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I have set my linux Mint to start up with command line only. Now I would like to run programs, such as VLC and Firefox, from the command line. I would like to do this without starting the desktop enviroment and running the programs from there. Is this even possible? For example to start VLC with a video in fullscreen.

user197619
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3 Answers3

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try this:

xinit -- /usr/bin/vlc

this will start a bare X that contains nothing but VLC. not sure if double clicking vlc will let it go full screen, I'm not on my desktop right now. and do note, you need to secify full path of application to run.

I used to use this technique when loading intensive games through wine, and didn't want any desktop effects or background programs affecting performance.

Waleed Hamra
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(xvfb-run -a -e errlog <application> &)

Xvfb or X virtual framebuffer is a display server implementing the X11 display server protocol. In contrast to other display servers, Xvfb performs all graphical operations in virtual memory without showing any screen output.

Option -a forces automatic search for a free server number; this is helpful if more than one background process is to be run simultaneously.

Option -e stores error messages to a file; otherwise they are sent to /dev/null. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xvfb

Joachim W
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The mentioned programs usually need an X server running. You can run only the X server (usually just by running X). Working with base X is not comfortable, though - that is why desktop environments exist. Why do you need it?

choroba
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