Hello guys, I am looking into Windows manager like i3wm and awsomewm. I found the dirstro that i like is Arch, did my first non Antergos or Manjaro install today, I really like how light it feels and the AUR seems really useful even just starting a month ago i can see the appeal the only other distro I really like is openSUSE. I made a post earlier today on the same topic and felt like I learned a lot about how Linux works. So the last thing I can't seem to find an answer to is can I use a Windows manager with a normal Desktop environment in conjunction somehow. Either by switching like how I have switched before on Antergos back and forth between MATE and Gnome. I have seen people say that Gnome and i3wm can, but haven't found out how to do it. I haven't tried to do it, but only because i have no idea how it would work or how i would do that, would i just install the packages using pacman if so how would i switch between them? Also why are they able to flip flop and KDE and i3 can't is is just GTK vs qt thing or something else?
Yes, you would just install the package(s) for the new desktop.
At that point, you need to either log out of your current session, or reboot. When you are challenged by the log-in prompt, you should find an option (usually a drop down box) to choose which window manager to use for that new session.
Alright thanks wanted to make sure before I screw everything I did today up. Still learning all this so takes a bit to get what I want done.
You can change the WM in any DE - you can make any change you want, but DE's are developed with particular settings and configs, for example changing the WM in Gnome to i3wm is going to break functionality so you're better off keeping different DE's seperate
Alright the big reason i am just not switching to i3wm is because i want my friends and family to be able to use my computer without having to know all my shortcuts. Also just making sure but if i have 2 different DE's being Gnome and MATE for example i can just switch between then before i login and everything should be good correct, same idea if i do Gnome and i3wm as separate DE'. That is what you mean by keeping them separate correct?
Ah yes, I didn't fully understand what you were asking for. Yes you can install different DE's and at the login screen choose whatever environment you want to login to.
Thanks man, sorry for the confusion. Not really sure about how to explain somethings.
wmconfig