This is the contents of my .fonts.conf file.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>

<!--  Do not smooth Fixedsys  -->
<match target="font" >
        <test name="family" >
                <string>FixedsysTTF</string>
        </test>
        <edit name="antialias" >
                <bool>false</bool>
        </edit>
</match>

<!--  Do not smooth Tahoma 8pt and under  -->
<match target="font" >
        <test name="family" >
                <string>Tahoma</string>
                </test>
        <test compare="less" name="size" qual="any" >
                <double>9</double>
                </test>
        <edit name="antialias" >
                <bool>false</bool>
                </edit>
</match>

        <!--  Do not smooth Times New Roman or 
                  Courier New for 12pt and under  -->
<match target="font" >
        <test name="family" >
                <string>Times New Roman</string>
        </test>
        <test compare="less" name="size" qual="any" >
                <double>12</double>
        </test>
        <edit name="antialias" >
                <bool>false</bool>
        </edit>
</match>

<match target="font" >
        <test name="family" >
                <string>Courier New</string>
        </test>
        <test compare="less" name="size" qual="any" >
                <double>10</double>
        </test>
        <edit name="antialias" >
                <bool>false</bool>
        </edit>
</match>

<!-- Do not autohint Courier New, Fixedsys, Tahoma, or Times New Roman -->
<match target="font" >
        <test name="family" >
                <string>Courier New</string>
                <string>Times New Roman</string>
                <string>Tahoma</string>
                <string>FixedsysTTF</string>
        </test>
        <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
                <const>hintslight</const>
        </edit>
        <edit mode="assign" name="autohint" >
                <bool>false</bool>
        </edit>
</match>

<!-- Give all fonts light hinting and subpixel smoothing -->
<match target="font" >
        <edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
                <const>rgb</const>
                </edit>
        <edit mode="assign" name="hinting" >
                <bool>true</bool>
                </edit>
        <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
                <const>hintslight</const>
                </edit>
        <edit mode="assign" name="antialias" >
                <bool>true</bool>
                </edit>
</match>

</fontconfig>

Make a session choice for the GDM login menu.
In the folder /usr/share/xsessions/ make a file foo.session in this format.

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name= 
Exec= /URI/bar.sh
Icon=
Type=Application

In any folder, put bar.sh

#!/bin/bash
foo.bin &
exec bar.bin

To carry over GNOME look and feel settings, include

gnome-settings-daemon &

To draw a tiled-image wallpaper without using Nautilus to draw and run an actual desktop, run

feh --bg-tile foo.png &