Lets say you run startx, and you only have a windows manager in you ~/.xinitrc file, or nothing for that matter.
What would happen if you didn't load a desktop environment but only a windows manger, and you tried to load a graphical application? I found a site the said you don't need to load a desktop environment and wanted to know if that was true. How would you launch applications (could you just modify the $DISPLAY variable on another console and have is display on the one running x as the only way, or do some window managers have app launcher?
What would happen if you didn't load either, what would you're screen look like (after loading x but with no window manager or desktop environment.
What is the defining difference (in relation to this question) between a window manager and a desktop environment?
