[HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

thevdude · 2012-05-05 02:10:53

Hold onto your hats, guys, because this is easy as pie and kicks some serious butt.

SLiM uses ~/.xsession, so that's where you'll add anything necessary for starting the WM you want to use. I was WM hopping, so my .xsession looks like this:

#!/bin/sh
case $1 in
openbox)
    exec openbox-session
    ;;
awesome)
    exec awesome 
    ;;
euclid-wm)
    exec start-euclid
    ;;
musca)
    exec musca
    ;;
herbstluftwm)
    exec herbstluftwm -c "/home/robert/.config/herbstluftwm/autostart"
    ;;
dwm)
    while true; do
        xsetroot -name "$( date +"%F %R" )"
        sleep 30
    done &
    twmnd &
    mpd &
    urxvt &
    xchat &
    exec dwm
    ;;
*)
    exec herbstluftwm -c "/home/robert/.config/herbstluftwm/autostart"
    ;;
esac

This basically says "if SLiM says to use [openbox,awesome,euclid,musca,herbstluftwm,dwm,*], do what it says in that section" where * is anything that isn't in the list.

Now, you have to tell SLiM what WMs are installed and set up, and for that you'll be editing /etc/slim.conf

Look for something like this:

# Available sessions (first one is the default).
# The current chosen session name is replaced in the login_cmd
# above, so your login command can handle different sessions.
# see the xinitrc.sample file shipped with slim sources
sessions            openbox-session

And change the line to say:

# Available sessions (first one is the default).
# The current chosen session name is replaced in the login_cmd
# above, so your login command can handle different sessions.
# see the xinitrc.sample file shipped with slim sources
sessions            default,openbox,dwm,awesome,euclid-wm,musca,herbstluftwm

Restart SLiM/X (alt+pause/break+k) and now before you log in, you can hit f1 to switch between installed WMs.

I'll see about getting it up in a VM and getting some screenshots, but it's really pretty simple.

machinebacon · 2012-05-05 04:21:27

^ Yummy! Thanks for this, will sure be of use smile

CaptainIndifferent · 2012-05-08 01:59:59

Thank you thevdude, this is just what I was looking for! smile

I had installed Xfce into a Waldorf system, logged out and er... now where was the option to switch sessions that I had been expecting? Nothing, no options, no hints, no cheese! It's certainly the cleanest login screen I had ever seen, totally uncontaminated by anything useful. tongue

After a short panic I tried hitting the usual keys and F1 told me openbox session but I already knew that.

With your howto Xfce is only a function key away. I still think it's an odd way of selecting a login session but when in Rome...

thevdude · 2012-05-08 04:21:34

Funnily enough, I'm not really using Waldorf. hmm I've been using testing repos and such on the #! from november 2011 since around december 2011. I feel like it's not really worth changing to waldorf at this point, it'd be mostly the same.

machinebacon · 2012-05-08 04:27:26

^ Yes, quite. The few extra packages (cb-*) you can get from the #! servers anyway, and if you need the new Waldorf configs or so, just let us know.

zhogan85 · 2012-05-11 13:19:50

Thanks for the HOWTO, looks quite good! I've been itching to try some different WMs for a while, this is just the push I needed to take the plunge.

rstrcogburn · 2012-08-05 16:04:00

@thevdude Thanks, this got me going somewhat on my multi-wm slim setup but your configs didn't work on Waldorf. Here's what I changed.

~/.xinitrc (instead of ~/.xsession)

DEFAULT_SESSION=fvwm

case $1 in
fvwm)
    exec fvwm
    ;;
openbox)
    exec openbox-session
    ;;
*)
    exec $DEFAULT_SESSION
    ;;
esac

/etc/slim.conf

login_cmd           exec /bin/bash -login ~/.xinitrc %session
sessions            default,fvwm,openbox

the login_cmd part is crucial so that it sources ~/.xinitrc

Last edited by rstrcogburn (2012-08-05 16:38:47)

Prindoll · 2012-09-23 13:18:18

I'm pretty new and i wonder If i installed the kde-standard what do i have to modified to loging with kde session?
Thanks...

Sector11 · 2012-09-23 14:55:08

@ Prindoll

In the /usr/etc/slim.conf add kde-standard to the sessions, then hopefully it will show up un sessions. It does say it is experimental.

sessions
icewm,wmaker,blackbox
A list of available session names. You can choose the session at login time by pressing F1. Note that this feature is experimental

machinebacon · 2012-09-23 15:24:03

Printdoll: What Sector11 said, but it should be kde-plasma and not kde-standard.

However I recommend installing

lightdm lightdm-kde-greeter

and purging slim for this purpose.

The /etc/lightdm.conf would look like this:

[SeatDefaults]
allow-guest=true
autologin-guest=false
autologin-user=YOUR_USER_NAME
greeter-hide-users=false
greeter-session=lightdm-kde-greeter
session-wrapper=/etc/X11/Xsession
user-session=kde-plasma
xserver-allow-tcp=false

[VNCServer]
enabled=false

[XDMCPServer]
enabled=false

Last edited by machinebacon (2012-09-23 15:26:06)

Sector11 · 2012-09-23 15:54:16

^^ I use lightdm as well but didn't suggest it since the thread name is [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

However that said I didn't realize that about KDE, not having ever used it I figure 'install kde-standard' run kde-standard.

A case of live and learn. Thanks.

machinebacon · 2012-09-24 10:39:50

^ Sector, I just happened to make a LightDM + KDE session last night and needed three tries to get the correct session starting -- when I saw the post, I thought I better mention it before I forget it again wink

That being said, the user asked how to get KDE running in slim -- and lightdm is the next best solution if slim fails. Didn't mean to hijack the hijack wink

Sector11 · 2012-09-24 14:40:05

@ machinebacon

I never looked at your post as 'hijacking the thread' at all. You confirmed what I said and made a correction for slim where I made an 'Oops!' that would have created another problem.

Then you made a recommendation about using lightDM - that's an option - Linux is full of options. I actually had started typing a suggestion to look at LightDM and backed out.

@ thevdude - what machinebacon said, think about lightDM you may well be surprised.

Last edited by Sector11 (2012-09-24 14:40:18)

Prindoll · 2012-09-29 12:37:35

Thanks all of you to answer me. I'm student and i wasn't in home and i didn't have ineternet. But I'm really pleased because of you. Thank you !
I really like crunchbang because It is the most clean and simple, I just wanted to lern things having kde, and I fine this:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-session-manager

Where I can select The default session.

Really thenks for your answers. big_smile wink :) you teach me so much ....

lightdm lightdm-kde-greeter.

kbmonkey · 2012-10-26 15:29:17

rstrcogburn wrote:

the login_cmd part is crucial so that it sources ~/.xinitrc

Thank you for this hint, it works hundreds now smile

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2012-05-05 02:10:53

[HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#2 2012-05-05 04:21:27

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#3 2012-05-08 01:59:59

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#4 2012-05-08 04:21:34

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#5 2012-05-08 04:27:26

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#6 2012-05-11 13:19:50

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#7 2012-08-05 16:04:00

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#8 2012-09-23 13:18:18

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#9 2012-09-23 14:55:08

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#10 2012-09-23 15:24:03

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#11 2012-09-23 15:54:16

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#12 2012-09-24 10:39:50

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#13 2012-09-24 14:40:05

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#14 2012-09-29 12:37:35

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

#15 2012-10-26 15:29:17

Re: [HOWTO] Switch WMs with SLiM

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