Xfce Forum

mabra

Member

Registered: 2015-09-05

Posts: 57

OS integration: Who is resonsible to configure the system start?

Hello !

My setup's (made two with this problem, each on debian jessie 8.5 with xfce4 4.10) dont invoke the
UI automatically - I strand always at the console and then use 'startx'.

This is bad, because, if I logout, I come back to the console. There, I log out too and login
with another user, which then has to apply 'startx'.

I found that this two computers are using 'graphical.target', which should be the right one.
If I change that to use 'multi-user.target' and isolate it, nothings changes. If I fix it to be
the default and reboot, there is no difference. Making the next, the second, change back
to the original 'graphical.target' and reboot, everythings is like before. So this have no
influence in any way !

I think, this is wrong.
What can I do to manage Ui startup with systemd (which is '215' on debian).
I never installed Xorg explicitely, which naturally is probabyl in the xfce4 dependencies.
But if I setup XFCE4, this should be manageble by systemd.

Any tips, hints or pointer to further information are really welcomed.

Best regards,
Manfred

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,484

Re: OS integration: Who is resonsible to configure the system start?

Generally speaking, its the Display Manager (xdm, lightdm, gdm, etc) that will start the desktop environment. If you are not using a display manager, then as you see, you only log into the console and have to "startx". You can automate that process by adding startx to your profile's initiation code.

For example, I use bash and no display manager. In my ~/.bash_profile file I have the following:

[[ -z $DISPLAY && $XDG_VTNR -eq 1 ]] && startx -- -keeptty -nolisten tcp

Upon login only on console 1 (tty1), the system will automatically run startx (with some parameters). This allows me the flexibility to automatically start Xfce when I log into console 1, but also allows me to drop to a bash prompt if I log in at any other virtual console.

At a very basic level, all you need to do is add "startx" to your shell's startup files to get the system to automatically start the desktop environment upon login.

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ranoutofusernames

Member

Registered: 2016-05-11

Posts: 12

Re: OS integration: Who is resonsible to configure the system start?

My setup's (made two with this problem, each on debian jessie 8.5 with xfce4 4.10) dont invoke the
UI automatically - I strand always at the console and then use 'startx'.

Install lightdm, that provides you with a login screen and makes GUI login standard on tty7 on debian.

apt-get install lightdm

then on first install you might need to restart it.

systemctl restart lightdm

mabra

Member

Registered: 2015-09-05

Posts: 57

Re: OS integration: Who is resonsible to configure the system start?

Hi !

Many thanks.
I read a lot, but have no clear picture, why there should be so manay "managers"
(from my jobs perspective, something, which is not working).
I thought xfwm is the right manager, but it is for managing windows.

But I have to wait - need to understand X, XMCP, XPRA, etc. pp.
Usually, nothing has the neccessary features .... I'll need to be
able to login remotely too.
xrdp was the choice for a long time (v0.6, without any sharing, cut&pase),
which is no longer accaptable for me. The new version, 0.9, fails to run
on 4 of 5 machines. In opposite for Virtualbox, which has the right, seemless
desktop integration (locally, naturally !), I am looking for the same with
remote machines. Most of the time, I'll use machines from other places
which works well with windows rdp - this time, my workstation will be
linux and I'll take over the screen in my laboratory .....

But thanks any, I'll keep for info in mind!

Manfred

mabra

Member

Registered: 2015-09-05

Posts: 57

Re: OS integration: Who is resonsible to configure the system start?

Hi !

For my servers, not having auto-start for X/XFCE is full ok.

For my new workstation I would prefer to use a display manager. I am seeing, that "lightdm"
is already present on some other of my computers (all with problems ..) and I installed
lightdm now. This happened inside a VMs (Virtualbox), which I exceptionally installed from
a debian expert install - this contains no lightdm - the other VMs and physic were installed
from Live-USB. After lightdm is installed, this box has the same strange errors. I was working
three days on that dilemma, because I don't undnerstand all dependencies in Linux. Finally,
to keep the story short, I removed lightm and have no errors, but the package maintainers
additional evidence for an already reported bug (and now, setup of VMs for LXC works now!) ...

Because I am oriented to use XDMCP/XRDP/XPRA, I am asking, which other recommendation
someone may give me. In this context I hear many bad things .... The Wikipedia has a huge
list, but I want to use something, which fit's best to XFCE.

(added shortly later) There was the user-switching plugin - which relation does it has to this theme ?

Thanks so far,
Manfred

Last edited by mabra (2016-08-19 04:30:05)