INLS 183
Distributed systems & analysis
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Introduction

This week was spent trying to learn more about the X Window Server and windows managers. For reading, I read the entire O'Reilly's Learning Red Hat in addition to a number of websites that deal with KDE and the X.

My ultimate goal is to be able to change the window manager from Sawfish, which I have yet to be able to do. This past week I read much about the server and windows managers, themes and desktop environments.
Narrative

I installed a window manager called WindowMaker in the early weeks of INLS 183, but had no idea how to get it to work or really how it worked with Linux. As the semester has progressed, I have made little progress with this install. I started my research on the GUI side of things with the O'Reilly book on RedHat - a book I had looked at once before.

The reason I used this book was because it focuses on the GUI pasrt of Linux for the majority of its text - opposite of what we are covering in class and related to my current problem. Overall, I gleaned some useful info from this text, but was dissapointed with the book overall since most of it deals with installing Red Hat and covers what we covered in the first day of class.

Further, the text really didn't help at all with my search for changing the window manager for a desktop environment. This seems like it would be simple, but I have yet to find any decent instructions regarding this.

My other avanue of study involved the Web. The sites I read included X.org, KDE.org, Kenton Lee's X Motif site, and XWinMan.org. These sites provided lots of information about x apps and I read up on KDE in particular. I want to switch the default GUI on our box from Gnome to KDE and set up a new window manager for next week's project.

To prepare for this I re-installed my original window manager, WindowMaker, and another manager, BlackBox. I chose this second window manager for two reasons. One, I have yet to get WindowMaker to work. Second, BlackBox is a lite window manager that does not rely on external libraries for functionality.
Instructions for use

Ideally, to set a desktop environment, it is my understanding that one has to set their .xinitrc file to call a certain desktop and theme for X. While I have copied xinitrc from /usr/bin into my own directory, I have yet to figure out exactly how to install it. I am hopeful that by next week's install, I will know how to do all this.

I am also now familiar with an application in Gnome under "utilities, system, window manager" that is supposed to allow a user to easily swith window managers and add new ones through a simple interface. I can see my WindowMaker window manager in this application along with Sawfish, but I cannot get it to launch (yet).

I also discovered an applet that will allow me to take pictures of my desktop, so I will be able to include pictures in my projects that use the Linux GUI.
Functionality

N/A
Files and Baubles screen shots, script files, extras




   


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