issues in using KDE as window manager

[Mike Miller]

On Wed, 10 Mar 1999, Giorgos Petasis wrote:

> I have been using KDE under Vnc on Solaris 2.6 for about 1 year, and
> I can possible provide some help on this matter.
> First of all, you said that you downloaded some packages for Solaris,
> so I assume that you are using KDE 1.0. (I haven't heard about
> packages for KDE 1.1. Currently, I am using KDE 1.1...)

I seem to have 1.1.  It looks like it just came out (3 weeks ago, maybe).
I found the Solaris packages here:

ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/stable/1.1/distribution/pkg/

I'm using the Solaris 2.6 Sparc package.


> I have never used the ready packages for Solaris, I have compiled
> both KDE 1.0 and KDE 1.1 on my own. And I assure you that THERE IS NO
> DISPLAY SETTING in the startkde script.

OK.  That's good to know.  I'll just kill this line that came in the
packaged KDE 1.1:

DISPLAY=`hostname`:0.0


> The startkde script that comes with KDE 1.0 is the following:
> (kaudioserver and kwmsound where commented by me, because they don't
> work under Solaris :))
> 
> #!/bin/sh
> #kaudioserver &
> #kwmsound &
> kfm &
> kcontrol -init &
> kbgndwm &
> krootwm &
> kpanel &
> kwm

The last 6 lines of your startkde are identical to the last 6 lines of the
startkde that came with the package.


> Vnc correctly sets the DISPLAY variable to the proper display, and
> KDE read this and initializes properly. So you just have to remove
> any DISPLAY setting. Also, as you can see, kpanel and kwm are already
> called by this script, so by calling them twice, you only add load in
> your system, as they both recognize that they already are running and
> quit after a while. So the only call you need to have in the
> vnc xstartup file is "sh /usr/local/kde/bin/startkde &"
> I hope that I answered your questions :)

Yes!  That's exactly what I needed to know.  It all makes sense.


> My current vnc configuration is somewhat more complicated: When Vnc
> starts, It displays a selection window (script implemented in tcl/tk)
> from where the user can sellect what session to launch among KDE, CDE
> and Openwindows. Then it succesfully starts the selected session.
> Both KDE and CDE run without any problems under Vnc. The only problem
> with the Openwindows session is the absence of Adobe Postscript
> Display driver form the vnc Xserver (Xvnc) which prevents some
> applications (notably the ones that treat documentation..) from
> running. If anybody has a solution, or if anybody want any of these
> scripts, I am glad to provide them.

That brings up an interesting question.  Wouldn't it be very easy to edit
the vncserver script so that one might choose an xstartup file from one of
several stored in the vncUserDir as follows

vncserver -xstartup xstartkde :7
or
vncserver -xstartup xstartcde :7

Having looked at the script, I think I could do it, but I'm afraid I'd
make some kind of mistake.  I might try anyway, but if someone out there
who is more confident could do it, all the better for everyone.

I'd like to have your tcl/tk script.  I have tcl/tk installed on my
system, but I have never used it.  Changing the vncserver script as I
recommended above would have the advantage that tcl/tk would not be
needed.


> One final question: In the KDE Solaris packages, are you able to open
> *.tar.gz files with the window manager? I mean, if you click on
> them, did you get the contents or just an empty window???

(I assume you mean the file manager.)  I hadn't tried it until now.  The
answer is, the file manager window goes blank and no other window opens
up.  When I click on a *.txt.gz file, a text editor window pops up and
displays the text.  So it does automaticall gunzip on the fly but it
doesn't automatically tar tf.  I don't really care that much, but it would
be nice.  Is there anything I can do about it?


Thanks, George!

Mike

-- 
Michael B. Miller
University of Missouri--Columbia
http://taxa.psyc.missouri.edu/~mbmiller/


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