Jim Cochrane wrote:

> It took me some time googling to find out how to do this on F9, so I
> thought I'd share it - how to configure the system to use kdm as the
> display manager instead of gdm - in case it saves time for someone else.
>
> In Fedora 9 there appears to be no GUI-based way of configuring this
> (e.g., via 'System Settings'). Nevertheless, it is pretty easy.
>
> You do need to become root to do it (e.g., 'sudo su').
>
> The script:
>
> /etc/X11/prefdm
>
> is run at startup time; it looks for /etc/sysconfig/desktop and if
> it exists, 'sources' it. It then checks to see if the DISPLAYMANAGER
> variable is set and, if so, uses its value to try to determine which
> display manager to use (expecting it to be one of: GNOME, KDE, WDM,
> XDM). If this variable is not set, it tries to execute, in this order:
>
> gdm
> kdm
> wdm
> xdm
>
> So the first of these that runs successfully is the one that will be
> used, if the DISPLAYMANAGER variable is not set.
>
> On my system /etc/sysconfig/desktop did not exist, so prefdm was
> executing gdm. The solution, of course, is to create
> /etc/sysconfig/desktop and simply put this line in it:
>
> DISPLAYMANAGER=KDE
>
> If the file exists, of course, just make sure DISPLAYMANAGER is set as
> above.
>
> (Reference:
>
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/garno.../msg00028.html
> )
>
> Note: I used this solution to solve another irritating problem: gdm on
> F9 always defaults to gnome - you have to explicitly tell it to use kde
> each time if you're a KDE user.
>
> --

Jim,

This was just one of the many (annoying) features I have uncoverd with FC9.
So many wonderful and amazing features that I finally, gleefully, removed
FC9 this evening and I am installing SuSE on my webserver (home network).
In addition to the gdm vs kde issue (I much prefer kde myself), the Fedora
folks took away the different desktop managers (icewm, fvwm, twm, mwf),
screwed the pooch by removing/reducing the functionality of many of the
admin tools (CUPS, Samba, NFS Client/Server). I just finally got tired of
being disappointed and have gone back to a distro I have used before with
success. My previous FC use was FC2 and FC6. FC2 was great! FC6 was okay...
some changes made to how Samba shares are mounted was a PITA for a month or
so. But other than that, it was a good experieince. FC9 has been anything
but.

Maybe if they yank all the crap out of FC10, I will return. If not, then I
will stick with SuSE or migrate over to Solaris.

Joe