configuring .xsession to load a window manager and panel with Xorg

[gojirasan]

I installed the 64 bit version of microcore with the bootcodes: local=, home=, opt=, norestore, and noswap. I installed Xorg with appbrowser. I also installed Xprogs, Xlibs, the proprietary nvidia graphics driver, icewm, compiz, lxpanel, bmpanel, feh, some text editors (nano and jed) and some other stuff probably not relevant here. I tried to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.vesa but I couldn't. It seems to be read-only. Maybe it is mounted on the ramdisk. Maybe because there is no "etc=" boot code.

I want icewm or compiz and lxpanel or bmpanel to load when the Xorg X server starts with "startx". I installed Xorg before I installed Xprogs and Xlibs because I didn't realize they were still required with Xorg installed. But startx seems to "work". Nothing happens when I enter it, but I assume that is because .xsession is still full of xvesa commands and neither compiz nor icewm have been added to the file automagically.

I am very much a linux noob. My last Linux install was with Arch Linux where I used ~/.xinitrc to control what window manager and panel loaded with X. I would like to try to use .xsession in the same way to start x with startx.

My first problem is that jed has stopped working. It was working before just fine, but something happened (not sure what) and now "jed" is not found. I installed nano with appbrowser and that is also not recognized. Actually when I try to run nano it gives me an error about some ncurses library. So I tried to install ncurses with appbrowser, but it was already installed. I tried to reinstall jed, but it was also detected as already installed. As usual with Linux I have no idea where these apps are actually getting installed. So I can't try to use the full path.

Whether or not someone has the answer to that problem I would very much like to know what to put in .xsession. Can I just delete everything that is in ~/.xsession now and replace it with:

icewm

or:

compiz &
lxpanel

Do I have to do anything extra for the mouse to work? I want to add a feh background setting command in there as well eventually and maybe some other stuff. So I really should have some idea of how to figure out what to place in .xession. Maybe if I could find where these apps were actually installed I could find the exact filename to enter. But maybe it doesn't work that way with tinycore. I'm guessing there is probably some special extension format to use.

[curaga]

The WM is handled automatically, as long as you have only installed one. With several, the last of them to load is used. Compiz and icewm may conflict in this way.

For other apps (panel etc), the FAQ recommends to start them in .X.d. The format is covered there in detail.


xorg.conf.vesa is an example, it should be read-only. You may need to configure Xorg, but please post your /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

[Juanito]

I tried to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.vesa but I couldn't. It seems to be read-only. Maybe it is mounted on the ramdisk.

You need to copy it to /etc/X11/xorg.conf, you will then be able  to edit it.

I want icewm or compiz and lxpanel or bmpanel to load when the Xorg X server starts with "startx".

Use the boot code desktop=icewm

[gojirasan]

I reinstalled microcore64 again from scratch, and this time I was more careful about what apps I installed:
Xlibs, Xprogs, Xorg, icewm, and nothing else. I added desktop=icewm as one of the boot codes at install time. And this time it automagically worked! I checked my .xsession file and the xvesa commands were replaced with an icewm command. Very slick. And startx works as it should.

I need to know how to stop wbar from loading. I don't like OS X style docks, and I want my icewm panel on the bottom of the screen, and the right click menu makes wbar redundant even without the default icewm panel.

I also need to know the proper method for changing window managers again. Or, rather, the safest way. Would it be better to uninstall icewm before trying another wm like compiz or e17?

As far as adding panels and trays etc to the desktop I don't understand the .X.d system. Does tinycore just parse every file it finds in that directory for applications to load with the X server? So I just make a separate text file for each application I want to load with whatever application name is listed in the /usr/bin directory? And it doesn't matter what the names of the files are? Is it possible to just use one text file with all of the X applications I want to load instead? I did check the FAQ but I couldn't find much on the topic.

[gerald_clark]

With microcore, wbar must be installed separately. Don't install it.

[gojirasan]

Actually I didn't install it. Maybe wbar is not what I am talking about then. There is a small panel at the bottom center of the screen which has some icons that magnify as you mouseover() them in a similar way to the Mac OS X Dock. That is what i want to get rid of.

[gerald_clark]

That is wbar, and it is not part of microcore, or Xprogs.

[gojirasan]

Well that is very interesting then. I absolutely did not install wbar. I did all of my installs with ab at the command line. I would have remembered. Maybe it has something to do with the way I installed microcore. I installed microcore from a multicore CD and used "tcg" for the installation. Maybe when I added data persistence during the CD install it somehow installed a bunch of tinycore stuff on the disk. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I used all of the data persistence boot codes: home, opt, tce, and local. Maybe I can just uninstall wbar then. But if I have wbar installed then maybe I have the rest of tinycore extensions installed as well. I could try to uninstall those too. I am beginning to think I should attempt a fully manual reinstall without depending on any scripts.