RE: Using KDE as default desktop under Windows

["Harold Hunt" <huntharo at msu dot edu>]

Interesting.

Harold

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cygwin-xfree-owner@cygwin.com
> [mailto:cygwin-xfree-owner@cygwin.com]On Behalf Of David Fraser
> Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2002 12:55 PM
> To: cygwin-xfree@cygwin.com
> Subject: Using KDE as default desktop under Windows
>
>
>   Hi there
> I posted this to the kde-cygwin mailing list and someone suggested
> reposting it here.
> Basically an explanation of my kde setup under Windows...
>
> I am now using KDE as my default shell under Windows.
> Thanks to everyone for the effort - it's so much nicer than explorer :-)
> I thought it would be nice to have a page on the web site explaining how
> to do it,
> and indicating status as more integration gets done...
> basically this is what I did (this is for Windows 2000 but should be
> portable to others):
>
> make XFree86 server run full screen without window decoration
>   change ~/.xserverrc to include -fullscreen in the parameters:
>     exec X - screen 0 1024 879 -engine 4 -fullscreen -depth 32 -ac
> -nowinkill -noreset -emulate3buttons 100
>   you can say -nodecoration (which -fullscreen implies) instead if you
> want a non-fullscreen window without border etc.
>
> replace the default shell, explorer.exe with X-windows
>   change the following reg entry under from explorer.exe to
> c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login -c startx
>     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows
> NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell
> Once this is done, logging in starts up the X server but no Windows
> desktop, Start bar etc.
> Note: if you want to run windows programs from here, on Windows 2000 you
> can press Ctrl-Shift-Esc
> which brings up the Task Manager, then go File/Run.
> Logging out from KDE doesn't actually log out, you need to close KDE in
> another way and then press Ctrl-Alt-Del
> and choose logout. Depending on your .xserverrc parameters,
> Ctrl-Alt-Backspace or Alt-F4 can be made to close
> the X server. Otherwise, you can close it from the Task manager (select
> the Cygwin task and say End Task).
> This also brings up a bash shell window which is behind the X server. I
> tried to get rid of it by running
> cmd /c start /b bash ... but this was unsuccessfull.
> If you switch to any windows applications, the X server will be minimised.
> I seem to remember some discussion on slashdot or somewhere about how
> Cygwin XFree86 cannot run in rootless
> mode (as the actual background window like Windows exlporer does for the
> desktop). Does anyone have any info
> on why this is, or on how we could patch it so that it will? That way
> windows apps will run in front...
>
> Next step: get KDE to run windows applications from short cuts.
> I created a simple script called "win32start":
>
> #!/bin/bash
> startpath="$*"
> if [[ -L "$startpath" ]]
>   then
>   # this is a symbolic link. find the actual file, start that
>   startpath=`find "$startpath" -printf %l`
> fi
> startdir=`dirname "$startpath"`
> startfile=`basename "$startpath"`
> cd "$startdir"
> cmd /c start \"starting application\" "$startfile"
>
> This is put in /usr/bin
> It handles cygwin unix-style symbolic links to Windows shortcut files as
> well (both are given
> the extension .lnk, but have different stuff inside ... if you create a
> link to a shortcut it is thus
> called .lnk.lnk).
> Basically it gets whatever parameters are given (it needs to use them
> all so you can pass spaces
> without it separating them out; escaping the spaces with backslash
> confuses cmd, although they
> could be unescaped) and works out what directory the file to start is in.
> It's easiest to get into this directory as we then don't have to convert
> the path from unix to windows
> style. Then it runs cmd and tells it to start the application. The first
> parameter to start is the window
> title which has to be given if we quote the start file. But this window
> title only applies to cmd, which
> just starts the application and quits.
> Example:
> $ win32start /c/Documents\ And Settings/All\ Users/Start\
> Menu/Programs/Acrobat\ Reader\ 5.0.lnk
> on my system this starts up Acrobat.
>
> Now we want to make KDE associate these files with win32start so we can
> click on them from konqueror
> and put them in menus.
>
> First we need a mime type for the Windows shortcut files...
> Add the following to a new file
> ~/.kde2/share/mimelnk/application/win32shortcut.desktop
> (on most systems, it could be ~/.kde/... - I've had KDE 1 installed ...)
> This users the link icon which just looks like a shortcut. It would be
> nice to get KDE to read
> the windows Icon out of the shortcut file but probably lots of work
>
> [Desktop Entry]
> Comment=Win32 shortcut file
> Hidden=false
> Icon=link
> MimeType=application/win32shortcut
> Patterns=*.lnk
> Type=MimeType
>
> Then create the association. To do this, create a desktop file under
> ~/.kde2/share/applnk/win32start.desktop
> and place the following into it:
>
> [Desktop Entry]
> Comment=Start Win32 applications or files
> Exec=win32start
> Icon=exec
> InitialPreference=3
> MimeType=Application;application/win32shortcut
> Name=Win32 Starter
> Path=
> ServiceTypes=
> Terminal=false
> TerminalOptions=
> Type=Application
> X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
> X-KDE-Username=
>
> This can also be done through control panel if you want to make life
> easier ... but on my system it
> gave some trouble ...
>
> Now you should be able to for example browse to your Start Menu on your
> windows drive and start
> programs.
>
> I then added a nice second start menu to kicker by using a QuickBrowser
> linked to my Windows Start Menu
> folder ... (actually I now have a subdirectory of ~ called Start which
> contains links to everything
> in the All Users Start Menu and my user's Start Menu .... with a simple
> shell script to update the links)
>
> I've created a nice icon for this as well, with a "exec" icon background
> with the four coloured windows
> from the Linux samba icon on top. It sits next to the K menu icon, so I
> can launch either KDE or standard
> windows apps.
>
> Any feedback/comments? Is this what other people are using
> kde-cygwin to do?
>
> _______________________________________________
> kde-cygwin mailing list
> kde-cygwin@mail.kde.org
> http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-cygwin
>
>
>