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Okay I have Knoppix/Debian SID installed on the HD

I get a boot menu when the thing comes on that lets met login as a user or as root. I also get a choice of Window Managers.

I used apt-get to install gnome. It added gnome-session to my boot menu. :)

I used apt-get to install xfce4. It did not add a new item to my boot menu. :(

I still have xfwm listed on my boot menu but that launches xfce3. I tried removing xfce3 and then the boot menu and that didn't help. I've also reinstalled xfce4.

I have launched xfce4 from within another system (i.e. gnome) but I would rather use xfwm4 as the overall window manager (so that gnome or kde is not required).

How do I get the xfwm4 added to my boot menu?

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From XFce Online Docs

Running XFce 4

Use startxfce4 to start an XFce session; this includes the panel, the window manager and the desktop background manager. All programs, or symbolic links to programs, in ~/Desktop/Autostart/ will be run by startxfce4 on startup.

To customize the behaviour of startxfce4 copy ${sysconfdir}/xfce4/xinitrc to your personal ~/.xfce4/ directory and edit that file. If you install from source, ${sysconfdir} defaults to /usr/local/etc; for binary packages it is often set to /etc.

Alternatively, you can make your own ~/.xinitrc file or ~/.xsession if you use a graphical login manager.

The settings manager (xfce-mcs-manager) and the window manager run in 'daemon' mode which means they will run in the background. So don't add an '&' after the command. For xfwm4 you have to add the --daemon option when you run the program.

xfce-mcs-manager

xfwm4 --daemon

xftaskbar4 &

xfdesktop &

exec xfce4-panel

Just add any other apps you want to start before the 'exec xfce4-panel' line. End the lines with an '&' to put it in the background (unless the app can do that by itself).

If you want a safe environment to test all this, here is a script that starts an Xnest session with xfce4:

#!/bin/bash

Xnest :1 -name "Xfce4" +kb -ac &

export DISPLAY=:1

xsetroot -display :1 -solid darkblue &

xfce-mcs-manager

xfwm4 --daemon

xftaskbar4 &

xfdesktop &

exec xfce4-panel

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From XFce Online Docs

Running XFce 4

Use startxfce4 to start an XFce session; this includes the panel, the window manager and the desktop background manager. All programs, or symbolic links to programs, in ~/Desktop/Autostart/ will be run by startxfce4 on startup.

To customize the behaviour of startxfce4 copy ${sysconfdir}/xfce4/xinitrc to your personal ~/.xfce4/ directory and edit that file. If you install from source, ${sysconfdir} defaults to /usr/local/etc; for binary packages it is often set to /etc.

Alternatively, you can make your own ~/.xinitrc file or ~/.xsession if you use a graphical login manager.

Okay now xfce4 lauches along with xfce3. I suppose I could uninstall xfce3 and see if that leave xfce4.

However, I think I prefer xfce3. It seems much faster. Using the xfce4 file manager it takes several seconds to view the /usr/bin folder.

So I think I'm going to uninstall xfce4. Usually I'm a big believer in newer editions but xfce3 just seems leaner and meaner.

But thanks for your help. I now notice that the xfce4 entry in apt-get tells me that it was going to install the installed scripts. I guess I should have read things more carefully.

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