Which session is best to use?

novice · 2021-12-05 15:37:47

I've just installed Lithium after using Helium for a couple of years and am having difficulty understanding what the difference is between using a bl-session or an openbox session. In fact, as bunsenlabs is the first distro I have used since switching from Windows, I don't really know what a 'session' is. I have been logging in with the default box that comes up, which I believe is a bl-session. Everything looks the same as my old Helium desktop, but I actually prefer the layout of the old openbox menu to the new one. Is there any advantage in using the bl-session as opposed to an openbox session?

johnraff · 2021-12-06 04:10:17

The "openbox session" in Lithium is an empty default setup - you have to configure everything from scratch.

You can, however, easily edit the menu in the regular "BunsenLabs session" to suit your needs/preferences:
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=6512

novice · 2021-12-06 23:11:41

Thanks johnraff. I've tried it now and I see what you mean. I didn't realize it was so basic. I assumed it would be like logging in to my old helium setup. I still don't quite get what a 'session' is though. Could you please clarify it for me? I noticed that when I logged into the openbox session, folders and files I had added to the bl-session were still available. So if I changed a file in one session, would it be changed when I logged back into the other session? What I'm worried about is if I were to modify something in the openbox session like a gtk config file, would it mess up settings in the other session?

hhh · 2021-12-07 02:20:18

A "desktop session" is, at it's most basic level. a window manager. That manager can have panels and menus included, like the BunsenLabs Openbox session, no panel included but still a right-click menu, like a bare openbox session, everything included, panel widgets menu, like in a full Desktop Environment like GNOME or KDE Plasma...

The problem with multiple possible sessions to log into is that they usually configure themselves in different ways, configs are in different locations and are sometimes handled by different programs, run different startup apps and daemons, and generally don't care to cooperate with any other session. It can be a hot mess.

However, for something like a GTK file, pfft. Easy, any WM will find that.

@John's lithium setup tries to minimize this. Specifically, he's focused on separating a BL Openbox session from a default Debian Openbox session, you can have completely different configurations for each session. Different wall, panel, conky, theme, startup apps, menu, etc...

hhh · 2021-12-07 02:36:54

novice wrote:

... but I actually prefer the layout of the old openbox menu to the new one. Is there any advantage in using the bl-session as opposed to an openbox session?

jgmenu offers several advantages over the standard ON menu... Type to search (open the menu and start typing the name of your app) and auto-updating of the menu (install an app, open the menu, the app is listed).

Open a minimal, old-school OB menu on-the-fly via Ctrl+Alt+q.

novice · 2021-12-08 10:52:45

Thanks hhh.
I'm not really interested in having two different setups in everyday use, I was just worried that if had a bit of a fiddle around with the openbox session to see if I could recreate my old helium setup, I might totally mess up the whole system.
I do like jgmenu, but it looks like it would be more complicated to make changes to it compared to the openbox menu way. I have a couple of questions about it, but I will post them in the appropriate forum.

brontosaurusrex · 2021-12-08 19:57:41

Worth reading imho
https://dev.to/jfhbrook/what-s-a-deskto … nt-one-agl
as a schnellkurs of what is what.

Last edited by brontosaurusrex (2021-12-08 22:10:58)

novice · 2021-12-08 23:41:05

Thanks for that. That page is actually a very good explanation and I think I understand better now. So the login manager lets you select the session and sign in, then runs the session manager. Is the session manager a different program for whichever session is chosen, or is it the same program that runs with different parameters?

#1 2021-12-05 15:37:47

Which session is best to use?

#2 2021-12-06 04:10:17

Re: Which session is best to use?

#3 2021-12-06 23:11:41

Re: Which session is best to use?

#4 2021-12-07 02:20:18

Re: Which session is best to use?

#5 2021-12-07 02:36:54

Re: Which session is best to use?

#6 2021-12-08 10:52:45

Re: Which session is best to use?

#7 2021-12-08 19:57:41

Re: Which session is best to use?

#8 2021-12-08 23:41:05

Re: Which session is best to use?

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