Here is something about my HTPC setup, hopefully gives some help or food for thought to set up your system
syrius.ml@no-log.org wrote:
To go back to the subject, gdm and kdm allow you to autologon an user. The next step would be to run vdr from .xsession for ex.
For gdm, add these lines to gdm.conf to login vdr automatically
AutomaticLoginEnable=true AutomaticLogin=vdr
I'm using vdr (sxfe frontend from xinelibout plugin, xine plugin can be used identically) from Matchbox window manager. It provides user experience kind between set top box and normal Linux desktop. All applications are full-screen and all wm operations are possible from keyboard that can be mapped to be controlled from lirc with irxevent. In addition to vdr it's nice to run e.g. Google Earth for couch traveling or Gcompris for kids. Those require a RF keyboard/mouse joystick for controls.
I had to choose once in manual login for vdr from gdm login menu other desktop than Gnome/KDE. Successive logins use this setting. ~vdr/.xsession: --- #!/bin/sh exec matchbox-session
---
~vdr/.matchbox/session: --- #! /bin/sh
## Nvidia settings #/usr/bin/nvidia-settings -l
## Start Matchbox RANDOM_IMAGE=`ls /usr/local/share/Backgrounds/*1080*jpg | rl -c 1` matchbox-desktop --icon-size 128 --icon-padding 64 --bg $RANDOM_IMAGE & /etc/init.d/irxevent.sh restart exec matchbox-window-manager -theme expose ---
The Menu structure is defined in ~vdr/.matchbox/vfolders. I have created custom menus to avoid all debian stuff to show up. It is quite easy generate open desktop configuration files by hand. Top level menu is defined with these two files. Root.directory: --- [Desktop Entry] Name=Programs Name[fi]=Ohjelmat Comment=Programs menu Comment[fi]=Ohjelmat-valikko Icon=htpc-folder.png Type=Directory Match=HTPCRoot ---
Root.Order: ---- HTPC-main HTPC-internet HTPC-games HTPC-system ---
Desktop icon to launch sxfe is on the top level of matchbox-desktop (/usr/share/applications/htpc-vdr-sxfe.desktop) --- [Desktop Entry] Name=VDR (Sxfe Xv) Comment=Watch digital TV, or play films and songs Exec=/usr/local/bin/htpc-vdr-sxfe.sh Icon=vdr-logo.png Type=Application Categories=HTPCMain,HTPCRoot ---
/usr/local/bin/htpc-vdr-sxfe.sh --- #!/bin/sh NOW=`date "+%Y%m%d_%H%M%S"`
## Stop irxevent /etc/init.d/irxevent.sh stop
## Run vdr-sxfe /usr/local/bin/vdr-sxfe xvdr://localhost --lirc --audio alsa --video xv --fullscreen --nokbd > $HOME/vdr-sxfe-$NOW.txt
## Restart irxevent /etc/init.d/irxevent.sh start ---
BR, Seppo