21 06:39 02GNOME
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 131 2007-08-10 18:51 07IceWM
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 99 2007-07-18 15:09 16evilwm
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 118 2007-10-05 11:16 29drak3d

After reinstall:

[adam@eris ~]$ ls -l /etc/X11/dm.d
total 12
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 127 2007-09-30 11:20 10kdm.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 138 2007-09-30 11:20 20gdm.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 80 2007-09-30 11:20 30xdm.conf
[adam@eris ~]$ ls -l /etc/X11/dm/Sessions
total 20
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 132 2008-01-09 11:39 01KDE.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 140 2008-01-09 11:39 02GNOME.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 140 2008-01-09 11:39 07IceWM.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 144 2008-01-09 11:39 16evilwm.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 140 2008-01-09 11:39 29drak3d.desktop
[adam@eris ~]$ ls -l /etc/X11/wmsession.d
total 20
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 117 2007-11-14 14:10 01KDE
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 129 2007-09-21 06:39 02GNOME
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 131 2007-08-10 18:51 07IceWM
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 99 2007-07-18 15:09 16evilwm
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 118 2007-10-05 11:16 29drak3d

I have no idea what clobbered the two missing files, but now KDE is
working again, and now I also know what desktops are available on my
system and how to select them.

It's always something. :-)

Adam