olwm, twm, fvwm and gnome~/.xinitrc or the
system default file, which resides in
/usr/local/x11/lib/xinit/xinitrc. This is true regardless
of which window manager you use. If you look at the system default file,
you'll notice that the line
exec olwm
appears near the end of the file. This is the line which determines which
window manager you are running. Also note that the programs which are
being started up (xterm, mailtool and xclock), all must be
run in the background, as indicated by the trailing ampersands (&).
To customize the file, copy it to ~/.xinitrc.
olwm
The default startup file for olwm
is /usr/openwin/lib/openwin-init. Copy this file to
~/.openwin-init to make changes.
twm
The default startup file for twm is
/usr/openwin/lib/X11/system.twmrc. Copy this file to
~/.twmrc to make changes.
fvwm
The default startup file for fvwm is
/usr/local/x11/lib/fvwm/system.fvwmrc. Copy this file to
~/.fvwmrc to make changes.
More information: The Official FVWM Homepage
fvwm95
This is a variant of fvwm designed to be more familiar to users
of a certain Windows-based operating system. The default
startup file is /usr/local/x11/lib/fvwm95/system.fvwm95rc. Copy
this to ~/.fvwm95rc to make changes
More information: The Official FVWM95 Homepage
gnomeThe gnome desktop works a bit differently than the other window managers. Instead of a startup file, it remembers the applications you run, and restarts them each time you log in. So you don't need to worry about an rc file as you do with other window managers.
Simply create a .xinitrc file with the following line:
. /usr/local/gnome2/gnome2.xinitrc
More information: help gnome on an SCF computer
.Xdefaults file
The system default .Xdefaults file is /usr/local/X11R6/lib/xinit/Xdefaults . To modify it, make a copy
in ~/.Xdefaults.
Different Window Managers - compares
several window managers, including some screen shots.
FAQ for comp.windows.x
Setting Resources, a brief
introduction to the .Xdefaults file, including some samples.