It seemed pointless having the Gnome desktop when I never use it, and I am already logged on to my PC so I have set it up to automatically log me on and start up an xterm.
Note: Some of the commands below need to be run as root.
1. First get rid of nome and gdm.
su
apt-get remove gdm
- reboot
su
apt-get autoremove
exit
2. Set up X to run an xterm automatically.
Create the file ~/.xsession and add the following line to it:
exec xterm -display 10.1.1.3:.0.0
where 10.1.1.3 is the IP address of your Windows PC that you run VMware from.
Note: You can run any GUI program from here, most will take an argument of --display.
3. Set up your login to run X-windows automatically and shutdown linux when you exit.
Edit ~/.bashrc and add the following to the end (see http://it.dennyhalim.com/2008/10/linux-automatic-login-startx-and.html):
if [ $(tty) == "/dev/tty1" ]; then startx /sbin/halt fi4. Set up halt so that anyone can run it.
su chmod +s /sbin/halt
5. Configure your Linux startup to automatically log you on:
suapt-get install mingetty
Edit /etc/inittab, remove the /sbin/getty line for tty1 and add in its place:
exec /sbin/mingetty --autologin replacewithyourusername tty1
Now when you start Linux it will automatically log you on and an xterm will pop up on your Windows desktop.
(Note: I am now using VirtualBox with the guest additions which works
nicely on Windows 7. It won't grab the mouse and you can even cut and
paste between Windows and Linux.)
In the above set up I did not need a window manager because I am using Xming on windows and this provides the window manager.
ReplyDeleteTo have a similar setup on a real PC (i.e. not using VMware) I have install fluxbox (apt-get install fluxbox) and then add 'exec fluxbox &' as the first line of the .xsession file.
If you don't use a window manager you get windows with no borders and you cannot resize them or switch between windows.