xinitrc (was:Re: [techtalk] netscape woes)

Laurel Fan lf25+ at andrew.cmu.edu
Wed Nov 10 14:34:39 EST 1999


Excerpts from linuxchix: 10-Nov-99 Re: [techtalk] netscape woes by
Shahla Bright at yahoo.com 
> What if I decide not to use a desktop 
> environment at all? I was pretty happy with 
> plain old fvwm in a former life, but I don't
> know how to get back there.

So you'll want something like:

---cut here---
fvwm
---cut here---

or, since fvwm2 is better,

---cut here---
fvwm2
---cut here---

if you want to start up some programs, for example:

---cut here---
xterm -g 80x24+0+0 & #starts an xterm in the top left corner
xterm -g 80x24-0+0 & #starts an xterm in the top right corner
fvwm2
---cut here---

Basically, .xinitrc is a file that X (actually, xinit) runs.  When you
startx, it goes through each line and runs it, and X exits when it is
done reading the file.  That's why in the above example, the first two
lines are backgrounded, and the last line is not.  So, when you exit
fvwm2, the window manager, X will exit as well.  You can also do
something like this:

---cut here---
xterm -g 80x24-5+180 &
xterm -g 80x24+1280+180 &
xterm -g 80x24+0+1204 &
xterm -g 80x24+1280+1204 &

xclock -analog -hd violet -hl purple1 -bg black -fg white -geometry
120x120-1+1 &
xsetroot -solid "#8075A0" &
fvwm2 &
exec xterm -C -g 80x10+0+0 -title CONSOLE -n CONSOLE
---cut here---

Here, the windowmanager is backgrounded, and the last non-backgrounded
program is my console xterm.  So, when I exit the console xterm, X will
exit, and I can exit my windowmanager without exiting X.  Explaining the
rest of it:, the four xterm commands at the top start xterms on my four
virtual desktops (yes, I know there's a better way to do this), all
underneath the console xterm (in the upper left corner), which shows up
on all of the desktops, because I have "Style CONSOLE Sticky" in my
.fvwm2rc.  The xclock command starts up a clock in the upper right
corner.  The xsetroot command sets my background to a nice grayish
purple color, and the last xterm command starts my console xterm (-C
grabs console output).

Note:  If you use xdm and therefore don't have to type anything to start
x, this is done through .xsession.


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