Configuring KDM and GDM
The First Display
Both KDE and GNOME have display
managers.We’ll look at the features
offered by KDM and GDM,and we’ll
examine how to configure a display
manager for your Linux system.
On many systems, the display or
login manager is the first GUI
program the user sees. Most
major distributions automatically launch
the X Window system. Users type their
names and passwords to log on and
select an environment. They can often
select other options, such as an option
for shutting down or rebooting.
KDM, by the KDE project, and its
Gnome counterpart GDM are the most
popular display managers, but there are
a number of alternatives, such as the
legacy XDM or the small-footprint WDM
managers. The login manager has no
influence on the desktop the machine
runs; even the biggest KDE fans could
still use GDM to log on to the system and
launch their favorite environment. The
only disadvantage is that installing GDM
puts a lot of Gnome libraries
on your hard disk, taking up
valuable storage space. This
article explains how to change
the display manager on
Fedora Core 2, Suse Linux 9.1,
and Mandrake Linux 10.0,
and how you can add window
managers to the drop-down
list.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.