gnome question

[Kenny Hitt]

Hi.

My point is that a display manager isn't the same is a window manager.
Basically, the display manager manages the Xservers, while the window
manager manages windows drawn on a specific display.

If you use "startx", then you don't want the display manager running on
the same work station.  If you do need to keep a display manager running
on that box, and you still want to use "startx", then you will have to
set environment vars to make sure the "startx" script launches an
Xserver on a display not managed by the display manager.

The behavior you see with Fedora is specific to Fedora.  If you want
Debian to use gdm, you will have to install it.  By default, the display
manager will be xdm.  Since the display manager is at the level of X,
kdm can just as easily be used.

You are correct that gdm is best designed for the Gnome desktop, but
using it isn't required and doesn't contribute as much toward
accessibility as the window manager will.  If you use the wrong window
manager, you could loose most keyboard shortcuts and some important
messages about changes in windows on the system.
Totem is a good example of this.  It shows the song playing in it's
title.  As the songs change on a mp3 streem, the title is updated.
Gnopernicus will read you the new title without you needing to do
anything because metacity is providing the info to gnopernicus.  If you
use a different window manager, you will likely loos this information.

Hope this helps.
          Kenny
	  
On Mon, May 02, 2005 at 12:45:44PM -0400, Janina Sajka wrote:
> Well, yes. But, gdm is the "Gnome Display Manager." And, you can
> correctly take the implication that the default windowing environment on
> Fedora is Gnome.
> 
> I have never heard of a distro shipping with kdm as the default display
> manager, and gnome as the default windowing environment, in other words.
> Nor have I heard of of any permutation of that.
> 
> Kenny Hitt writes:
> > Hi.
> > Gdm is a display manager, not a window manager.The difference is important.
> > I don't know what the default window manager is for Fedora, but
> > metacity will probably be best for accessibility.
> > 
> > Hope this helps.
> >           Kenny
> >