Trying to use a different window manager
  • colincolin
    PMPosts: 17
    I wanted to try out a different window manager (or three), but ran into problems. This is on 12.04.5 32bit on an Asus Eee PC 1000HE (1). I've never changed a window manager before.

    Summary



    1. The window manager setting in Menu>Preferences>Desktop Session Settings/“Advanced Options” seems to not work, or I'm using it wrong somehow.
    2. I worked around #1 by editing desktop.config files, which worked for fluxbox but caused breakage with i3 and pekwm.


    Details



    I went to Menu>Preferences>Desktop Session Settings/“Advanced Options” and replaced "openbox-lxde" with the package name of the window manager I wanted to try, but when I logged out and back in, LXLE still used openbox.

    I found an old LXDE thread where the poster had the same problem. They figured out this:

    I got two folders in .config/lxsession, each containing a desktop.config file. One folder called LXDE, where in desktop.config already compiz was defined as window manager (probably again because of desktop session settings) and one called Lubuntu, where still Openbox was selected. Changed the second one to Compiz, now everything is working as it should.


    So I looked in ~/.config/lxsession and found those 2 folders plus some for the LXLE paradigms. I checked desktop.config in both Lubuntu and LXDE (I assume one of them is for the XP paradigm, which is the one I modified, since there isn't a separate folder for it), and the one in LXDE only had this in it:



    [session]

    window_manager=fluxbox


    (actually I found something else at first, but that's maybe a side issue)

    Nervously, I went into the Lubuntu folder's desktop.config and changed "windows_manager/command=openbox" to "windows_manager/command=fluxbox", logged out & back in, and -- it worked!

    But neither pekwm nor i3 worked. Windows had no title bar or buttons (i3 doesn't have buttons anyway, but pekwm is supposed to); clicking windows did not raise or focus them; windows didn't show up in the taskbar; and I had to close PCManFM to type in Gedit. With i3 the windows all floated, so I think LXLE didn't use either pekwm or i3 when I told it to, and maybe I was seeing some kind of bad openbox fallback?

    If anyone can help me solve these mysteries, I would greatly appreciate it :)

    Probably not important, but:



    • I found no reference in either desktop.config to "openbox-lxde", only "openbox".
    • The LXDE folder had no autostart file like the other folders have.
    • In this other LXLE window manager thread, I see that they had to enter "compiz ccp", and in Synaptic I see that there is no openbox-lxde package, so maybe I need to put something after the window manager's package name? I also saw the advice to run "compiz --replace" afterward, but I don't see any similar option in the i3 man page, and neither fluxbox nor pekwm have a man page.


    Notes



    1. This is my backup computer that I'm testing on before upgrading my main one, which is an Acer Aspire One waiting for an overdue upgrade from 12.04 to 14.04 64bit.
    2. I found no reference in *either* desktop.config to the WM I'd set. While writing about it, I looked at those files again for reference and found the situation described above. I don't know if something changed during the many login/logouts I've done, or if I accidentally looked in the wrong folder before.


    Edits

    2015-07-04: Yikes, the forum makes code and pre tags unreadable and h2 tags hard to read. Sorry, changed to bold and highlighted respectively. Hopefully fixed the terrible spacing, too.

    1. hedon_jameshedon_james
      PMPosts: 24
      I see this thread is over a year old, and I assume you've long since moved on.  But I just found it today and thought I'd post a solution for others who may be interested in trying different window managers with LXDE-based distros.

      I've been tinkering with different ways to do this for about a year now, and I kludged together some workarounds, but they're inelegant and buggy.  The solution was eventually found on the Arch Wiki when I was researching all the information I could for the LXDE meta-package, Openbox, Fluxbox, PekWM, IceWM, and several other lightweight window managers.  Bottom line....you are working way too hard dude (and so was I).  The solution is so simple, I had to smack myself in the forehead in a Homer Simpson "doh" moment.  Simply type "windowmanager --replace" (note the 2 dashes before "replace") in a terminal to replace Openbox with "windowmanager".  For instance "fluxbox --replace" will replace Openbox with fluxbox; "pekwm --replace" will replace the current manager with PekWM.

      Download the window manager you are interested in, such as fluxbox, pekwm, etc...  Openbox is already there by default, but fluxbox and pekwm are closely related and very similar, and work very well as replacement window managers, with very little effort.  For temporary selections, see the above for "windowmanager --replace" in a terminal.  For a longer-term solution, the key is the autostart file (GUI) of LXDE distros.  With your window manager of choice downloaded (I like fluxbox and pekwm), right click your desktop for the Desktop Settings GUI (or navigate through the menu) and find the autostart tab (3rd from top).  Add an entry to the autostart list exactly like your terminal command:  "fluxbox --replace" or "pekwm --replace", without quotes.  Once they're in your list, remove the checkbox from the one you DON'T want to start, and the ignore character "#" will be placed at the beginning of that command line.  That's it!

      If both are checked, Openbox will run as default (just like it does before you did anything).  If you uncheck "fluxbox --replace", Openbox will run as the default window manager of LXDE (as well as the appurtenant LXsession services & scripts), then will be immediately replaced with Fluxbox.  Same thing for PekWM if you uncheck "pekwm --replace"...openbox starts, LXDE scripts & services start, then immediately replaced by PekWM.  Be careful to check/comment what you DON'T want to run; if you leave all the window manager entries uncheck, they will start in succession (in the order they appear in the autostart file) and replace each other:  Openbox 1st, then replaced by WindowManager #2, then replaced by WindowManager #3, etc...

      It's not a big deal, it just won't look like the window manager/theme you're expecting.  Simply open the terminal and type "windowmanager --replace" for the one you want, and fix the entry in the Desktop Appearance GUI for the next time you boot.

      Instead of distro-hopping, I recommend window manager-hopping!  ENJOY!
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