If you like the GDM themeability - MDM is great!
MDM is currently part of the Linux Mint repository - after contacting the Andrew of WebUpd8.org he has also packaged this in his PPA. Great going Andrew!
The following has been tested on 12.04 Ubuntu in a VM. It also has been tested independently on 12.04 Xubuntu.
Until then (and assuming you understand the risks of using third party PPAs etc)
from the linux mint repo
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ maya main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mint.list'
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linuxmint-keyring
sudo apt-get update
If you see the error below - dont worry, just type y:
W: GPG error: packages.linuxmint.com maya Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 3EE67F3D0FF405B2" and "WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
linuxmint-keyring
Install these packages without verification [y/N]?
from the webupd8 PPA
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
Then install MDM:
sudo apt-get install mdm mint-mdm-themes
During the package installation you will be asked to select between mdm and lightdm. Using your cursor keys to select mdm and tab to OK and press ENTER to select.
The following error can be ignored:
The home directory `/var/lib/mdm' already exists. Not copying from `/etc/skel'.
adduser: Warning: The home directory `/var/lib/mdm' does not belong to the user you are currently creating.
Reboot.
Configure your MDM themes using:
gksudo mdmsetup
I would strongly recommend that after you have install mdm you immediately disable the PPA via your Software Sources because you may inadvertantly install other mint packages when you do a future update.
how to theme
Download a GDM theme file (for example from this website)
You can then use gksudo mdmsetup
to add the .tar.gz
archive file.
As an aside, run mdmphotosetup
to change your face - in my example theme above I chose one of the stock images - the blue butterfly.
Best Answer
Replacing Desktop By An Application
Define User Defined Session
First we will have to define a User Defined Session that handles the special case when no desktop should be loaded. We will define this session by creating a custom.desktop file in /usr/share/xsessions/ with a content similar to this:
This will tell GDM to run the script
.xsession
located in the HOME of the user<username>
.Optional
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain
is needed for a correct language translation in case we load Unity/GNOME desktop later (replace withgdm
in 10.04).Make A Script To Start
This script ~/.xsession could look as simple as that:
Load Custom Session On Login
If we now define to load our session "Custom" during the given user's login at the gdm screen only the X-Terminal will be started and we will be back at gdm on exit. Next time we login as the user this setting will be remembered as default.
Run Application That Need Windows-Managing
Of course we are not yet able to run an application that needs a windows manager such as GNOME. To do this replace the .xsession script by something like:
We can see that the GNOME windows manager is now loaded but no desktop elements are present. This enables an application (e.g. firefox here) to start.
But take care what you do: If we minimize the application to the non-existent tray we will end up with a nice wallpaper to look at. Because of this it is very important to include
logout
at the end of the script to logout the session after the application terminated. There really is no other programm running to do this for you until you add one to your script. You deliberately replaced your desktop by firefox only (a bad idea).Of course we would also be able to start
gnome-desktop
orgnome-session
(resp. options) from the script but this is what we already do by default.