Using lightDM with xfce

[trevva]

Hi,

I have LM 13 Maya with Xfce installed on a 32bit laptop. I have recently uninstalled MDM and replaced it with LightDM, all via apt-get. However, I can't figure out how to get lightDM to boot xfce once I login. My reading suggests that it has something to do with the /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf file, but I can't figure out how it should be configured. Can anyone help, or if you have it working, please post a copy of your lightdm.conf?

Cheers,

Mark

[GeneC]

Hi,

.....................However, I can't figure out how to get lightDM to boot xfce once I login. My reading suggests that it has something to do with the /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf file, but I can't figure out how it should be configured. Can anyone help, or if you have it working, please post a copy of your lightdm.conf?

Cheers,

Mark

A Wiki (its from Debian, but no matter)
http://wiki.debian.org/LightDM

Configuration

LightDM configuration file is found at /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf. Making a backup of the original configuration file is recommended.

To change the current default Display Manager, run

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dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

If you're new to LightDM, it's recommended to have GDM, slim or another Display Manager installed as a backup.

--------------
Enable autologin
Look up these lines in lightdm configuration file, uncomment them and customize to your preference.


[SeatDefaults]
#autologin-user=
#autologin-user-timeout=0

---------------
Change the greeter's background
Debian's LightDM GTK greeter is configured in /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf. There, we find that the background image points to /usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-background, which is a symlink managed by update-alternatives.

So, to change the greeter's background, the best way is to find some images that you like from /usr/share/images/desktop-base/, then use update-alternatives to change the desktop-background group:

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update-alternatives --config desktop-background

[trevva]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I should be a bit clearer about the problem - the wiki didn`t help unfortunately...

LightDM loads ok - I get a login screen, and can enter username password etc. It performs the authentication properly but after a short delay, the LightDM login greeter disappears, display goes black, and then after maybe 0.5s, the greeter reappears, asking for a login again. And so on, in an infinite loop

I believe that the problem is that the LightDM greeter is not properly configured and so it can`t load xfce. My lightdm.conf looks like the following:

[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=unity-greeter
user-session=cinnamon

user-session is clearly wrong - I don`t have cinnamon installed. But should it say instead...

Mark

[GeneC]

OK! Lets try a different approach...

MY lightdm.conf
(Be AWARE that I am running LMDE/XFCE 4.10/SID with autoboot)...
You have to 'pick and choose' for your setup....

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#
# General configuration
#
# start-default-seat = True to always start one seat if none are defined in the configuration
# greeter-user = User to run greeter as
# minimum-display-number = Minimum display number to use for X servers
# minimum-vt = First VT to run displays on
# user-authority-in-system-dir = True if session authority should be in the system location
# guest-account-script = Script to be run to setup guest account
# log-directory = Directory to log information to
# run-directory = Directory to put running state in
# cache-directory = Directory to cache to
# xsessions-directory = Directory to find X sessions
# xgreeters-directory = Directory to find X greeters
#
[LightDM]
#start-default-seat=true
#greeter-user=lightdm
#minimum-display-number=0
#minimum-vt=7
#user-authority-in-system-dir=false
#guest-account-script=guest-account
#log-directory=/var/log/lightdm
#run-directory=/var/run/lightdm
#cache-directory=/var/cache/lightdm
#xsessions-directory=/usr/share/xsessions
#xgreeters-directory=/usr/share/xgreeters

#
# Seat defaults
#
# xserver-command = X server command to run (can also contain arguments e.g. X -special-option)
# xserver-layout = Layout to pass to X server
# xserver-config = Config file to pass to X server
# xserver-allow-tcp = True if TCP/IP connections are allowed to this X server
# xdmcp-manager = XDMCP manager to connect to (implies xserver-allow-tcp=true)
# xdmcp-port = XDMCP UDP/IP port to communicate on
# xdmcp-key = Authentication key to use for XDM-AUTHENTICATION-1 (stored in keys.conf)
# greeter-session = Session to load for greeter
# greeter-hide-users = True to hide the user list
# greeter-allow-guest = True if the greeter should show a guest login option
# greeter-show-manual-login = True if the greeter should offer a manual login option
# user-session = Session to load for users
# allow-guest = True if guest login is allowed
# guest-session = Session to load for guests (overrides user-session)
# session-wrapper = Wrapper script to run session with
# display-setup-script = Script to run when starting a greeter session (runs as root)
# greeter-setup-script = Script to run when starting a greeter (runs as root)
# session-setup-script = Script to run when starting a user session (runs as root)
# session-cleanup-script = Script to run when quitting a user session (runs as root)
# autologin-guest = True to log in as guest by default
# autologin-user=gene
# autologin-user-timeout=0
# autologin-session = Session to load for automatic login (overrides user-session)
# exit-on-failure = True if the daemon should exit if this seat fails
#

[SeatDefaults]
#xserver-command=X
#xserver-layout=
#xserver-config=
xserver-allow-tcp=false
#xdmcp-manager=
#xdmcp-port=177
#xdmcp-key=
greeter-session=lightdm-greeter
greeter-hide-users=true
#greeter-allow-guest=true
#greeter-show-manual-login=false
#user-session=default
#allow-guest=false
#guest-session=UNIMPLEMENTED
session-wrapper=/etc/X11/Xsession
#display-setup-script=
#greeter-setup-script=
#session-setup-script=
#session-cleanup-script=
#autologin-guest=false
autologin-user=gene
autologin-user-timeout=0
pam-service=lightdm-autologin
#autologin-session=IMPLEMENTED
#exit-on-failure=false

#
# Seat configuration
#
# Each seat must start with "Seat:".
# Uses settings from [SeatDefaults], any of these can be overriden by setting them in this section.
#
#[Seat:0]

#
# XDMCP Server configuration
#
# enabled = True if XDMCP connections should be allowed
# port = UDP/IP port to listen for connections on
# key = Authentication key to use for XDM-AUTHENTICATION-1 or blank to not use authentication (stored in keys.conf)
#
# The authentication key is a 56 bit DES key specified in hex as 0xnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.  Alternatively
# it can be a word and the first 7 characters are used as the key.
#
[XDMCPServer]
#enabled=false
#port=177
#key=

#
# VNC Server configuration
#
# enabled = True if VNC connections should be allowed
# port = TCP/IP port to listen for connections on
#
[VNCServer]
#enabled=false
#port=5900
#width=1024
#height=768
#depth=8


My lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf
(this won't work for you as is. Its modified by me for background and theme, but may give you some hints.)

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#
# background = Background file to use, either an image path or a color (e.g. #772953)
# show-language-selector (true or false)
# theme-name = GTK+ theme to use
# font-name = Font to use
# xft-antialias = Whether to antialias Xft fonts (true or false)
# xft-dpi = Resolution for Xft in dots per inch (e.g. 96)
# xft-hintstyle = What degree of hinting to use (hintnone, hintslight, hintmedium, or hintfull)
# xft-rgba = Type of subpixel antialiasing (none, rgb, bgr, vrgb or vbgr)
#
[greeter]
background=/usr/share/images/desktop-base/Blue-Eye.jpg
#show-language-selector=false
theme-name=selene
#font-name=
xft-antialias=true
#xft-dpi=
xft-hintstyle=hintfull
xft-rgba=rgb

[trevva]

Thanks for the replies - unfortunately, none of the suggestions made worked, which leaves me at a bit of a loss. I ended up reinstalling mdm, so that I at least had a system that works (always handy when you're supposed to be working on it!). I'm now wondering about whether its worth trying again, or whether I should stick with mdm. How much "lighter" is LightDM in relation to MDM?

Mark

[Monsta]

How much "lighter" is LightDM in relation to MDM?

It's "lighter" in the sense that it doesn't include any graphical greeters, and so it doesn't have many dependencies. The greeters are installed separately.

What would these commands say?

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apt-cache policy lightdm-gtk-greeter

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apt-cache policy unity-greeter

Run them in the terminal and post their output here.