Xfce Forum

aarmin

Member

Registered: 2019-04-08

Posts: 1

Using Xfce4 Desktop client in conjunction with XSM

Disclaimer: I apologize if this is out of the scope of what this forum is for. Even if you can point me in the direction of some good documentation to begin with. That would be very helpful.

First things first: I am a linux n00b. I thought I was somewhat knowledgeable in my last job and now I realize that was all a lie. So just a heads up that my terminology might be questionable at best. Also, do not assume that the way I understand things is the way that they actually are.

I am using a linux system with Gentoo distro that has Xfce "installed". When the system boots, the X Session Manager (XSM) loads first for login. I am aware that I can also switch to the terminal using Ctrl+Alt+F1. I've looked through a few of these topics and gone through some settings, but I feel that my base knowledge is severely lacking to actually attempt any of the suggestions and not 100% sure if they even apply to me. I've looked through many of the config settings but not sure where to begin.

Anywho, if I try to run "startxfce4", it won't let me. Gives an error message:

"(EE)
Fatal server error
(EE)Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock 0 and start again..."

I find that I have to kill a series of particular processes (the XSM) seemingly in a particular order. Usually I spend a good 5 minutes guessing the correct order. If I kill the wrong process, it goes back to login and just takes me back to square one. Seems like you have to kill a particular process to prevent that and then kill the XSM. At that point, I can run startxfce4. I do this because it loads a saved desktop session (this is quite nice). I have a lot of files that I do not want to have open each time I open the desktop client. I have  run a particular command from the terminal which opens a window with the desktop client but does not save state.

Essentially, what I would like to do is avoid having to kill the X Session Manager altogether and simply be able to switch from Desktop mode to Terminal mode. Perhaps forego the XSM altogether. I am not sure if that is possible or ideal. I did try one thing which was to go into /root/.xinitrc and comment out the line that said "exec xfce4-session" and uncomment the line that said "exec startxfce4". This did not help.

I saw some suggestions along the lines of moving certain binaries into certain directories, and/or it might simply be as simple as editing a couple lines in the config shell scripts but I am afraid to do something I can't undo because as I previously mentioned, I am a n00b.

Thanks and sorry, in advance.

Last edited by aarmin (2019-04-08 16:54:09)

alcornoqui

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 832

Re: Using Xfce4 Desktop client in conjunction with XSM

Not a Gentoo user, just did some searches.

Did you notice this in the Gentoo wiki?:

Starting Xfce

Now that Xfce is now installed, we'll configure it to be the default desktop environment when we issue the startx command. Exit your root shell and log on as a regular user.

user $echo "exec startxfce4" > ~/.xinitrc

Note
If you have ConsoleKit installed, your ~/.xinitrc should instead contain exec startxfce4 --with-ck-launch. Otherwise, some of your applications may stop working. You'll also need to add consolekit to the default runlevel by running the following command as root: rc-update add consolekit default.

Now start your graphical environment by typing startx:

user $startx

Congratulations, and welcome to your new Xfce desktop environment. Go ahead, explore it a bit. Then continue reading to learn how you can configure Xfce to suit your needs.

Hope it helps, good luck!

Last edited by alcornoqui (2019-04-12 07:18:42)