Hi all,

I've had a bit of unix/linux command-line experience, and now I've installed
Debian on a spare home computer next to my windows box, which I'm getting
tired of.  I'm having pretty good luck with getting everything working, and
I like using it. But I need a nice, friendly place to get answers to
questions, and learn new things without wading through the wreckage of
religious wars.  This forum looks pretty good, so I thought I'd give it a
try.

My first question has to do with desktop environment questions.

I started with the default gnome, and wanted to try out KDE, which has some
nice features and apps. After trying both, I think I may want to stick with
gnome - for one thing, it recognizes the extra buttons on my cheap logitech
keyboard, such as volume control, and a few web buttons, but KDE doesn't
seem to, as far as I can see.

But I do like Kontact, the email/organizer program much better than gnome's
(Evolution?).  I also occasionally like to use Konqueror in file browser
mode.

My questions...
1.  Is there an easy way to hide all those KDE apps in the menu?  I've been
moving them into sub-menus, but it's a bit slow.  Can I uninstall KDE, but
still use selected KDE apps?
2.  Is there a penalty running a KDE app under gnome?

I thought I had seen a command or program that would hide one or the other
set of programs, but I can't find it now.

Also, are there any keyboard macro programs that will work independently of
the desktop env?  Under windows, I had one that could take a combination of
keystrokes to create a macro (like ".h " could expand to "hello world", for
example - useful because you don't normally type a period and then a
character with no space).

Thanks for any tips you can offer.

--
Marty - public.forums @ gmail . com
"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them...
well, I have others."   - Groucho Marx

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Tue, 08 May 2007 15:29:52 -0700, Marty wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've had a bit of unix/linux command-line experience, and now I've install
ed
> Debian on a spare home computer next to my windows box, which I'm getting
> tired of.  I'm having pretty good luck with getting everything working, an
d
> I like using it. But I need a nice, friendly place to get answers to
> questions, and learn new things without wading through the wreckage of
> religious wars.  This forum looks pretty good, so I thought I'd give it a
> try.
>
> My first question has to do with desktop environment questions.
>
> I started with the default gnome, and wanted to try out KDE, which has som
e
> nice features and apps. After trying both, I think I may want to stick wit
h
> gnome - for one thing, it recognizes the extra buttons on my cheap logitec
h
> keyboard, such as volume control, and a few web buttons, but KDE doesn't
> seem to, as far as I can see.
>
> But I do like Kontact, the email/organizer program much better than gnome'
s
> (Evolution?).  I also occasionally like to use Konqueror in file browser
> mode.
>
> My questions...
> 1.  Is there an easy way to hide all those KDE apps in the menu?  I've bee
n
> moving them into sub-menus, but it's a bit slow.  Can I uninstall KDE, but
> still use selected KDE apps?

You should be able to uninstall KDE and then selectively install the
components you want. Installing components will pull in required
libraries, etc. but not all the other components.

> 2.  Is there a penalty running a KDE app under gnome?

no.

>
> I thought I had seen a command or program that would hide one or the other
> set of programs, but I can't find it now.
>
> Also, are there any keyboard macro programs that will work independently o
f
> the desktop env?  Under windows, I had one that could take a combination o
f
> keystrokes to create a macro (like ".h " could expand to "hello world", fo
r
> example - useful because you don't normally type a period and then a
> character with no space).
>
> Thanks for any tips you can offer.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Somewhere around Tuesday 08 May 2007 07:18 pm, while hiding out in
alt.os.linux.debian, ray wrote:

> On Tue, 08 May 2007 15:29:52 -0700, Marty wrote:
> 
>
> You should be able to uninstall KDE and then selectively install the
> components you want. Installing components will pull in required
> libraries, etc. but not all the other components.
> 
>
> no.

Great, that's what I was hoping.  

I've gone to great pains to move most of the kde items to their own submenu,
so I'll wait a little while, and try some of them out to see if some are
useful before getting rid of them.  By the time I try them all, there will
probably be a new version!

By the way, I tried choosing "Metacity" at the login screen, but every time
I've done this, it comes up with a blank screen, and I have to reboot.  Am
I missing something?

Thanks for the help.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Marty Fried said:
<snip>
> By the way, I tried choosing "Metacity" at the login screen, but every tim
e
> I've done this, it comes up with a blank screen, and I have to reboot.  Am
> I missing something?
>

Do ctrl+alt+backspace instead of whacking the file system with a
forced boot. You'll find yourself at a command line interface (CLI)
after pressing those keys but wait about 30 seconds, I guess, and the
login screen will reappear.

I haven't done anything with metacity yet I would suppose one most set
up a config file or something. What you may not know is that the Gnome
log in is a metacity all set up - as I understand.

--
sk8-365

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Somewhere around Tue, 8 May 2007 23:30:53 -0600, while reading
alt.os.linux.debian, I think I thought I saw this post from sk8-365
<sk8-365@sk8r.invalid.org>:

>Marty Fried said:
><snip> 
>
>Do ctrl+alt+backspace instead of whacking the file system with a
>forced boot. You'll find yourself at a command line interface (CLI)
>after pressing those keys but wait about 30 seconds, I guess, and the
>login screen will reappear.
>
>I haven't done anything with metacity yet I would suppose one most set
>up a config file or something. What you may not know is that the Gnome
>log in is a metacity all set up - as I understand.

Thanks; I assumed that because it was already present as an option on the
login screen, that it was ready to use.  I probably would rather make sure
I'm not using it than actually use it, but I wanted to see the various
options.  I personally like more choices, not fewer.

How can I tell what windows manager I'm running?

-- Marty Fried - public.forums @ gmail . com

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Wed, 09 May 2007 08:46:39 -0700, Marty wrote:

> Somewhere around Tue, 8 May 2007 23:30:53 -0600, while reading
> alt.os.linux.debian, I think I thought I saw this post from sk8-365
> <sk8-365@sk8r.invalid.org>:
> 
>
> Thanks; I assumed that because it was already present as an option on the
> login screen, that it was ready to use.  I probably would rather make sure
> I'm not using it than actually use it, but I wanted to see the various
> options.  I personally like more choices, not fewer.
>
> How can I tell what windows manager I'm running?
>
> -- Marty Fried - public.forums @ gmail . com

ps -ef | grep wm

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Somewhere around Wednesday 09 May 2007 10:33 am, while hiding out in
alt.os.linux.debian, ray blurted out:

> On Wed, 09 May 2007 08:46:39 -0700, Marty wrote: 
>
> ps -ef | grep wm

Well, that wasn't very useful.  I just got:
marty     6315  6292  0 21:21 pts/0    00:00:00 grep wm
where marty is my login name.

But, I ran gnome-system-monitor and it lists metacity as running (well,
actually, sleeping).  The command line is:
/usr/bin/metacity --sm-client-id=default0

So, I guess I must be running it; is this the default wm?  Is there another
one that might be interesting?

BTW, what is the 'f' option for ps?  the help only showed 'F'; I didn't see
a lowercase f.

Thanks,
-- Marty Fried
public.forums @ gmail . com

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Marty Fried said:
>
> So, I guess I must be running it; is this the default wm?  Is there anothe
r
> one that might be interesting?
>

Gnome is the default. There are several GUI to chose from:
http://tinyurl.com/643b3
--
sk8-365

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Marty Fried said:
> So, I guess I must be running it; is this the default wm?  Is there anothe
r
> one that might be interesting?

sk8-365 writes:
> Gnome is the default.

Gnome is a "desktop environment", not a window manager.  I believe that the
default Gnome window manager is Metacity.

> There are several GUI to chose from:
> http://tinyurl.com/643b3

The GUI is The X Window System.  There are several "desktop environments"
available in Debian and many window mamagers.  Of course, you can run
whatever combination of window manager and other applications you choose.
You are not forced to select a "desktop envirironment" and then run only
applications written for it.
--
John Hasler

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

John Hasler said:
>
> Gnome is a "desktop environment", not a window manager.  I believe that th
e
> default Gnome window manager is Metacity.
> The GUI is The X Window System.  There are several "desktop environments"
> available in Debian and many window mamagers.  Of course, you can run
> whatever combination of window manager and other applications you choose.
> You are not forced to select a "desktop envirironment" and then run only
> applications written for it.

John, I knew somebody would say something about my loose use of the
word "GUI" - I didn't wish to bother detailing the differences.
--
sk8-365

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]