Ubuntu :: Switching Between Desktop Environments KDE & Unity?
May 12, 2011
currently i run both KDE and Ubuntu Unity 11.04 on my machine. I have encountered a little problem when switching desktop environments. With KDE, i prefer to use KWin as my windows manager (since i find it highly polished), and with Unity, compiz (not by choice). The problem is that if i don't switch the windows manager to compiz before switching over to unity, all hell breaks loose. Same with switching over from Unity to KDE.
The only solution i have found is to switch to Classic Ubuntu. and use the compiz fusion icon to select the windows manager in order to avoid any problems.
when i log onto the either KDE or Unity, how can i load the correct desktop environment in case it crashes (which it has)?
Note: this has also become a concern to me because of 11.10 removing the classic gnome. If the proper window manger can be loaded before entering the preferred desktop environment KDE, Gnome3 or Unity,
I have both xmonad and Gnome installed and tend to switch between them quite often. Normally, I need to log out and log back in which is starting to become annoying because I need to open any running applications again.I have tried using "Switch User", but it doesn't work. I go to the switching screen when I am logged into Gnome and log in again after selecting Xmonad, but it brings me back to my Gnome session.
So is there any way to log in as the same user with two different desktop environments at the same time?
is it would be possible create a Ubuntu dvd that contains the ubuntu server desktop and alternate install opptions, as well as all four main desktop environments (gnome, kde, xfce, lxde) and unity. since much of the data is redundant between each version cd's it would probably all fit on one disk. then all that would be needed is two disks one for 32 bit and another for 64 bit. i really think that this could work.
When switching users or logging out and then back in, the unity desktop will be shifted to the right, so that the clock, power button, etc. is off-screen. This does not happen every time, but seems to be about 50% of the time.It looks to be shifted about the width of the toolbar on the left, so that there is a blank column the width of the toolbar, then the toolbar. So, maybe some screen position data is not being reset at log out
I have installed Kubuntu 9.10 on my old laptop, and tho the graphics are nice, the performance is not spectacular.
Here's my system - humble but not too lousy either
CPU: Intel Pentium M 1.80GHz Memory: 512MB Graphics controller: ATI RV350 (Mobility Radeon 9600 M10)
So, I thought I'd like to test out other desktop environment, without too much bells and whistles, I am considering Xfce.
But I lack deeper Linux knowledge in order to complete this without messing up my system.
1) how to install the secondary DE properly, without hurting the existing DE?
2) How much duplication takes place, when one installs the secondary DE. Ie, will I need to reinstall, say, Firefox for the other DE? I guess KDE and Xfce definitely have different desktop managers, network managers, etc, so there will be some overhead because of this. Will I be able to install new apps and enjoy using them in both DEs, will their configs be the same?
I have two desktop environments installed on my Fedora pc. Here it is
[Code]...
Is it still possible to install other desktop environments despite already having installed KDE and GNOME? If I happen to install other desktop environments such as XFCE, LXDE, CDE, EDE, UDE, will I be able to use one particular environment by disabling the rest whenever needed
I found a link that shows how to switch 11.04 to Gnome [URL]. However, the same trick is not apparently available for going back to Unity. What would be the step(s) to revert back to Unity?
How do I switch from Unity to Gnome ? I have downloaded Gnome but cannot figure out how to make the switch. Unity is terrible and if I cannot switch back to Gnome I will have to switch Distros.
I got several WM/DE installed in my Ubuntu 11.04 Trying to switching them in login menu some works and some doesn't. when it doesn't work, it just comes back to login screen with black screen appearing for short time, almost flashing. LXDE did not work before, when I only had default DE comes with ubuntu and LXDE additionally installed. But now it seems it works after installing some other WM. WM doesn't work currently; IceWM, JWM.
I have an odd behavior where the Unity shell looks incorrect when switching windows with 3D cover-flow like behavior. I created a video to demonstrate:
[URL]
When I run unity_support_test, all appears well:
$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc. OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
I have been using docky lately (its a great app!) and I am just wondering if there is some way I can make it show all windows in an expose-like format if multiple windows are open, just like the Unity launcher. Is there any way I can achieve this without switching to Unity?
So I just updated my IdeaPad to Natty and played around with Unity. The performane was absolutely unbearable so I installed Unity2D from the software center. Now when I start the session everything seems to be fine at first. Whenever I move the mouse over the panel though it seems to switch to my old gnome-panel from the "Classic" session (with some missing icons). When I move the mouse over that panel again it switches back to the Unity panel style. What is going on? Can I fix this somehow? I will have to use the classic session until I get a working consistent behavior
I have my Unity desktop just how I like it, but sometimes I like to log in to the Gnome (Ubuntu Classic) desktop. However, I was playing around with CCSM while in Gnome and I've totally messed it up, I have the Gnome panels and also the Unity launcher, it's a total mess. Is there a way to reset my Gnome desktop to default without affecting my Unity desktop?
I started up my computer, the seccond time since i had installed ubuntu 11.04. My unity desktop was gone, and it was now the old desktop(classic). I tried to change it but it didn't work. Then i as i only saw one option i reinstalled ubuntu then it worked again and have since.
I am looking at switching from the 10.04 desktop version to the netbook remix version.I was wondering the easiest way to do this, and if I will lose all my files in the process.. I have an Acer Aspire One A0532H-2254 10.1" and a lot of Windows wont fit in my smaller screen, which is extremely frustrating.Also, if doing so would cause me to lose all my files, best way to back up about 56 Gigs of movies and music?
How can I disable the virtual desktop switching when my mouse gets close to the edge of the current desktop. I prefer to switch desktops by using the virtual desktop module in the shelf, but I would like to be able drag windows another desktop.
resource website for e17? I'm having trouble finding answers to my questions from the lack of guides provided for e17.
I successfully add a keyboard shorcut to launch konsole manually with khotkeys, but i don't know what command to bind to move to right, left, up, down desktops like in ubuntu.
For example in ubuntu there is ctrl+alt+arrow and ctrl+alt+shift+arrow to move through workspaces and move windows between them. Not so in kubuntu.
I have a question about switching between desktop environments like kde and gnome. I'm using ubuntu 10.04 with gnome 2.x and with a really cool theme I found and mixed. I would like to check kde desktop because I kinda like the appearance of it. I have also cairo dock and compiz configured for my needs. my question is whether I can switch to kde desktop without losing my customized gnome environment if I decide to switch back to gnome? (I know that to switch session you need to log out but that's not the point) the next question is how can I install kde without losing the customized gnome theme I have ?( if the answer for the first question is negative)
the final question is whether I lose data when I switch desktop and if do than what specifically.
So I have decided to switch to ubuntu since xp gave out on me. Everything seemed so easy during install untill it randomly shut off. It now does this during different stages of installation but never gets further than after entering my user details and beginning the install. Its not faulty hardware as boots into xp home ed fine. I want a full install of ubuntu only though.I have tried both 10.04 and 10.10 (32 bit) booting from Live CDs (3 diff copys, as was paranoid of probs with the iso download)
The hardwares largely unknown but easily ran xp media center previously a year or 2 before. I'm very confident its not underpowered for this.As you can probably tell I'm completely new to this and not overly technical. I have looked around and some things suggest a problem with graphics cards.
When I switch viewports in 11.04, the gnome panels, desktop and stickied windows slide when they would stay put in 10.10. How do I change back to the previous behaviour? I'm using Ubuntu Classic (Gnome 2) and love that Compiz didn't carry over my settings during the upgrade.
I recently tried out the awm version of the desktop environment. When I switched back to the Gnome desktop, I found a couple of titlebar-like artifacts left on the desktop.I did some experimenting, using System Monitor and the Kill xxxx command and managed to rid myself of one of the artifacts. The remaining artifact can be taken care of by using kill xxxx comand for the gtk-window-decorator but, this basically renders window buttons useless after the command is issued.
I think I had a couple applications running at startup in Gnome desktop before I switched to awm, and they didn't start at startup when I returned to Gnome desktop, but the titlebar-like artifacts did.Is there a way to reset the state of the gtk-window-decorator in a manner that is less destructive, and which allows my desktop to be clear of this artifact?
Im using xfce desktop environment in debian. I find that I can not see the desktop when using Ctrl+Alt+Tab to switch window focus. I modified /usr/share/xfce-mcs-plugins/shortcuts/defaults.xml and added Ctrl+Alt+Tab shortcut to trigger a terminal command "wmctrl -k on", then i could see the desktop, but failed to switch window focus. Also, I failed to solve this problem by editing /usr/share/themes/Default/xfwm4/keythemerc Could anybody tell me a solution that you should be able to see the desktop when switching window focus, just like in win7?
I frequently find myself accidentally switching desktops when I use the mouse scrollwheel, because the cursor isn't over a window at the time. I'd like to disable this behaviour, but I can't see any control for it in KDE System Settings.
I have 2 workspaces and when i switch to the 2nd one (either with Ctrl-Alt-Left or by clicking with the mouse) after loging in, the desktop freezes. I have to do a Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to kill the xserver and log in again. Removing the workspace switcher and adding it again does not solve the problem. And I can't find any message in the logs.
As my inspirations forced me to download Kde desktop on my Fedora12 with default gnome desktop. It took me whole night to get the big download by -
"Yum install @kde-desktop"
It got installed successfully.
What I did after that was -
"switchdesk kde"
...Voila...and strange thing happened. The gnome remained there but all the kde features started getting included in there like koffice, kopete etc . Now I waited for around 3 hrs. but only lower task bar of kde got installed and that too very unstable. So I thought of logging out and starting a new session with kde but It never got logged in again. It froze at boot time with Fedora logo, damn.
I have two kernels installed and configured at boot, one is 2.6.31.X (default) and the other is 2.6.32.X which I installed to get my BCM4312 wireless activated and all the activity being done on this.
I'm using ubuntu 11.4 ,during switching bitween ubunu, xubuntu, xfce desktop environment I lost my task bar. now I have no access to all the software.the only icons I can see are the ones I had on the desktop.
