On Mon, 16 Sep 2013 13:57:54 -0500 Richard Owlett <rowl...@cloud85.net> wrote:
> > > > > >> 2. Given that internet is effectively non-existent and > >> internal/external disk space is effectively unlimited, how can I > >> make as many as possible of the DE &/or WM on the distribution DVD > >> simply available to experiment with? > > > > apt-get install [metapackage name] for each of them. There's no > > restriction to only having one installed at a time, you know. > > > > I hoped/suspected apt-get was the answer. But that why I phrased > it in an open ended manner. > > An implied questions include: > how do I switch between them while comparing? Your GUI login screen (display manager) will normally offer session options. I use kdm, though I don't have the full KDE installed. Try: update-alternatives --list x-session-manager to see what sessions should be available. Using x-window-manager after --list will, as you might expect, show you the list of available window managers. I currently have blackbox, icewm, openbox, twm, xfwm4 and metacity, though I think the last is a hangover from when I used to run Gnome. The display manager will usually allow the option of making the chosen session the default one or not, the latter being more useful when experimenting. The /etc/X11 directory contains a lot of things that are useful to study, including the configuration information for xterm, if you use that. > will thy potentially interfere with each other? > Maybe. This isn't a pre-digested, *integrated* operating system, so it is possible. The intention of course is otherwise, each DE should have completely separate configuration information, though they all run the same applications, and two or more may use the same window manager. I recently had a hiccup in LXDE, making it difficult to use. No problem: I had most of Xfce installed, and I added the rest using the metapackage and just selected it at login time. As it happens, both LXDE and Xfce use the openbox window manager by default, but impose their own sets of configurations. There can be subtleties, particularly with regard to menus. I like the Debian menu sub-tree, as it contains bits and pieces that the main menu structure misses (presumably old stuff that doesn't have the currently-standard menu installation hooks). LXDE in particular has an aversion to it. My main workstation does have it (I'm back on LXDE) but another sid LXDE installation doesn't, and when I have an hour or two to spare I try to work out why not. I do know I had to do some work to get it in my main workstation menu. NOTE: log everything you do. I don't. Remember that even while using one DE, you can usually make use of many of the features or preferred applications of others. It does mean that you need a lot of libraries installed, but they are mostly pretty tiny, and as you say, drive space is fairly cheap and abundant. A minimal installation might, for example, use PCManFM as the default file manager, but I happen to like the rather heavyweight Nautilus, similarly for leafpad and gedit. -- Joe -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20130917193256.0e8d8...@jretrading.com
