What XFCE has going for it

[JimmyJazz]

I thought I would add my favorite (although not most used) desktop.

what I love about XFCE:
Faster
built in working composite manager
wonderfully simple

[codejunkie]

I thought I would add my favorite (although not most used) desktop.

what I love about XFCE:
Faster
built in working composite manager
wonderfully simple
id have to agree fast and just as functional as gnome & kde.

[benplaut]

the downside is that it is Fitt's Law hell, and the panels aren't very configurable

[prizrak]

Very fast speed (That's all I think)

[nocturn]

built in working composite manager


Are you serious? I didn't know that. How can I turn it on?

If Xfce has this, it shouldn't be to difficult to get this in Gnome...

[Knomefan]

Are you serious? I didn't know that. How can I turn it on?

If Xfce has this, it shouldn't be to difficult to get this in Gnome...

Just enabel the composite extension in your xorg.conf and run xfce. That's all.

If you want it in gnome, you could try to use xfwm instead of metacity.

[KiwiNZ]

Its different , its fast and its come a long way in a short time

[-Rick-]

* Looks great
* Fast, light but has still some nice features.
* Mouse wheel switches desktop

[Brunellus]

Since there are going to be GNOME, KDE, and XFCE threads, I'm going to start a thread for everything else.

What Fluxbox has going for it:

* SPEED. It's very fast.

* It's lightweight. The default setup takes up very few system resources.

* It's customizeable. you can do some pretty amazing things with it.

* No start menu-- right click anywhere on the desktop. This is awesome.

* Window tabbing: The ability to dock two open windows together. Great for reducing clutter!

[-Rick-]

e17 is the most beautiful WM ever seen ;)

[Psquared]

e17 is the most beautiful WM ever seen ;)

agree with that - installing and configuring it is a little tricky. I crashed my xserver doing that.

I'd like to see a distro that uses Gnome with E17 as the WM already tuned up.

[GeneralZod]

Edit:

People wanting to give E17 a whirl might be interested in the "elive" LiveCD:

http://www.elivecd.org/

[bored2k]

Enlightenment E17


Unmatched coolness.
Ridiculous speed.
About 1/3rd as cute as OS X.
Animated backgrounds.
Plays nice with GTK2 applications (after loading gnome-settings-daemon).
Rewards those with enough patience with a very creative desktop.


http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5945/patayile9kq4am.th.jpg (http://img214.imageshack.us/my.php?image=patayile9kq4am.jpg)

[ember]

Hmm ... now that I look at your screenshot, I'm thinking about giving it a try.

Sometimes I feel urged to say that the choice in linux is a curse. You always find something new to play around with *sigh*

[Rinzwind]

Damn that screenshot is COOL.

Those backgrounds are awesome. Black and grey(gray :) ) owns!!

[fuscia]

what's a composite manager?

[aysiu]

I like that it's lightweight but can still use Gnome themes.
It's also extremely stable (no crashing or freezing).

[Joey French]

Man, i love xfce, it is so much sleeker than k or gnome. I didn't really like it so much until I got Nautilus and Thunar running on it, now I am bonkers about it. I'm trying to get my coworker to setup xubuntu on her laptop (older).

What's a composite manager?

[KingBahamut]

I dunno about you guys, but the reason I like it is because of my use of Solaris over the years.

Much Faster? yes.
Configureable? yes.

You dont like the panels, kill them and insert gnome-panel....not that hard to pull off really.

[varunus]

It definitely is fitt's law hell, as someone said. The taskbar has a pixel border, the panel has a pixel border...Pretty much, I'd have to ditch those for GNOME Panel. GNOME has trained me to throw my mouse at the corners...its so nice.

Also, I don't like Rox either, so I'd have to ditch it for Nautilus...

Pretty much, I end up back in GNOME...XFCE is a nice DE though; if they fixed the Fitt's law problems I might give it a serious look.

[Joey French]

Alright, I'll bite. What's Fitt's Law?

[Jonne]

The edges of the screen count as part of a button too. So if, for example you have a button at the bottom of the screen, you just 'throw' your mouse down, and a click will activate that button. (see wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts_Law) for a better explanation)

I don't really care for it. In fact, I even enabled the "if the mouse touches the edge of the screen, switch desktop" thing in xfce.

[Brunellus]

The edges of the screen count as part of a button too. So if, for example you have a button at the bottom of the screen, you just 'throw' your mouse down, and a click will activate that button. (see wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts_Law) for a better explanation)

I don't really care for it. In fact, I even enabled the "if the mouse touches the edge of the screen, switch desktop" thing in xfce.
I don't buy Fitt's Law, either. The best thing about XFCE and a lot of other alternative WMs is the fact that you can invoke a menu by clicking anywhere on the desktop. No throwing necessary, unless your name is Ballmer.

[deNoobius]

Rewards those with enough patience with a very creative desktop.
[/list]



Can one continue to boot into Gnome while one tries to figure out E17, or does E17 kill the Gnome desktop?

[Brunellus]

you can add any number of desktop environments to ubuntu and still keep GNOME. I have GNOME, XFCE, Fluxbox, Openbox, and E17 on mine, for instance, and all run just fine.

GNOME has become my "working" desktop. Fluxbox is my "testbed" desktop--it's more work to customize flux, but the level of control I get is much finer, so it's nice for seeing what I can do with a desktop.

e17 is nice, but I haven't learned how to customize it.

[varunus]

Brunellus,

I agree that the menu on the desktop is a much better Fitts Law usage than GNOME provides, BUT, switching tasks is just a pain. I have to aim at the button, rather than just throwing my mouse up or down and landing at the edge of the screen on the task button.

It would be really easy for the XFCE devs to fix, and there was even talk years ago of fixing it (with some proposed patches, even) but for some reason they decided not to.

[raublekick]

I don't buy Fitt's Law, either. The best thing about XFCE and a lot of other alternative WMs is the fact that you can invoke a menu by clicking anywhere on the desktop. No throwing necessary, unless your name is Ballmer.

I really like that feature of XFCE, but Gnome (especially Ubuntu's Gnome) pretty much eliminates all need for me to use the desktop.

What I like best about XFCE (really just it's window manager) is the ability to use the mouse to switch workspaces.

[aysiu]

BUT, switching tasks is just a pain. I have to aim at the button, rather than just throwing my mouse up or down and landing at the edge of the screen on the task button. Alt-Tab works great for me on Windows, Gnome, KDE, and XFCE. Cmd-Tab works great for me on OS X.

I think mouse use in general makes for inefficiency.

[super]

i recently decided to give xfce a whirl since it is one of the few wm's that i have not used for any real length of time and i have an old computer that is too slow for gnome. seems cool so far.

Alt-Tab works great for me on Windows, Gnome, KDE, and XFCE. Cmd-Tab works great for me on OS X.

I think mouse use in general makes for inefficiency.
hey! someone who thinks like i do! :razz:
kill the rodent! :cool:

seriously tho, i agree with you. i use either the mouse or the keyboard. rarely do i use both at the same time. alt+f4 or alt+tab is all i need most of the time.

[Brunellus]

Brunellus,

I agree that the menu on the desktop is a much better Fitts Law usage than GNOME provides, BUT, switching tasks is just a pain. I have to aim at the button, rather than just throwing my mouse up or down and landing at the edge of the screen on the task button.

It would be really easy for the XFCE devs to fix, and there was even talk years ago of fixing it (with some proposed patches, even) but for some reason they decided not to.
Task switching is what the keyboard is for. And if you have a mousewheel instead of a simple button, the mousewheel also switches workspaces.

Every time someone mentions Fitt's Law, there's all this mention of throwing. I often wonder whether if this sort of thinking had been in vogue during the design of musical instruments there would have been advocates for making all human-musical-instrument-interaction drumlike, because banging a drum is the quickest thing to do.

[aysiu]

I think Fitt's Law, if anything, points to deficiency in mouse design more than deficiency in desktop environment design. Mice are imprecise and hard to control--not the desktop.

[5-HT]

Just recently tried out XFCE after reading all the praise for xubuntu, and I was quite impressed.

A few things that I really liked in my limited experience using it:

I. The ability to have a completely transparent, and fast opening, xfce4-terminal without the need to download and tweak anything is great.

II. The analogue option for the clock in the panel. While being quite trivial, I simply love it.

III. The ability to close windows to the title bar.

IV. Right click to menu.



One thing that surprised me though was that I didn't notice any great speed increase while using XFCE.
While it loaded up from the Gdm a little faster than Gnome, programs did not seem to either open up faster or seem more responsive under XFCE (though I didn't do any analytic benchmarks, so nothing conclusive).


The one exception was firefox (1.0.7) which did seem to be quicker in switching tabs, and opening new pages.

Another thing was the ram footprint, where XFCE and Gnome both used anywhere from ~ 94-99 MB after a boot.

I was under the impression that XFCE was much lighter than Gnome...but maybe that's just in terms of responsiveness/loading?

Overall it's a nice, clean DE, thanks to everyone whos posts turned me on to it and the developers!

[fuscia]

i'm glad i read this thread. i had no f#$%ing clue why my browser kept vanishing.

[5-HT]

Got to admit, XFCE and Xubuntu is growing on my like a wildfire!. :p

Just wondering about one thing though...

My printer setup was a breeze on breezy :rolleyes: (using the supplied GIMP-print driver and GUI to set up CUPS), but from what I gather, using XFCE you'd have to manually set up CUPS and get the proper drivers.

Would anyone be so kind as to briefly let this Linux newbie know how to go about doing so in the future, using Xubuntu alone?

I've searched about how to set up CUPS, but everything I find seems to discuss network printers (I'm just using a local one) and doesn't mention drivers.


A brief tutorial, links, or insults on my searching abilities or just generally...all are appreciated.

[kaamos]

In xubuntu alone:

sudo apt-get install gnome-cups-manager
gnome-cups-manager


You can still use the same gui. :)
No dependecies that aren't already installed with xubuntu-desktop.

[5-HT]

In xubuntu alone:

You can still use the same gui. :)
No dependecies that aren't already installed with xubuntu-desktop.

Thanks for the help.

Didn't know that I could Install the gnome-cups-manager without having to deal with a multitude of dependencies.

I'm still wondering about doing it manually though (just to be completely gnome-free if I switch).

If doing as such is a big pain however, I'll just use the gnome-cups-manager.

Thanks again.

[MechR]

My major XFCE complaint is that maximized windows still have borders :? I guess this is another aspect of Fitt's Law... I'd occasionally miss the scrollbar when aiming for it, and end up slightly resizing the window instead :mad:

[benplaut]

My major XFCE complaint is that maximized windows still have borders :? I guess this is another aspect of Fitt's Law... I'd occasionally miss the scrollbar when aiming for it, and end up slightly resizing the window instead :mad:

yup, that's another aspect of Fitt's Law

all you Fitt's Law haters in this thread, even if you use the keyboard more than the mouse (i know i do), it's still very useful for when you do have to use the mouse... it's quite fast!

[landotter]

I like xfce, but w/o the toolbars. I replace them with the simple fbpanel instead.

I use Rox or Emelfm to manage files as xffm and thunar aren't there yet. I like Nautilus better, but don't like the resource overhead. :P

http://static.flickr.com/26/67162060_cb3e0b7dca_o.png

[starpause]

Alt-Tab works great for me on Windows, Gnome, KDE, and XFCE. Cmd-Tab works great for me on OS X.


my problem with Alt-Tab in xfce is the lack of visual feedback--you don't get a list of the applications in your workspace which you are switching between. i actually feel blinded ](*,)

anyone know of a way to configure xfce alt-tab to display as i described :confused: i've actually googled quite a bit and been around the xfce board as well :-k

[bonzodog]

Xubuntu has only had it's composite manager enabled recently. A composite Manager allows see through/translucent menus and panels, and things like drop shadows.

[Master Shake]

The two things I hated about XFCE is

1) Sometimes apps get duplicated in the menus
2) Trying to figure out how to setup your printers is a pain. You have to open a web browser, go to a local IP and port, and that opens the app. Not very intuitive.

[bonzodog]

Well, to set up the printers, i imported the gnome-cups-manager. That eased things no end.

[Master Shake]

Well, to set up the printers, i imported the gnome-cups-manager. That eased things no end.

I'll have to remember that next time I reinstall XFCE

[mstlyevil]

Well, to set up the printers, i imported the gnome-cups-manager. That eased things no end.

XFCE seems to really integrate with Gnome apps very well. Now trying to use KDE apps with XFCE is a whole different matter.

[midwinter]

I'm using xfce4-svn right now and I love it, fixes every issue I ever had with xfce.

[mips]

XFCE seems to really integrate with Gnome apps very well. Now trying to use KDE apps with XFCE is a whole different matter.

Which windows manager works better/well with KDE apps, just curious ?

[Jonne]

umm, KDE?

;)

[mips]

umm, KDE?

;)

Umm, KDE is a desktop manager as opposed to a windows manager ;)

[paul cooke]

the downside is that it is Fitt's Law hell, and the panels aren't very configurable

have you seen the new version in Dapper... very Gnomish... ;)

[JimmyJazz]

have you seen the new version in Dapper... very Gnomish... ;)

yeah I'm kinda un-happy with the change actually

[Iandefor]

I actually like the Dapper Xubuntu. Very nice. I especially appreciate the ability to configure the compositor.

[Soilman]

One thing that surprised me though was that I didn't notice any great speed increase while using XFCE.

Xfce made a huge difference in preformance for me running it as a virtual machine (VMware) on my laptop (Sony VGN-T350PL). I had issues with setting up XFCE in the past but installing dapper resulted in a fine outcome. As for enlightenment and fluxbox I'm still a bit too green to go through all the configuration: perhaps in the future that is where I'll end up.

Glad I read this thread!

[htinn]

XFCE is the best, without question. Better speed, better options, better defaults.

The only reason I'm back to using GNOME is because I have a screwy half-ubuntu desktop that doesn't seem to want to upgrade right. Once they hit beta, I'm going to clean install again (and THIS time I'm going to do it right).

[Zodiac]

Xubuntu wouldn't detect my T30s CD-RW/DVD drive :(

[mrgnash]

I love XFCE/Xubuntu :D Only problem is, that every now and then the desktop seems to crash and revert to Gnome or something and I have to create a new XFCE session to fix it.

[5-HT]

Xfce made a huge difference in preformance for me running it as a virtual machine (VMware) on my laptop (Sony VGN-T350PL). I had issues with setting up XFCE in the past but installing dapper resulted in a fine outcome. As for enlightenment and fluxbox I'm still a bit too green to go through all the configuration: perhaps in the future that is where I'll end up.

Glad I read this thread!
Well it does load much faster than gnome and FireFox 1.5 made a big difference as well (low ram for me). :-D

I love XFCE/Xubuntu :D Only problem is, that every now and then the desktop seems to crash and revert to Gnome or something and I have to create a new XFCE session to fix it.
Did you run nautilus by any chance? It'll take over drawing the desktop and you'll loose your wallpaper and right/middle click menus.

If that happens, just kill off nautilus and start 'xfdesktop &'.

You can always open Nautilus with the '--no-desktop' flag to stop if from drawing the desktop.

[Iandefor]

Xubuntu wouldn't detect my T30s CD-RW/DVD drive :( XFCE is missing an automounter. You can steal the one from GNOME if you like.
Just use the command gnome-volume-manager&
And I like your signature. Ridley Scott was always an interesting director.

[5-HT]

The two things I hated about XFCE is

1) Sometimes apps get duplicated in the menus
2) Trying to figure out how to setup your printers is a pain. You have to open a web browser, go to a local IP and port, and that opens the app. Not very intuitive.
Did you have any problems getting into the CUPS web interface?
I've noticed that it's been disabled for security reasons, and read that adding user cupsys to the shadow group will get around that.

Any suggestions or is that the way you went?

[bonzodog]

Re: my comment above about installing gnome-cups-manager.

[paul cooke]

XFCE is missing an automounter. You can steal the one from GNOME if you like.
Just use the command gnome-volume-manager&

just remember to save the session so that it will always start up with automounting "enabled"

[mrgnash]

Did you run nautilus by any chance? It'll take over drawing the desktop and you'll loose your wallpaper and right/middle click menus.

If that happens, just kill off nautilus and start 'xfdesktop &'.

You can always open Nautilus with the '--no-desktop' flag to stop if from drawing the desktop.

Nope, I always use Thunar or Konqueror. Thanks for the tip though, I didn't know the command to start the desktop :)

[ComplexNumber]

What XFCE has going for it?

it uses the most attractive toolkit available on linux today.

[fuscia]

in a way, i think xfce is the worst. it doesn't go as far as gnome as being a DE and it falls well short of openbox and fluxbox as a wm.

[LMP900]

I haven't tried it out yet, but I hear a lot about it and XFCE just might be what I was looking for. I have an older machine at home, I tried Kubuntu and Ubuntu but I found that it was quite slow because of the computers low specs. I'm definitely going to give XFCE a try when I get back.

[jonathansizz]

One thing I like about XFCE is that gtk apps and qt apps both look pretty good and are consistent with each other and the rest of the system.