Installing another de / wm

[catowner]

I installed Mageia 2 with KDE. A few weeks ago I installed the desktop environment / window manager called "Enlightenment" however, I was unable to customise Enlightenment because Mageia will not allow me to log in as root or even to customise whilst logged in as a normal user.

I would like to replace KDE with a lighter desktop but if Mageia will not allow me to customise a second desktop then if I replaced KDE I am worried that I will no longer customise any other desktop I replace it with.

Why doesn't Mageia allow its users to log in as root?

[doktor5000]

Why doesn't Mageia allow its users to log in as root?

Because that is a sane default setting, and logging into a desktop environment as root is not recommended.
If you really wan this, you may want to read viewtopic.php?f=41&t=2722

FWIW, besides KDE i've got quite some lightweight DE's installed and customized, and never had a problem with that.
But i also don't log in as root, as that is quite stupid in my humble opinion. I use sudo for such purposes as normal user.
I don't even know why one would wnat to log in as root and give up all the additional security.

[djennings]

You can install as many DE's as you please, see
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Desktop_environments
You do not need to be root to customise a desktop environment. Most customisation is carried out as a user in your home directory. (maybe e17 is the exception?)

If you did need to customise something as root there is no need to log in as root user to do it. All you have to do is open up a terminal window and enter

Code: Select all

su -

(Note the '-' It is important)
You will then be operating the terminal as root user and can open up any graphical application you please as root user from within the terminal.

It is not impossible to log in as root with Mageia. It is just deliberately made difficult in order to stop people with too little knowledge doing it and potentially either screwing up their computer, or else leaving their computer open to attack over the internet. (Google for why logging in as root in linux is a bad idea and you will find plenty of opinions.)

If you really want to log in as root then this is how to do it.
Log out of your desktop.
Enter Ctl+Alt+F2 to get a console
Log in as root
Enter

Code: Select all

service dm stop
startx

You will then be in a graphical desktop (probably IceWM) running as root user. The desktop background will be bright red to let you know this is not something you should really be doing. On logging out of the root desktop enter

Code: Select all

service dm start

and you will return to your regular login screen.

[catowner]

I already know the possible dangers of logging in as root and I don't usually want to log in as root it's just that having failed to be able to customise Enlightenment as a normal user I could not find any way of using sudo to keep the customising I wanted to do.

The type of customising I wanted to do was change the default apps such as replacing dolphin with pcmanfm but could not get it use pcmanfm as the file manager.

[doktor5000]

The type of customising I wanted to do was change the default apps such as replacing dolphin with pcmanfm but could not get it use pcmanfm as the file manager.

How did you customize it exactly? Dolphin is not the default file manager for e17 ...

[catowner]

The type of customising I wanted to do was change the default apps such as replacing dolphin with pcmanfm but could not get it use pcmanfm as the file manager.

How did you customize it exactly? Dolphin is not the default file manager for e17 ...

I know its not, I didn't make Dolphin the default file manager. After installing Enlightenment it made it the default file manager meaning that whenever I selected a menu entry to display a directory Dolphin appeared.

[djennings]

I do not use e17, but Google is my friend.

Here is how to change the default file manager in e17.
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=78398.0
No root login required.

[djohnston]

I know its not, I didn't make Dolphin the default file manager. After installing Enlightenment it made it the default file manager meaning that whenever I selected a menu entry to display a directory Dolphin appeared.

catowner,

Unfortunately, djennings find won't work for you because the Places module is broken. Here's how to change the default file manager in e17 version 0.17.1. I did it this way in Mageia3, so it should work for Mageia2, as long as you have the same version of e17 installed. To check the version number, left click the desktop. Select Enlightenment > About. That will show you the version number.

To change the default file manager, left-click the desktop to get the menu. Select Settings > Settings Panel. Click the Apps icon in the top of the window. Scroll down to Default Applications and click it. In the popup window, select File in the left pane. In the right pane, scroll down to the file manager you want to use. Click it. Click the Apply button. Click the Close button. Click the Close button on the remaining window.