Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[mcz]

So I'd have to edit my .Xinitrc every time I want to switch.
But at this point, installing LightDM or similar would be easier.

Hey thanks for the link, it makes me think I need to comment my .xinitrc file  
(and others).

This helps understand what happens.

It makes me think that I want to write a startup installation script, just  
like Crunchbang had (has, I think it still exist with a new name).

But I'm not completely done building the system that fits my needs.
Hopefully it won't take me too much time anymore.

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[adel]

I just saw the screen that you posted; very cool!

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[pinmaritim]

I'm running it 90% of the time and it's great !
i just changed de Black Maté

https://trisquel.info/en/forum/uruk-screenshot-and-font-rendering

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[adel]

Uruk seems easier since it's all set up out of the box.  Thanks MD!

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[dguthrie]

No, you don't have to edit the file. Let's imagine the following scenario. I  
run FVWM, and when FVWM is the only window manager installed, running startx  
on its own should begin FVWM. Now I want to switch to Ratpoison. I delete  
FVWM and install Ratpoison, then running startx starts Ratpoison. I believe  
it points to another file with the default Xsession or something (it's quite  
confusing in all honesty). There are several ways to start multiple  
environments. I can run startx ratpoison or startx openbox begin Ratpoison  
and OpenBox respectively (as far as I know those are correct). However it  
opens an Xterm and prints all the errors which can be annoying, especially on  
Ratpoison. So you edit the ~/.Xinitrc file to specify what startx does, for  
example this works: exec /usr bin/Ratpoison I'm not sure how ~/.Xsession  
works. Here is a forum posting about it:  
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/47359/what-is-xsession-for
You should try and look more deeply into the subject of X sessions. I am not  
very experienced with it, it's quite confusing.

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[mcz]

Thankfully, for now I want to stick to one environment. But that means every  
time you want to switch to another environment, you have to edit that file??  
Even if it's only commenting out a line, it's not the most practical.
Maybe there's some kind of CLI (or tty, not sure about that) GDM version?  
That wouldn't surprise me.

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[dguthrie]

What I mean regarding startx being problematic is that you have to specify in  
the .Xinitrc what environment X should load, which is pretty intimidating for  
someone not familiar with the command line interface.
If you know how I am sure it's pretty straightforward. It has been going  
since the 1980s after all! 

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[mcz]

Definitely. In my experience, LightDM needs some tweaking but is functional  
out of the box. You indeed shouldn't need to manually start X in that case.


I didn't know that startx could be problematic with more than one  
environment, thanks for the info.

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[dguthrie]

Can't they just install lightdm, with either unity-greeter or the  
lightdm-gtk-greeter, or even GDM?
Add the MATE development PPA as directed here:  
https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/installing-mate then do the following:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment lightdm unity-greeter Et voila!  
A working MATE desktop that you can start graphically, no fiddling around  
with startx (which can be problematic when you have more than one environment  
installed, as you might well end up doing).
I believe that you can set it to start automatically without having to put in  
your login credentials (that's how the LiveCD works, it skips the login step  
because there is no username/password). Text login then startx is generally  
only used for really minimal systems that might only run a window manager,  
e.g. Ratpoison, which I'm running right now to type this. You can make your  
own files that would make Ratpoison list itself in Lightdm or GDM.

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[mcz]

Will MATE launch automatically when I subsequently turn my computer on?
No, you need to start X (I don't remember, but I think the command is  
"startx"). At least that's what I had to do with my i3wm install until I  
configured a file to make it start without my input.


You'll definitely have a CLI with BASH, but you might have to "sudo apt-get  
update && sudo apt-get install" some programs. No big deal.


The problem I faced with my net install is that i3wm is really minimalist, so  
wifi, and making hard drives to mount/unmount/eject automatically (or close  
to that) was tough for me.


But maybe the default MATE comes with lots of fully featured programs, or  
maybe you'll have to add some more programs, hopefully avoiding duplicates.

Re: [Trisquel-users] netinstall; first timer's question

[enduzzer]

I think you can install a minimal base system from any ISO. Just do the text  
installer and leave all desktop out. Then install X and add MATE or any other  
DE. You'll have to install all other programs one by one if they are not  
included in MATE. The usual repos are there, so it's no big deal if you are  
missing a few bits. Add them when needed. That's how I did a base system and  
added X and CDE.