Running GUI applications without GNOME or KDE

[tiziano-m]

I woluld like to know if it is possible to run a GUI application that uses high resolution display without having to lounch the desktop system such GNOME or KDE.
Just have one graphic application running like for example "Mozzilla Firefox" and that being the only application on the screen.
It's that possible? And if it is, can you tell me how to do it?
Thanks a lot.

[Javasnob]

It's very possible. Just adjust your .xinitrc accordingly and make sure a display manager isn't running.

[apoorv_khurasia]

Your .xinitrc by default contains a command to launch a display manager and the tty reserved for it. Make sure it does not contain a command such as

exec startkde

[Javasnob]

That's not necessarily true; most systems run the display manager as root (in fact, I'm fairly certain that most display managers won't let you run them as non-root) and as a system service. For example, running gdm for me on Arch would be something like running /etc/rc.d/gdm start, or adding gdm to my rc.conf file.

So what you need to do is disable the display manager (if you're using Arch, remove it from rc.conf), and edit $HOME/.xinitrc to exec firefox or whatever you want to do.

[tiziano-m]

Hi guys, I'm running Debian I already disabled the desktop manager, so I'm in my bash shell (if I need the desktop I type 'startx').
Back to the pure shell if I type the name of a GUI executable from the pure bash I get an error message complaining about the display.
Now the question is: how or what other component do I need to invoke togheter with the GUI application that allows to use the high resolution display to run that single application?
Thanks

[apoorv_khurasia]

I would suggest to make a script with the following contents ..lets call this script klaunch (k being the initial of my family name )

#!/bin/bash
rm ~/.xinitrc
echo exec $1 > ~/.xinitrc
startx

Add this script in your path (or place it in /usr/bin)
Now to start firefox we would say

klaunch firefox

To launch kde say

klaunch startkde

In fact if you want uniformity you can declare cases and then use shortcuts!!!

[tiziano-m]

Hi apoorv, thanks for your help, I tried your suggestion and it worked !!
It works with Firefox and others, but for some reason it doesn't work with rdesktop (the termnal services client to control a MS Windows machine)
I tried it with -g 1024x768 (geometry) option and also -f (full screen). [those options work fine if I start it from the Gnome desktop]
It just fails from the pure bash, and the error message gets lost when it comes back to text mode.
I guess rdesktop accesses X in a different way than other applications?
Any clues?
Thanks.