I'm reinstalling Arch today since school starts tomorrow, and I have a few beginner questions. I usually use my laptop at school instead of the provided Chromebooks due to the restrictions on ChromeOS. My plan is to set up Arch with Plasma and then install i3 as a backup, and possibly xfce since it's lightweight. My question is: how many window managers can I install before it starts causing issues? Once installed, can I select them from a dropdown in the LXDE login screen? I want to be able to quickly switch between them, but only have one running at a time. If LXDE doesn't allow this, what alternatives are there? Thanks for any help!
4 Answers
It’s totally fine to have multiple window managers. Just keep in mind that only one can be active at a time. If you decide to switch from Plasma to i3, for example, you’ll need to log out first to select the one you want at the login screen.
Installing a bunch of window managers won’t make your system unstable unless one of them has a buggy update. If that happens, just use one of the others until it’s fixed!
Most desktop environments come equipped with their own file managers and tools. If you don't mind having similar apps across different environments, go ahead and install multiple managers—just be aware that they'll take up some space!
You can install as many window managers as you like without them causing instability. And yes, the LXDE login manager has a dropdown menu that lets you choose which one to start. Only one will run at a time by default, so you're good to go! If you want to run another one, just log out and select the other from the dropdown.
I didn’t think of that! Thanks for the reassurance. Have you had any issues with updates before?