Fedora™ Unleashed, 2008 edition

Another X session starts. To jump to the first X session, press Ctrl+Alt+F7. You use Ctrl+Alt+F8 to return to the second session. If you exit the current session and go to another text-based login or shell, you use Alt+F7 or Alt+F8 to jump to the desired session.

Using startx is a flexible way to launch X sessions, but multiple sessions can be confusing, especially to new users, and are a horrific resource drain on a system that does not have enough CPU horsepower and memory. A better approach is to use multiple workspaces, also known as virtual desktops, as discussed in the following section.

Using Fedora's switchdesk Client

You can use Fedora's switchdesk client to change the default window manager or desktop environment such as GNOME or KDE. Most desktop environments also include the capability to save a session state (such as running applications, the applications' window sizes and positions, and so on), using a feature known as session management.

You can also use the switchdesk utility when running X or at a text-based console, along with a keyword (such as GNOME or KDE), to set the default X desktop before launching X. For example, to specify that you want to use the KDE desktop environment as the default, you use switchdesk like this:

$ switchdesk KDE
Red Hat Linux switchdesk 4.0
Copyright (C) 1999-2004 Red Hat, Inc
Redistributable under the terms of the GNU General Public License
Desktop now set up to run KDE.
For system defaults, remove /home/andrew/.Xclients

This example shows that the default X session will now use KDE. Settings are saving in the file named .Xclients in the home directory. You can launch switchdesk during an X session by clicking the Desktop Switching Tool menu item from the System, Preferences menu. You get a graphical dialog offering a choice of window managers for X sessions (depending on the window managers that are installed on the system), as shown in Figure 3.10.

FIGURE 3.10 You use switchdesk to set the default window manager for X sessions.

Choosing a window manager is a matter of preference, necessity, or policy. You might prefer to use one of the other window managers — such as the Tab Window Manager (twm) or Xfce — on legacy PCs because they have lower system resource requirements (that is, they require less hard drive space, CPU horsepower, and system memory). Newer desktop environments require 256MB or even more memory for good performance. The following sections describe some of the most popular window managers and their uses.

KDE — The Other Environment

One of the great things about Fedora is the choice it gives you. For many years, GNOME has been the desktop environment of choice for Fedora. However, with Fedora 8 you can now download a Live CD variant of Fedora that allows you to use the K Desktop Environment, or KDE for short.

KDE is somewhat different from GNOME in that it uses the QT libraries rather than GTK libraries, so the windows and other elements look different. Linus Torvalds himself expressed a distinct preference for KDE, and it also helps that KDE allows you to customize your working environment in pretty much any way imaginable.

If you used the DVD supplied with this book to install Fedora and did not choose to customize your installation, you need to use Applications, Add/Remove Software to select the base packages for KDE.

Figure 3.11 shows a standard KDE desktop.

FIGURE 3.11 Unlimited customization options abound within KDE; just be prepared to switch!

Fedora uses GNOME by default, but you can use the switchdesk utility as described in the previous section to move to KDE. Alternatively, you can use the Options button on the login screen, click Select Session, and choose KDE. When you log in, you are prompted whether you want to use KDE as your default environment or just for this session. If you are dipping your toes into the water, we suggest using the one-time-only option.

Xfce

Xfce is another desktop environment, suitable for computers with not much memory or processing power. It's based on the same GTK libraries that are in use by GNOME, so it shares some of the look and feel of the GNOME desktop. That said, it comes bundled with a number of Xfce-specific applications to replace GNOME tools such as nautilus.

Some people just prefer the simplicity of Xfce, so we leave it up to you if you want to use it. You can access it in the same way as KDE (described previously) and a sample desktop is shown in Figure 3.12.

FIGURE 3.12 Xfce — lightweight and simplicity, molded together in a great package.

Related Fedora and Linux Commands

You can use these commands to create and configure the X Window System in Fedora:

> Xorg — The X server that is provided with the X Window System distribution from The X.Org Foundation

> mouseconfig — Fedora's text-based GUI pointing-device configuration program

> kcontrol — The KDE Control Center client

> system-config-display — Fedora's graphical X11R7 configuration tool

> system-config-mouse — Fedora's graphical mouse configuration tool

> gdmsetup — The GNOME display manager configuration client

> startx — A shell script used to start one or more X sessions from the shell command line

> xsri — A display manager root desktop decoration client

Reference

> http://www.x.org/ — Curators of the X Window System.

> http://www.x.org/Downloads_mirror.html — Want to download the source to the latest revision of X? Start at this list of mirror sites.