Q: How do I use a different window manager on Debathena?

Answer

The WINDOW_MANAGER environment variable, which worked under Athena 9, is no longer honored under Ubuntu 9.04

The answer to this varies depending on whether you are referring to Debathena cluster workstations or not.

Cluster workstations

On debathena-cluster, we have installed some common window managers such as Twm, Xmonad, and Window Maker, in addition to the default GNOME window mangers (Metacity and Compiz). If you wish to use one of these window managers, simply select it from the "Sessions" button at the bottom-left of the login screen prior to logging in.

Note: You will be prompted whether or not to select this option every time you log in. We recommend you choose "Just for this Session" until you're sure you like the new window manager.

Private workstations

The administrator of a private Debathena workstation may install whatever window managers they like. The easiest way to do this is to install the Ubuntu package for a window manager, if it's available. The package will automatically add the window manager to the list of session types at the login screen.

Custom .xsession

You may also write your own ~/.xsession script, to execute any number of arbitrary commands at login time, including starting any window managers. For more information, please see the Xsession man page.

Note: Incorrectly written ~/.xsession scripts can prevent you from logging in to Athena, or in some instances, can prevent you from logging out. We recommend you thoroughly test any ~/.xsession scripts on private workstations prior to using them on a regular basis. At the very least, your ~/.xsession script should test for the presence of executables before running them, and should leave you with at least one xterm (or the ability to start one) so you can recover from errors.