Questions related to the general behaviour or configuration of desktop environments, especially in cases involving several DEs. For questions specific to one DE, see the associated tags (eg. [gnome], [kde], ...).
Questions tagged [desktop-environment]
543 questions
214
votes
3 answers
How to install Desktop Environments on CentOS 7?
I have recently installed CentOS 7 (Minimal Install without GUI) and now I want to install a GUI environment in it.
How can I install Desktop Environments on previously installed CentOS7 without reinstalling it?
αғsнιη
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85
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4 answers
Windows Managers vs Login Managers Vs Display Managers Vs Desktop Environment
I posted a question and noticed people weren't distinguishing correctly between many of these things: Windows Managers vs Login Managers Vs Display Managers Vs Desktop Environment. Can someone please clear this up, i.e. tell us the difference…
ptrcao
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74
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5 answers
What is D-Bus practically useful for?
dbus is supposed to provide "a simple way for applications to talk to one another".
But I am still not sure what it is useful for, practically. I have never seen a situation where dbus is useful, I only see warnings that some dbus component has…
400 the Cat
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49
votes
2 answers
Difference between Xorg and Gnome/KDE/Xfce
I want to learn more about UNIX systems and I think I have a pretty straight forward question. I think I know what X is used for: It gives a standard to applications to present their UI's (among other things).
But why then is there a need for…
RenX
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34
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11 answers
Screen corruption after hibernate — Is there another way to refresh the X11 display?
When I restore from hibernate the screen is often corrupted. I suspect the graphics memory is not being saved. Suspend-to-ram works fine otherwise.
It also looks like the font-cache is corrupted, as all letters are corrupted consistently. The effect…
ctrl-alt-delor
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34
votes
1 answer
How does xdg-open do its work
According to the man page, xdg-open will open a file using the application the user has configured. But how is that application actually determined? I can see no config files associated with xdg-utils, so where are my settings stored and how can I…
MvG
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29
votes
5 answers
How can I disable the shutter sound of gnome-screenshot?
After a recent update of my LMDE, the gnome-screenshot tool started making an annoying camera shutter noise every time a screenshot is taken. This is both annoying and startling (especially if you happen to be wearing earphones when taking the…
terdon
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29
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11 answers
Lightest way to run GUI applications in Linux?
I realized I can use a window manager without a desktop environment and don't lose any functionality I care about. Applications still work fine, I can still arrange application windows as I please.
This pretty much eliminates the need for…
phunehehe
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28
votes
2 answers
Debian Desktop Environment in Installer
I have researched the heck out of this question and found two pages about the issue but not clarifying it.
In the debian-installer during the optional software selection phase you have these options:
Debian desktop environment (already ticked by…
mas
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26
votes
9 answers
How to detect the desktop environment in a bash script?
I am writing a bash script that needs to know which desktop environment (XFCE, Unity, KDE, LXDE, Mate, Cinnamon, GNOME2, GNOME3,... ) is running.
How can I obtain that information?
Serge Stroobandt
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25
votes
4 answers
How to change the default filemanager of the Cinnamon desktop?
I'm running an Arch Linux machine with the cinnamon-git desktop from the Arch User Repository.
The default filemanager is Nautilus, is there any way to change the default filemanager to thunar?
febLey
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24
votes
4 answers
Is there an "open with" command for the command line?
Does the command line have a way to get a recommended list of programs used to open a particular file, based on the file type? For example, a .pdf file would have an open with... recommendation using the programs Evince and Document Viewer.
I use…
modulitos
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20
votes
1 answer
How to determine which desktop environment is installed from the shell?
The only Desktop Environment I ever used was Xfce, now for sheer curiosity, I installed Kali Linux. I clicked here and there on the Desktop in a vain hope to get info about the Environment itself. Is there a standard procedure to check the name of…
sharkant
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19
votes
2 answers
Correctly setting environment
I'm using zsh and gdm to run gnome. Some time ago I discovered that variables are not set correctly. For example LANG/LC_ALL are incorrect ("" instead of en_GB.UTF-8).
I split the .zshrc into .zshrc and .profile. In the latter I set the environment…
Maciej Piechotka
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18
votes
1 answer
Understanding linux desktop
I use debian wheezy xfce and want to set up my desktop. But I read some settings are redundant. Hence I want to understand how everything works, but I am massively lost. Can someone please sort, complete and entitle the following list and explain me…
ManuelSchneid3r
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