how to switch from gnome to kde

[rotezecke]

hi guys,
this is probably a stupid question, but how do it tell linux to boot the kde gui rather than the default gnome gui. i know both guis are installed, as i managed to start kde on top of gnome, which of course is not what i wanted.
cheers,
rotezecke

[jayd512]

I just had the same question a few days ago

This thread is what helped me.

[arochester]

Which distro are you using?

[rotezecke]

i use debian etch. which file is actually changed when you swap the GUI? it may sound wierd, but i would like to change the GUI, using text. but i dont know where to edit. cheers

[i92guboj]

i use debian etch. which file is actually changed when you swap the GUI? it may sound wierd, but i would like to change the GUI, using text. but i dont know where to edit. cheers

How do you start your X session?

If you use a display manager ([xkg]dm), then it's up to that application what wm to start. Some of them allow you to pick one when loging into your desktop.

If you use "startx", then the file ~/.xinitrc is sourced when starting your X session. So, you can launch your wm or desktop from there. You can launch more things as well if you want, but be sure that they are launched on background using '&'. The wm or desktop must be usually the last thing on that file, and that needs to go to the foreground, for example, if I want to launch kde and conky, I'd put this into my ~/.xinitrc

conky&
startkde