Anyone tried Xubuntu Natty as an alternative to Unity?

[Warpnow]

Xubuntu with the new XFCE 4.8 is a different beast. Transparent panel, an interface oddly reminiscent (maybe too much so, but I don't think so) of OSX with a dock-like lower panel. Completely new theme.

I think Xubuntu is a more revolutionary release than Ubuntu. Unity still needs time to mature. Xubuntu has finally matured. XFCE 4.8 has been long awaited.

If you haven't tried it, you should.

Xfce 4.8 is everything Gnome 2 should have been.

[BrokenKingpin]

I have also switched to Xubuntu 11.04/XFCE 4.8. I am absolutely loving it. I feel XFCE offers what Gnome 2 does, on a lighter base. It offers a lot of compatibility with Gnome applications, so people coming from older Ubuntu/Gnome releases should feel pretty much at home. I highly recommend it for people not liking Unity or Gnome 3.

[OldSmoky2]

I am using Xubuntu 11.04 on a five-year-old Dell desktop I got a few days ago from a friend who bought a new computer and just gave it to me to mess around with. I've been using Ubuntu about a year and a half on a 17-inch laptop that's been my main computer and a netbook I got from another friend who had wrecked Windows on it and just bought a new one.
I've had no problems with the laptop, love Ubuntu 10.10 in fact (started with 9.04), and the netbook is good with 10.04 Netbook Remix. I will say I upgraded the netbook to 10.10 and Unity a few weeks after I got it and it was terrible, pretty much unusable, so I reinstalled 10.04. That was right after it came out, and a lot of people had netbook remix problems with it then.
But this Dell DXP061 desktop has a funky NVidia card, it turns out. I ran Ubuntu 10.10 twice from live CD but it crashed trying to install both times. Then I tried Ubuntu 11.04 and had the same luck. I even tried installing Ubuntu 10.04 on it, and it froze. I did get Kubuntu 11.04 installed on it, but ran into some problems with it, too.
So late last night I tried Xubuntu 11.04. It installed flawlessly. I've spent a good part of the day tweaking it because I wanted some different apps and thought it looked OK but a bit boring (for me, anyway). So now I have LibreOffice (really need it for work compatibility), have tweaked the look a good bit, dumped the bottom panel and added Cairo dock instead, added Amarok and some other stuff.
I really like that I was able to install Evolution and Ubuntu One, then sync my contacts from my other computer. Very cool...
So I like it, I guess. It's a learning curve. Some things aren't as intuitive, and I'm not a tech person, so when I need to do something new it can take some work to figure it out. But it feels stable and has the Ubuntu Software Center, although you seem to have to be a bit aware with installing some things that you are using XFCE, so they may not work as well. But I think I'll stick with it for now. It seems pretty solid.

[Johnsie]

I found that compared to Gnome2 Xubuntu wasn't very good at dealing with ssh shares and samba shares. I need those for work and at home. Other than that XFCE look like a good potential alternative.

[wilee-nilee]

Yeah I like it much more than Unity.

[slooksterpsv]

I've used it, and a while ago there was a script for installing XFCE 4.8 onto Ubuntu 10.10 (till the PPAs got up) that I wrote. Anyways, Xubuntu is nice, I'm switching to that if Gnome 3 becomes too unstable.

Actually, I'm going to go download it now haha. (Not switch yet though lol)

Xubuntu is awesome =D

[phredbull]

I tried it on a live USB for a bit; it seemed ok, everything worked out of the box, but I just felt a bit underwhelmed by this new release. I guess I prefer the old XFCE, since I ended up trying and installing Mint XFCE, (debian based). I'm liking it a lot...

[KingYaba]

I have also switched to Xubuntu 11.04/XFCE 4.8. I am absolutely loving it. I feel XFCE offers what Gnome 2 does, on a lighter base. It offers a lot of compatibility with Gnome applications, so people coming from older Ubuntu/Gnome releases should feel pretty much at home. I highly recommend it for people not liking Unity or Gnome 3.

After reading your post, I will check it out. Thanks.

[Primefalcon]

trying it atm actually, it seems sweet as!

[Rodney9]

I did not like unity after a couple of days, so I tried Xuubuntu 11.04 and I love it !

[rent0n]

I found that compared to Gnome2 Xubuntu wasn't very good at dealing with ssh shares and samba shares. I need those for work and at home. Other than that XFCE look like a good potential alternative.

Are you serious? Xubuntu deals just fine with samba and ssh, like every other Linux machine. Network shares capabilities are really independent from the DE. Xubuntu also has a nice GUI tool called Gigolo that works very well to do that kind of stuff.

From a long-time Xfce (and Xubuntu) user perspective, it's quite impressive to see how many ex-Gnome users are now switching to Xfce. I've never understood why Xfce wasn't shown more love, having basically all the features Gnome2 had, without being so bloated.

[Giraffemonster]

I posted in a thread that I would try out Unity first, and then switch to the XFCE interface, I just thought that Unity would take up too much resource though, so I skipped it completely and downloaded Xubuntu Natty instead of the Natty Update for Ubuntu.

One thing I don't like however is the lack of native hotkeys. If XFCE would add those it would be perfect. Also, is it just me, or is XFCE also more configurable? I happened to notice a lot more options for the desktop environment while I was setting up my system after the upgrade.

[neu5eeCh]

I installed Xubuntu. It's great if you don't want to customize it. Installing compiz is iffy (sometimes it takes, sometimes it doesn't) and Emerald doesn't appear to work in Xubuntu (I've looked for solutions in two different General-Help thread, look here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1743811)).

So... I'm disappointed.

Can't recommend Xubuntu. Mint XFCE uses the outdated 4.6. Crunchbang seems to be the only XFCE distro in which compiz and Emerald work as they should - #! also uses 4.8, is based on Debian and is, I think, a rolling release.

[koleoptero]

I installed Xubuntu. It's great if you don't want to customize it. Installing compiz is iffy (sometimes it takes, sometimes it doesn't) and Emerald doesn't appear to work in Xubuntu (I've looked for solutions in two different General-Help thread, look here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1743811)).

So... I'm disappointed.

Can't recommend Xubuntu. Mint XFCE uses the outdated 4.6. Crunchbang seems to be the only XFCE distro in which compiz and Emerald work as they should - #! also uses 4.8, is based on Debian and is, I think, a rolling release.

Compiz in xfce? Why?

[neu5eeCh]

Compiz in xfce? Why?

So I can use Emerald. Emerald allows me to essentially minimize/eliminate the titlebar and maximaze my vertical space - more so than Unity.

http://poemshape.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/minimal-titlebar1.jpg

I just erased Xubuntu and installed #!. If #! works (and they've provided instructions for installing Compiz & Emerald on their forum) then that's the distro I'll adopt.

[Timmer1240]

I use gnome now but Ive been running XFCE in a virtual Machine and I like it alot!Its a great replacement or alternative to gnome but Im not giving up on gnome just yet!

[madjr]

looking pretty good

http://www.webupd8.org/2011/04/xubuntu-1104-released-with-xfce-48.html

i may try it, but am liking unity so far..

[Lucradia]

I really don't like the transparent panel to be honest.

I hope they default to not forcing compositing by default, it really makes me annoyed. (Turning off compositing may cause panels to disappear forever, even though they're there, but you can't click on them.)

[TheNessus]

I think Unity is way too heavy on my machine. And its a damn modern one...

I think I'll give XFCE a try.

But since I never tried it... and I have tried the boxes, lxde, and KDE before, I am a bit unsure of whether to install xfce of xubuntu.

What would you recommend? I don't want bloat, but I can handle enough of it... What I don't want is many useless processes running and too many text files to edit to make it work. Probably xubuntu then? but isn't it way heavy?

---------------------

Wait, I can't install Xubuntu alongside Ubuntu because of dependency issues?? (11.4)
This is stupid, considering that Xubuntu is endorsed by Canonical...

[polardude1983]

I just love gnome 2.x and would love to stay with it for a while. But I have tried out Xubuntu in virtualbox and could be an alternative for me. I might just do a fresh install of it. Might even install gnome 3 on it. Trying to get gnome 3 to work and be fast enough in virtualbox is iffy.

Anyways yeah think I might go the Xubuntu way.

[Warpnow]

I installed Xubuntu. It's great if you don't want to customize it. Installing compiz is iffy (sometimes it takes, sometimes it doesn't) and Emerald doesn't appear to work in Xubuntu (I've looked for solutions in two different General-Help thread, look here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1743811)).

So... I'm disappointed.

Can't recommend Xubuntu. Mint XFCE uses the outdated 4.6. Crunchbang seems to be the only XFCE distro in which compiz and Emerald work as they should - #! also uses 4.8, is based on Debian and is, I think, a rolling release.


You can customize xfce just fine, you just can't pretend its gnome and follow a step by step for customizing gnome...

It has its own WM, xfwm, which is easily themes and for which alot of themes exist. Also it takes normal GTK themes.

Also, Samba shares/SSH are integrated into thunar in the latest release. Its a brand new feature. You could always connect to them, but now its built into thunar.

[NormanFLinux]

You could try Oz Unity. Its an Ubuntu netbook remix distro (Classic 10.04 stuff but well done) but it looks stunning and comes with all the stuff you could ever need and then some. Lucid Lynx LTS release. Its light on resources and runs blazingly fast on my netbook. You can set up the awn dock and expand it below the favorites panel.

The left pane has categories for all the installed software and anything you find, you can add it with just a right mouse click to favorites. It just works and the optional dock is customizable.

Its a good alternative to XFCE if you need a good balance between everything and starting out with a minimal desktop. Its the little details that count in a good distro and I think Ubuntu forgot that with this release.

Unity may eventually mature but its not there today.

[benc1213]

I am downloading xubuntu now to test it out on a vm. If I like it enough I will defiantly use it over ubuntu. I don't mind unity but its just way to slow at the moment so I will give it some time for some updates.

[keithpeter]

Hello All

I'm using Xubuntu on this old laptop, not as an alternative to Unity however but as a system that I can make look like what most of my students and friends will recognise as a computer.

That probably sounds a bit daft, but many people are sort of expecting a taskbar with menu and indicators at the bottom of the screen. So I pass my lightly customised Xubuntu laptop around the class, and everyone can find the word processor or the web browser.

Cheers

[neu5eeCh]

You can customize xfce just fine

No you can't, not Xubuntu. But hey, if you can show me how to run Emerald in Xubuntu, then you win.


...you just can't pretend its gnome and follow a step by step for customizing gnome...

I can customize XFCE under Debian, Mint and #! using compiz and Emerald. I suppose these distros are all also pretending XFCE is Gnome?


It has its own WM, xfwm, which is easily themes and for which alot of themes exist.

xfwm can't do what Emerald can do; neither can openbox. Example: They can't reduce the height of the titlebar.

[bailout]

I have installed 11.04 xubuntu. It isn't bad but I have had one complete crash this evening. I changed the theme and the way the window decorations seem to interact with the main theme is bizarre.

There is a strange choice of apps tbh. It has always been disappointing that xubuntu is so bloated for a distro based on a light weight de but on this release they include gimp, thunderbird and firefox??? Also the music player seems an odd choice.

I will probably stick with it but may change to kde if they sort out the nvidia driver/xorg bug that I am having problems with.

[bailout]

xfwm can't do what Emerald can do; neither can openbox. Example: They can't reduce the height of the titlebar.

I run lxde on my netbook ie openbox and one of the major reasons is that it is easy to turn of the window decorations/titlebar completely to maximise screen space. KDE can do it as well. It was the main reason I don't use xfce on it.

[neu5eeCh]

I run lxde on my netbook ie openbox and one of the major reasons is that it is easy to turn of the window decorations/titlebar completely to maximise screen space. KDE can do it as well. It was the main reason I don't use xfce on it.

Yeah... I've got to try these two DEs. I've tried KDE before but didn't like it (slow and more than I needed); but maybe I need to reconsider. What are the magic buttons for accomplishing titlebar removal in lxde and KDE? Another user mentioned buttonizing the titlebar in KDE, is this the same thing?

[beew]

No you can't, not Xubuntu. But hey, if you can show me how to run Emerald in Xubuntu, then you win.



I can customize XFCE under Debian, Mint and #! using compiz and Emerald. I suppose these distros are all also pretending XFCE is Gnome?



xfwm can't do what Emerald can do; neither can openbox. Example: They can't reduce the height of the titlebar.

I don't know about Debian and Mint, perhaps they are shipping older versions of Compiz but emerald is broken in Compiz 0.9x so whether you can install Compiz or not you won't be able to use emerald if Compiz 0.9x is the version in the repo. The emerald project apparently has stopped development for quite a while so it is essentially dead.

In the meantime I was able get emerald working in Unity by building it from git with help from the forum.
If you are interested here is the thread.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1702253

It turned out pretty well even though there are occasion problems. I also think to use it you may need to get rid of the global menu (sudo apt-get remove indicator-appmenu)

And of course you won't be able to choose emerald themes where the buttons are on the right unless you don't mind the buttons switching from right to left and back when maximizing and restoring the windows. It is because maximized windows always have buttons on the left in Unity (now maximized windows use the top "panel" and there is practically no option to customize the top panel including where the buttons appear)

[Tibuda]

Are you serious? Xubuntu deals just fine with samba and ssh, like every other Linux machine. Network shares capabilities are really independent from the DE. Xubuntu also has a nice GUI tool called Gigolo that works very well to do that kind of stuff.

From a long-time Xfce (and Xubuntu) user perspective, it's quite impressive to see how many ex-Gnome users are now switching to Xfce. I've never understood why Xfce wasn't shown more love, having basically all the features Gnome2 had, without being so bloated.

I think he is talking about integration with the file manager. Nautilus can browse ssh, ftp and smb hosts like if it was a thumb drive. PCManFM2 also can, but it is a new feature on Thunar, so I don't know if it is available on Ubuntu.

[beew]

Xubuntu still can't do cut and paste into the desktop apparently.

[bailout]

It is is the titlebar menu so iirc either right click on the title bar or Alt+Space to open the menu and then just select it. I think kde was similar but it is a while since I used it on the netbook. It was actually quite quick and snappy despite using relatively a lot of ram.

It depends on how you want to use it whether it would suit you. I run most windows un maximised or maximised and the titlebar doesn't bother me. On those apps where max space is important, browser, word processor etc I use the above to turn it off. Maybe there is another way or it can be set as standard but the above suits my usage.

[el_koraco]

Yeah... I've got to try these two DEs. I've tried KDE before but didn't like it (slow and more than I needed); but maybe I need to reconsider. What are the magic buttons for accomplishing titlebar removal in lxde and KDE? Another user mentioned buttonizing the titlebar in KDE, is this the same thing?

you can install Smaragd. It's a native KDE engine for running Emerald themes. You can even install the Emerald theme manager to manage them, although it's not necessary. Run over to kubuntuforums and ask around, there's a guy there who's running it.

[neu5eeCh]

It is is the titlebar menu so iirc either right click on the title bar or Alt+Space to open the menu and then just select it. I think kde was similar but it is a while since I used it on the netbook. It was actually quite quick and snappy despite using relatively a lot of ram.

Well, hot dog!

I had the KDE desktop installed so I just switched over.

Never noticed that feature. That's all I've ever wanted - get rid of that freakin' titlebar! KDE is my new desktop. Done.

Now... how do I do the compiz scale trick with Kwin?

[el_koraco]

System preferences, Desktop effects, Advanced, Present Windows, choose a keybinding.

Or Sys Pref, Workspace management, Screen edges, choose a hot spot for Present windows. Kwin can present the windows on the current or an all workspaces.

[neu5eeCh]

System preferences, Desktop effects, Advanced, Present Windows, choose a keybinding.

Or Sys Pref, Workspace management, Screen edges, choose a hot spot for Present windows. Kwin can present the windows on the current or an all workspaces.

I'm there, but I don't see how to bind it to my middle mouse button.

[el_koraco]

Not sure you can do it. That's why the edges are useful. You can use it as a workaround?

[neu5eeCh]

Got it. Not as nice as Compiz's ability to work with the mouse, but *is* a workaround.

[Warpnow]

No you can't, not Xubuntu. But hey, if you can show me how to run Emerald in Xubuntu, then you win.


Since when does customize mean install emerald first thing? Isn't Emerald a dead project now anyway?



I can customize XFCE under Debian, Mint and #! using compiz and Emerald. I suppose these distros are all also pretending XFCE is Gnome?


I'm sure you could install Emerald in Xubuntu. I mean, when it all comes down to it, the only thing that differentiates distributions are the included software. With enough effort, you can do anything in one distribution that you can do in another as all the applications and programs are available somewhere to be installed.

And, no, these distros arent "pretending Xfce is gnome", because they aren't telling you to install Emerald in Xfce. You are by thinking its a good idea to begin with...



xfwm can't do what Emerald can do; neither can openbox. Example: They can't reduce the height of the titlebar.

I'm not familar enough to do a complete side by side feature comparison, but if you just change the xfwm theme to one with shorter title bars the title bars are smaller...

There is even an xfwm theme included in xubuntu called "smallscreen" for minimal titlebars. In addition, the perl xfwm theme is extremely minimal, as is microgui, microcurve, meenee...

All you have to do is pick any of these and you'll have shorter title bars.

[neu5eeCh]

Since when does customize mean install emerald first thing? Isn't Emerald a dead project now anyway?

Since when isn't Emerald a customization and who cares if it's "dead"? I can use Emerald in very XFCE distro I've tried except Xubuntu. You got caught with your pants down and now your niggling over the definition of "customize"...


And, no, these distros arent "pretending Xfce is gnome", because they aren't telling you to install Emerald in Xfce. You are by thinking its a good idea to begin with...

:roll: Yeah, I guess all those KDE users who use Emerald think KDE is gnome, right? And heck, anybody who uses Emerald thinks everything is gnome... You just keep right on thinking sparky...


I'm not familar enough to do a complete side by side feature comparison...

That's too bad, because I could use your help instead of your snark.

[koleoptero]

Well done turning the only alive xubuntu thread into a rudeness fest.

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3170/applause5gif2.gif

[neu5eeCh]

Well done turning the only alive xubuntu thread into a rudeness fest.

:popcorn: Guess that's what happens when anyone dares to criticize Xubuntu. I like it. I just wish there were a way to get rid of the title bar. Seems that KDE and Lubuntu can pull this off. I installed Kubuntu 11.04 but it staggers on my laptop (Centrino Duo). I'm trying to ignore this but I can't. Guess I'll try Lubuntu.

If you or anyone knows how to remove titlebars in Xubuntu (a la KDE or Lubuntu) let me know.

[samalex]

Wow, thanks for all the wonderful info on Xubuntu Natty! I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 but I've seriously been thinking of moving to Xubuntu 11.04. Once I get my data backed-up on my laptop I'll probably work on doing a clean install of Xubuntu 11.04.

Just curious, do you guys still use NetworkManager or something else?

[koleoptero]

:popcorn: Guess that's what happens when anyone dares to criticize Xubuntu. I like it. I just wish there were a way to get rid of the title bar. Seems that KDE and Lubuntu can pull this off. I installed Kubuntu 11.04 but it staggers on my laptop (Centrino Duo). I'm trying to ignore this but I can't. Guess I'll try Lubuntu.

If you or anyone knows how to remove titlebars in Xubuntu (a la KDE or Lubuntu) let me know.
CLICKY! (http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php/Border+Only?content=140039) XFWM can do any size borders. It's just that you have to edit theme files, there's no theme manager. Most probably you can change the color easily from the themerc file in the theme's folder. You can even make glassy borders like in emerald with the proper pixmaps.
If you want compiz because of the added functionality I can understand it, I was thinking about it too because of scale and expo, desktop zoom and negative. I find them very useful to say the least. But the looks aren't a proper reason imho, there are plenty of wonderful themes for xfwm and some weird ones too lol.

Just curious, do you guys still use NetworkManager or something else?
I use the default nm-applet that comes with xubuntu/ubuntu. That other one that uses connman doesn't work with my wireless card properly (it keeps connecting and disconnecting all the time) which sucks (I don't blame connman for it). I haven't tried wicd and stuff like that.

[DZ*]

I've been using linux as my main OS since 1996 but managed to never try Xfce until I've read this thread, mainly because I've been associating "lightweight" with "stripped down" and "lacking features". I've been often puzzled by complaints about "bloat" that say KDE etc. bring about. Why have all that RAM and modern CPU power if you can't put it to use? I want bloat and can't get enough of it. Well, I must say that I'm impressed. While Kubuntu may be failing in the bloat department, it certainly isn't at the expense of usability.

[danbuter]

I have. I really like it. It's not perfect, but it's pretty similar to how existing UI's have been for years, which is what I want.

[ufugu]

Well said, Warpnow.

I'm a longtime Xfce user. There are a couple hassles for me (Dropbox, wishing for tabs in Thunar etc) but in many ways I've always thought it was better than Gnome.

The built-in compositing in xfwm is gorgeous. Not as flashy as Compiz but it adds a very pleasing look. And some of the panel applets are better than their Gnome counterparts--not to mention you can run all the Gnome applets in the Xfce panel anyway!

I've not been using Ubuntu for some time (I've been on Crunchbang and Mint with Xfce) but I'm looking forward to trying Xubuntu. They get massive points just for ditching Evolution in favor of Thunderbird. :guitar:

[Artemis3]

I found that compared to Gnome2 Xubuntu wasn't very good at dealing with ssh shares and samba shares. I need those for work and at home. Other than that XFCE look like a good potential alternative.

If you don't like Thunar, you can always install Nautilus, it works perfectly; including drag and drop.

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

I really don't like the transparent panel to be honest.

I hope they default to not forcing compositing by default, it really makes me annoyed. (Turning off compositing may cause panels to disappear forever, even though they're there, but you can't click on them.)

You can fix this by simply going to panel preferences, and all missing panels reappear

Try out Gigolo for setting up network shares

[TenPlus1]

Xubuntu 11.04 installed and working great...

[Dry Lips]

I've just installed Xubuntu alongside Ubuntu, mainly to try out Gnome 3.
Well, Gnome 3 was a big disappointment as it comes across as no better
as Unity, but Xubuntu was a positive surprise. Wow! Fast as nothing I've
ever seen before, and actually quite pretty too.
(See the screenshot if you don't believe me!) With a little tweaking, the
interface was quite the same as the one I'm using in Ubuntu.
My hope for the future is that someone will fork Gnome, but if that doesn't
happen, I'm very temped to switch to Xubuntu for 11.10.

The only thing that keeps me back, is that I don't know very much about
Xfce. They say it's limited compared to Gnome... In what ways? Can I for
instance install all the usual Gnome packages I use with Ubuntu?

I think that to share knowledge about the limitations of Xubuntu/Xfce isn't
criticising Xubuntu. If I eventually make the switch, I'd really like to know
what I'm in for, so that I won't have to retrace my steps and install Kubuntu
or something...

But at least for a few more months, I'll stick with the classic gnome desktop
in Ubuntu.

[demosthene1]

Yes you can run gnome programs. I installed Xubuntu desktop in my standard Lucid Ubuntu. I log into Xubuntu as my default desktop now. Works great.

[Rifester]

I am trying to install the Xubuntu Desktop package from Synaptic. It is telling me it wants to remove Notfiy-OSD and Ubuntu Desktop. I am personally o.k. with either Unity or Gnome 3 (even though there are things that trouble me with both), but my wife is really not enjoying either one. We ran Xubuntu for awhile and she really liked it. I really want to play with the new XFCE version anyways. It looks like this will remove Gnome if I do so. Am I wrong?

[TheNessus]

I am trying to install the Xubuntu Desktop package from Synaptic. It is telling me it wants to remove Notfiy-OSD and Ubuntu Desktop. I am personally o.k. with either Unity or Gnome 3 (even though there are things that trouble me with both), but my wife is really not enjoying either one. We ran Xubuntu for awhile and she really liked it. I really want to play with the new XFCE version anyways. It looks like this will remove Gnome if I do so. Am I wrong?

You are wrong.
Removing ubuntu-desktop and notify-OSD will only remove the meta-package "ubuntu-desktop", not the packages that come with it. losing "ubuntu-desktop" in other words does nothing, it is an empty thing. It is like removing a torrent, not the actual files it represents. Removing notify-OSD is a bit problematic for smoothly running gnome+unity, it will leave your gnome a bit weird. Also expect some xfce programs that needlessly run alongside gnome ones. Such as two power management applets and two sound applets, you'd naturally need to remove from the start script.

[Rifester]

O.K. That is what I thought, I just wanted to be sure before I pushed the button. It has been a while since I tried this.

[koleoptero]

Also expect some xfce programs that needlessly run alongside gnome ones. Such as two power management applets and two sound applets, you'd naturally need to remove from the start script.

They no longer have the "launch gnome services on startup" thing enabled by default so there should be no problem with that.

Also you can later reinstall notify-osd if you don't like the xfce4 notifications (I prefer them).

It would be best not to install the xubuntu-desktop package alongside gnome, but install the xfce4-session one (something like that) and whatever else you need along with it. The xubuntu-desktop will also install programs you don't need like gmusicbrowser (you already have banshee I assume) parole (same as totem) mousepad (you must have gedit) etc.

[gsmanners]

The cool thing about Xfce is its ability to customize it in whatever way you want. Here I have 10.04 running Xfce 4.6 with nearly the same features as Unity (an auto-hiding launcher in the upper left corner, and a nice little panel at the bottom to show me my status, etc.)

[Ken Wood]

I'm really disappointed with both Unity and Gnome 3. Hopefully some sanity will arise before they dump the classic desktop in 11.10. If it doesn't then my current plan is to go to Xubuntu, but I'm also considering other distributions. I'm gonna keep my eye on distrowatch over the next 6 months to see what others do.

[NormanFLinux]

Are you running Unity on Xubuntu?

[Warpnow]

Are you running Unity on Xubuntu?

That wouldn't make much sense.

[jcris]

4.8 is really pretty sweet, and Xfce has come along very very nice. I have a small aversion to using anything becides LTS versions though so I'll prolly wait for the next Xubuntu LTS to come out.

[maembe]

Is there a way to easily uninstall the whole Ubuntu/Unity Desktop and install Xubuntu or xfce? I know there was one for previous versions but I can't remember where it was.

Unity is unbearable so I'd like to give a different gui a shot.

[Lucradia]

Is there a way to easily uninstall the whole Ubuntu/Unity Desktop and install Xubuntu or xfce? I know there was one for previous versions but I can't remember where it was.

Unity is unbearable so I'd like to give a different gui a shot.

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/purexfce << Read the first sentence on this page. This was updated for 11.04 which has unity. Previous versions require a different means and thus has a link.

[Warpnow]

Is there a way to easily uninstall the whole Ubuntu/Unity Desktop and install Xubuntu or xfce? I know there was one for previous versions but I can't remember where it was.

Unity is unbearable so I'd like to give a different gui a shot.

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

[Lucradia]

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

This installs xfce on top of gnome / unity, won't work very easily, unless you like using session switchers.

[Warpnow]

This installs xfce on top of gnome / unity, won't work very easily, unless you like using session switchers.

It will let you use it fine you'll just have 2 of alot of program types. Like pidgin and empathy side by side.

Just have to change your default session in gdm, though, not hard.

[fremantle]

yes i did actually, right after i got fed up with unity.

xfce 4.8 is pretty awesome, but i dont believe they are quite there yet with the docky thingy... but its fast as hell as always.

[Nyromith]

Well, I like to use the LTS versions, so I was using Ubuntu 10.04 with Gnome in the first place. But after 11.04 was released I booted the live cd to see what is this hype all about. Like many others I was completely horrified of what I saw. Uglity was so limited and terrible... I also read that 11.10 will drop Gnome completely, so I started to feel a bit uncomfortable to use a DE with no future.

I briefly tried Xubuntu 11.04 and liked it a lot, so I decided to permanently install Xubuntu 10.04.

Wow! Xfce is a truly awesome interface. It relies on the classic time-proven layout and make the maximum of it. Everything there feels right for me. The main theme is beautiful, unlike the ever-ugly ubuntu themes. Even minor issues that annoyed me in Gnome, such as aligning icons only vertically, were thought about in Xfce, the applets were much better (imo ofc), even the green cursor but white text in the terminal look impressive.

But these are minor things. The main thing is that Xfce is a very fast interface. It's mature and intuitive (although I used it the first time I just 'knew' where things were by intuition). I think that a good interface should not try to reinvent the wheel just because it was invented thousands of years ago, but to use the experience that was gained during all these years, and strive to polish it to the maximum (the DE, I mean). And I feel like Xfce is heading in this direction.

Xfce was the missing link that finally convinced me to move the default flag in the boot menu from Windows to Linux.

Great job, Xfce!

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

As a diehard Xubuntu user for several years, my fresh install of 11.04 has not been without its problems:

1. Right click delay for menus is just a little bit too long (and can't find a speed up solution for it)
2. The Automounting of partitions and removable devices(I believe this is now gvfs) is very flakey, I either get read only file systems or the device just falls off. Can fix the partitions by hard coding them in fstab (but you lose the device icons to folder icons) need to find a fix for removable drives.
3. First time opening of mousepad or thunar goes OK, but trying to close that first window, first time around leaves a delay of @ 30 seconds, or closure fails all together

Other than that, I have created a unity look type interface, main panel at the bottom, icon/dock panel to the left.

191255

191256

Turn off icons on the desktop to get a more accessible right click menu on the desktop too.

[neu5eeCh]

I've been testing Xubuntu some more and have discovered what's probably old news to some users, though nobody seemed aware of it earlier. It's possible to remove window decorations by using the "full screen option", alt-F7 (I think), called "remove titlebar" in KDE and Lubuntu.

So I'm back to liking XFCE; and don't need Emerald to accomplish the same thing. XFCE's only limitation at this point seems to be the inability to post files and folders on the desktop, though there's likely to be a workaround for that.

[Kexolino]

I've tried it out, and liked it a whole lot. There's one question I have though, is there some kind of alternative for the Expo feature in Compiz? I have a small display so I use 3 workspaces (mostly photo editing), and the small switcher on the panel doesn't really cut it...

[neu5eeCh]

I found that compared to Gnome2 Xubuntu wasn't very good at dealing with ssh shares and samba shares. I need those for work and at home. Other than that XFCE look like a good potential alternative.

Install Nautilus.

[neu5eeCh]

Since my earlier posts I've discovered that I don't need Compiz or Emerald to remove the title bar (though I do miss scaling). I'm loving Xubuntu! :D

It probably sounds sarcastic to say it, but I never would have tried Xubuntu if it hadn't been for Unity. Xubuntu strikes me as their best distro, though I've heard good things about Kubuntu from KDE users. I tried Kubuntu 11.04 and found it too laggy on my four year old laptop.

I'm not feeling the need for Gnome2 or 3, or Unity. I just hope that if XFCE realizes some real success, they don't feel the need to iconify everything.

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

I've been testing Xubuntu some more and have discovered what's probably old news to some users, though nobody seemed aware of it earlier. It's possible to remove window decorations by using the "full screen option", alt-F7 (I think), called "remove titlebar" in KDE and Lubuntu.

So I'm back to liking XFCE; and don't need Emerald to accomplish the same thing. XFCE's only limitation at this point seems to be the inability to post files and folders on the desktop, though there's likely to be a workaround for that.


ALT+F11 gives fullscreen

Have a play with Devilspie, you can use this to selctively undecorate windows. for example here is my entry to remove window decoration and titlebar from mplayer

(if
(is (application_name) "MPlayer")
(begin
(undecorate)
)
)

Here's a useful link to devilpie howto:
http://foosel.org/linux/devilspie

[IWantFroyo]

I've tried Xubuntu. It's very good, and I would've kept it if Unity didn't look so nice on my 13.3" notebook.
This would be my Ubuntu of choice for a desktop, though.

[neu5eeCh]

Thanks Jose, I'll follow up on your suggestions.

Edit: I reset alt-F11 to super-space. It's a feature I use with Firefox regularly. I was also given a great tip (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1752350) on how to create a keyboard shortcut in Xubuntu to keep windows "always on top".

[slooksterpsv]

Since my earlier posts I've discovered that I don't need Compiz or Emerald to remove the title bar (though I do miss scaling). I'm loving Xubuntu! :D

It probably sounds sarcastic to say it, but I never would have tried Xubuntu if it hadn't been for Unity. Xubuntu strikes me as their best distro, though I've heard good things about Kubuntu from KDE users. I tried Kubuntu 11.04 and found it too laggy on my four year old laptop.

I'm not feeling the need for Gnome2 or 3, or Unity. I just hope that if XFCE realizes some real success, they don't feel the need to iconify everything.

Kubuntu is laggy, especially with Flash, I had to update mine to a 10.3 beta to get it to run well. I like Xubuntu, don't get me wrong, but something about not being able to change the appearance of it easily is what I don't like. Usually it messes up the notifications, panels don't change to resemble the theme you've chosen or that, otherwise Xubuntu is amazing! =D

Other than that I'm switching to Mint for now as they're keeping Gnome 2.32 for 11. Not sure what 12 is doing though.

[Warpnow]

Kubuntu is laggy, especially with Flash, I had to update mine to a 10.3 beta to get it to run well. I like Xubuntu, don't get me wrong, but something about not being able to change the appearance of it easily is what I don't like. Usually it messes up the notifications, panels don't change to resemble the theme you've chosen or that, otherwise Xubuntu is amazing! =D

Other than that I'm switching to Mint for now as they're keeping Gnome 2.32 for 11. Not sure what 12 is doing though.

Panels do automatically change if they're style is set to: None (Use system style).

They only don't change if you've changed their color or style to something else manually.

[pazuzuthewise]

Yes, I'm using it right now.
But I've replaced thunar with pcmanfm due to thunar's long first start delay after booting (approximately 26 seconds). Otherwise is superb. Pacmanfm works flawlessly.

http://i.imgur.com/ymxXcl.png (http://imgur.com/ymxXc)

I use the Orta gtk2 and xfwm theme, and faenza-darkest icons.

[Morbius1]

I used XFCE a while back and after installing Xubuntu Natty I was quite surprised by the changes.

One upon a time there was a package: thunar-shares-plugin that was the samba usershare implementation in Thunar. You could right click a folder and tell it to create a samba share on the spot. It's gone from the repositories. Do any of you long time users know what happened to it.

I could install nautilus and nautilus-share I suppose to get the same function. I could just as easily create a classic share by editing smb.conf directly. I was just wondering if any of you know what happened to the package.

[rewyllys]

. . . . I just erased Xubuntu and installed #!. If #! works (and they've provided instructions for installing Compiz & Emerald on their forum) then that's the distro I'll adopt.
Could you please provide a URL from which I can find out more about the #! distribution?

Thanks.

[smellyman]

Could you please provide a URL from which I can find out more about the #! distribution?

Thanks.

Crunchbang (http://crunchbanglinux.org/) is a fantastic distro

[rewyllys]

Crunchbang (http://crunchbanglinux.org/) is a fantastic distro
Thanks for the translation. (I'd been pronouncing it "number factorial".:))
It looks interesting.

[gsmanners]

I used XFCE a while back and after installing Xubuntu Natty I was quite surprised by the changes.

One upon a time there was a package: thunar-shares-plugin that was the samba usershare implementation in Thunar. You could right click a folder and tell it to create a samba share on the spot. It's gone from the repositories. Do any of you long time users know what happened to it.

A ten-second Google search turned this up:


To connect and locate a samba share with Thunar, you need to install 2 packages:


sudo apt-get install gigolo gvfs-fuse

Mounting a samba share inside gigolo will now make it show up in ~/gvfs/ where you can easily access it.

If necessary, add your user account to the fuse group.

Access samba share in Thunar (http://www.powerpuff.net/kb/index.php/article/access-samba-share-in-thunar)

[Morbius1]

A ten-second Google search turned this up:
It's too bad you didn't spend a few more seconds on that google query :wink:. You have it backwards. Gigolo is for accessing someone else's share. Thunar-shares-plugin is for creating a samba share for others to access.

Please don't respond with system-config-samba. This wasn't a support question. It relates to the thunar-share-plugin package status only. Besides, I'm arrogant enough to believe I can create a samba share by editing smb.conf directly with a text editor. :)

It could be that it's just too obscure of a reference. Maybe no one knew that Thunar could ever do that.

[Kivech]

I'm really disappointed with both Unity and Gnome 3. Hopefully some sanity will arise before they dump the classic desktop in 11.10. If it doesn't then my current plan is to go to Xubuntu, but I'm also considering other distributions. I'm gonna keep my eye on distrowatch over the next 6 months to see what others do.

I'm with Ken here. Installed and set up Xubuntu to my liking, and I must say that I am impressed. It is a really nice desktop.
I love the customizability (is that a word, lol?). Way better than Gnome. Never liked the philosophy of treating users like retards like Gnome does.

Anyway, for now I am set. I even have my company application running on it flawlessly, so I have myself a new production environment that looks spiffy and works well.

In short: I'm a (Xubuntu) believer from now on! :guitar:

[ivanovnegro]

Yup, the same here, running Xubuntu 11.04 and Im happy.
Not that I am sooo disappointed about Unity, I knew what will happen, simply I dont like this new move, I have also old habbits I wont lose.
Xubuntu is really an alternative IMO.

[mikewhatever]

I used XFCE a while back and after installing Xubuntu Natty I was quite surprised by the changes.

One upon a time there was a package: thunar-shares-plugin that was the samba usershare implementation in Thunar. You could right click a folder and tell it to create a samba share on the spot. It's gone from the repositories. Do any of you long time users know what happened to it.

I could install nautilus and nautilus-share I suppose to get the same function. I could just as easily create a classic share by editing smb.conf directly. I was just wondering if any of you know what happened to the package.

Rumor has it that Thunar now supports samba natively.
http://j1m.net/2010/01/09/thunar-1-1-0-native-support-for-remote-filesystems/

[neu5eeCh]

Could you please provide a URL from which I can find out more about the #! distribution?

Thanks.

I see that someone provided you with a link. I stayed with Xubuntu, rather than #!, although I like #! very much - more than Mint XFCE in fact. I decided I didn't need compiz or, more specifically, emerald. The only reason I wanted Emerald was so that I could reduce the pointless title bars. XFCE, in an improvement over gnome, allows me to remove the title bar with any application (set up with Super-Space on my system). This means (with Firefox) that I can get the same vertical real-estate as with Windows 7 (which includes the title-bar buttons in the menu bar). I get more space than Unity users. Lubuntu offers the same feature and so does KDE - only Gnome and Unity (at present) insist on squandering vertical space.

I also miss not having PPA's in #!.

[neu5eeCh]

In short: I'm a (Xubuntu) believer from now on! :guitar:

Here too. For me, it's the perfect DE.

[humturtle39]

Another recent xfce convert here. The only issue I have is my dual monitor setup. I like my laptop hooked up to my TV as an extended display, but the best i've managed in any xfce distro is the display being mirrored on both screens.

Other than that I couldn't be happier. Xubuntu will become a refuge for people after a traditional desktop layout once Ubuntu stops supporting the gnome 2 panel desktop

[neu5eeCh]

Another recent xfce convert here. The only issue I have is my dual monitor setup. I like my laptop hooked up to my TV as an extended display, but the best i've managed in any xfce distro is the display being mirrored on both screens.

Other than that I couldn't be happier. Xubuntu will become a refuge for people after a traditional desktop layout once Ubuntu stops supporting the gnome 2 panel desktop

Have you tried this?

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=112079

[humturtle39]

Have you tried this?

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=112079

I don't think that's relevant to my problem, but thanks. I'm not looking to get the panel extended across both monitors, my problem is I can't get the external display to show anything at all except for the same thing that's on my laptop screen. I'm not a technical user so I might not be explaining this right but in gnome I was able to set my TV as an extended display, so I could drag windows over from my laptop screen to my TV, for watching movies or whatever.

[Morbius1]

Originally Posted by Morbius1 http://ubuntuforums.org/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10815247#post10815247)
I used XFCE a while back and after installing Xubuntu Natty I was quite surprised by the changes.

One upon a time there was a package: thunar-shares-plugin that was the samba usershare implementation in Thunar. You could right click a folder and tell it to create a samba share on the spot. It's gone from the repositories. Do any of you long time users know what happened to it.

I could install nautilus and nautilus-share I suppose to get the same function. I could just as easily create a classic share by editing smb.conf directly. I was just wondering if any of you know what happened to the package.
Rumor has it that Thunar now supports samba natively.
http://j1m.net/2010/01/09/thunar-1-1...e-filesystems/ (http://j1m.net/2010/01/09/thunar-1-1-0-native-support-for-remote-filesystems/) I regret bring this subject up :).

Thunar does indeed natively support the access of and mounting of remote samba shares. What Thunar was once able to do is create a Samba share from within Thunar itself ( i.e., Right click a folder > Properties > Sharing > Share this folder ). What made that possible was a package called thunar-shares-plugin. It's now missing from the repositories and it's not clear why. I was just wondering if anyone knew why.

[neu5eeCh]

I don't think that's relevant to my problem, but thanks. I'm not looking to get the panel extended across both monitors, my problem is I can't get the external display to show anything at all except for the same thing that's on my laptop screen. I'm not a technical user so I might not be explaining this right but in gnome I was able to set my TV as an extended display, so I could drag windows over from my laptop screen to my TV, for watching movies or whatever.

This?

http://maketecheasier.com/how-to-setup-dual-monitors-with-xrandr/2009/06/01/

[donniezazen]

I have moved to Lubuntu. If i can't use Gnome why not use lightest distro on earth. Xfce is not a lot different than LXDE and Xubuntu is in no way light weight. Lubuntu is true light weight distro.

[neu5eeCh]

I have moved to Lubuntu. If i can't use Gnome why not use lightest distro on earth. Xfce is not a lot different than LXDE and Xubuntu is in no way light weight. Lubuntu is true light weight distro.

I'm not so sure that's true. There are different implementations of XFCE on various distros. Xubuntu is much faster and lighter weight than my previous install of 10.10 Gnome. That said, I'm going to install Lubuntu on a separate partition and do my own comparisons. Xubuntu has been so easy to set up and use that it's disappointing. :wink:

I don't have any reason to tweak anything.

Everything works.

The first thing I'm going to try doing with Lubuntu is to edit the menu. That should slow me down for a couple of days.

[Bandit]

I thought about installing Windowmaker. Of course then I woke up in my chair asleep at me desk again.
Really considering installing XFCE tonight just to see how its running these days.

[ivanovnegro]

I have moved to Lubuntu. If i can't use Gnome why not use lightest distro on earth. Xfce is not a lot different than LXDE and Xubuntu is in no way light weight. Lubuntu is true light weight distro.

I know what you mean but I am not looking for something lightweight, I found Xubuntu to be my choice because of a more traditional interface, it replaces Gnome 2 in my case.
But of course I think Lubuntu is also great and really lightweight, will play with it also just for fun.
I like more and more the lighter environments even my hardware is supporting Unity and all the effects that come with it but I noticed I dont need this eyecandy, just want to do my work and thats all.

[gsmanners]

I regret bring this subject up :).

Thunar does indeed natively support the access of and mounting of remote samba shares. What Thunar was once able to do is create a Samba share from within Thunar itself ( i.e., Right click a folder > Properties > Sharing > Share this folder ). What made that possible was a package called thunar-shares-plugin. It's now missing from the repositories and it's not clear why. I was just wondering if anyone knew why.

Sorry. All networking things related to Windows is a mystery to me. You may as well have been speaking Greek.

Anyway, I can't find the answer to that question. There doesn't appear to be any discussion about that particular plugin's inclusion or exclusion. It just mysteriously appears and disappears the way so many developers often do.

Judging from the bugs that have appeared lately, it's hard to say what exactly happened. I'd say that it stopped working for Debian, so they dropped it, which meant Ubuntu dropped it at the next package sync.

Project Page (http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/thunar-plugins/thunar-shares-plugin)
Bug List Page (https://bugzilla.xfce.org/buglist.cgi?product=Thunar-shares-plugin&component=General&resolution=---)

[speedwell68]

This morning I installed xubuntu-desktop over the top of my GNOME install and all I can say is that Xubuntu is far superior to the current Ubuntu. I am backing everything up now and making the switch with a fresh install.

[speedwell68]

Got it installed and running, spent a day setting things up as I like them. Xubuntu is bloody awesome, so quick. It boots in half the time as regular Ubuntu and sits in 178mb of ram. TBH, unless Unity suddenly becomes the best thing since bread came sliced I am never going back, I sticking with this.

[Lateralis]

Xfce is pretty good, and pretty quick, but for me, the default Xubuntu look in Natty isn't to my liking. I could always take the time to tweak it to make it my thing, but Gnome 2 in 10.04/10.10 was really the perfect DE for me. Which makes it such a shame that it will be no more!

[topcat5]

Xfce is pretty good, and pretty quick, but for me, the default Xubuntu look in Natty isn't to my liking. I could always take the time to tweak it to make it my thing, but Gnome 2 in 10.04/10.10 was really the perfect DE for me. Which makes it such a shame that it will be no more!

It's really not hard at all delete/recreate and/or change the two panels (bars at top and bottom) in the default Xubuntu install and then add them back to look just like Gnome 2.2. Or even better. In fact Xfce makes this a pretty simple process as compared to the panels in Gnome. Just left click on one of them, select panel preferences, and you will see a pull down for the top and bottom panels (panel 1, panel2) etc. The +,- icons allow you to delete and add them back. The items tab lets you put items on them that do things.

You can also go to synaptic to add any tools that you don't have, but other than restricted extras, IMO Xfce is pretty complete for what I need to do.

[speedwell68]

It's really not hard at all delete/recreate and/or change the two panels (bars at top and bottom) in the default Xubuntu install and then add them back to look just like Gnome 2.2. Or even better. In fact Xfce makes this a pretty simple process as compared to the panels in Gnome. Just left click on one of them, select panel preferences, and you will see a pull down for the top and bottom panels (panel 1, panel2) etc. The +,- icons allow you to delete and add them back. The items tab lets you put items on them that do things.

You can also go to synaptic to add any tools that you don't have, but other than restricted extras, IMO Xfce is pretty complete for what I need to do.

^^^WHS. I swapped to Xubuntu 11.04 as I was having stability issues with standard 11.04. Anyway, I now have Xubuntu configured to be much the same as standard GNOME 2.X, I am using mostly the same apps, I even have Nautilus Elementary as my file manager.

[Lateralis]

^^^WHS. I swapped to Xubuntu 11.04 as I was having stability issues with standard 11.04. Anyway, I now have Xubuntu configured to be much the same as standard GNOME 2.X, I am using mostly the same apps, I even have Nautilus Elementary as my file manager.

Yeah, as I said in my post, I could probably configure it so that Xfce looks the same as Gnome, or works the way that I want it to. But as I also said, Gnome in 10.04/10.10 is about the perfect desktop for me, so having to do any extra configuration is a disappointment.

So for me personally, I have found that Unity with the Cairo dock actually works amazingly well. I had tried to get used to the Cairo dock previously, but found that it was largely redundant. But I now find it exceptionally useful, with the added bonus that this setup requires hardly any extra configuration or faffing!

But to each their own. =)

[timZZ]

99% of what I use linux for is command terminal.

Right now I am running 10.10 ... I might consider Xubuntu ... I am always up for trying something new.

[galacticaboy]

I love Xubuntu 11.04 but not so much the dock. I am not a dock fan. Just not my thing. I removed it and moved my panel to the bottom.

[ivanovnegro]

I love Xubuntu 11.04 but not so much the dock. I am not a dock fan. Just not my thing. I removed it and moved my panel to the bottom.

I use this dock just like I used the panel in Gnome, only to launch apps and for that its ok and it is even transparent. I never used docks and dont like them either.

[timZZ]

What is wrong with docks?

If you continually use certain applications, then does it not make sense to have a quick launch of some sort?

To me the dock is a method of quickly launching apps while using full screen applications and saving the trouble going through menus.

[galacticaboy]

What is wrong with docks?

If you continually use certain applications, then does it not make sense to have a quick launch of some sort?

To me the dock is a method of quickly launching apps while using full screen applications and saving the trouble going through menus.

Just never been a fan of Docks. I am a 'click on the menu, then click this, then finally click Firefox' type of person. Always have been. I also prefer one panel, instead of two like Gnome 2.x.x series had and XFCE had. I just like one panel and the bottom. It is just what I prefer and what satisfies me.

[ivanovnegro]

What is wrong with docks?

If you continually use certain applications, then does it not make sense to have a quick launch of some sort?

To me the dock is a method of quickly launching apps while using full screen applications and saving the trouble going through menus.

I use the open windows and need them always visible in the panel, I need the text that I can see to identify what windows are in use, I also let them always active when I work.
In a dock normally I see only the icons and that bothers me especially when I am dragging an amount of files to another directory, on Gnome also with F3 but not limited to it.
Im really working on my machine, does not mean that others dont but I have an amount of applications open and windows active that I need always.
Actually docks are looking good but are not efficient enough for my workflow.
I know you can make them to your likings but I prefer the fast traditional way of switching between windows with one click.

[koleoptero]

I also prefer one panel, instead of two like Gnome 2.x.x series had and XFCE had.

XFCE didn't have 2 panels, xubuntu had them. Other xfce distros had a single bottom panel.

[speedwell68]

In GNOME 2.X I was using AWN as a Mac style dock, but in XCFE I have just configured the bottom panel to work as a dock. My standard GNOME install would boot into about 280mb of ram with the AWN dock, but XFCE boots into 209mb, it is much leaner. I was getting it into 178mb of ram, but since I have added Nautilus Elementary, Dropbox, Conky and a couple of Screenlets it has upped that a bit. It is still leaner, faster and more stable than the current GNOME under Ubuntu 11.04.

[ivanovnegro]

XFCE didn't have 2 panels, xubuntu had them. Other xfce distros had a single bottom panel.

Thats right but I think Zenwalk also has two panels like Xubuntu, one is a dock at the bottom.

[koleoptero]

I'd like to also add something to all the corrections I've made this far in this thread: That bottom panel in xubuntu 11.04 (and whatever other distro) is not a dock. A dock shows open windows as well, this is just a panel with a bunch of launchers. There's still the classic window list active on the top panel to switch between windows. It's much different than a dock.

[speedwell68]

I'd like to also add something to all the corrections I've made this far in this thread: That bottom panel in xubuntu 11.04 (and whatever other distro) is not a dock. A dock shows open windows as well, this is just a panel with a bunch of launchers. There's still the classic window list active on the top panel to switch between windows. It's much different than a dock.

Yes, you are quite correct. I am using the bottom panel instead of a Dock. Like I said I used to use AWN, but under Xubuntu I didn't see the point of adding the extra bloat.

[neu5eeCh]

What is wrong with docks?

If you continually use certain applications, then does it not make sense to have a quick launch of some sort?

To me the dock is a method of quickly launching apps while using full screen applications and saving the trouble going through menus.

Here too. All my panels hide but for Docky (right side in Panel Mode). Since I primarily use the same apps, I have one click access to everything. I also have keyboard shortcuts to everything if I've full-screened an app (something which I couldn't do in Gnome 2).

For me, Xubuntu is better than Gnome2 in 10.10. Little things work that never worked correctly in Gnome. I've also installed Nautilus Elementary and it works beautifully. Xubuntu is now my default DE. I'm going to be moving my other computer over to Xubuntu. It's much more powerful and could easily handle Kubuntu, but I'm just not feeling the need for all the candy.

[koleoptero]

Yes, you are quite correct. I am using the bottom panel instead of a Dock. Like I said I used to use AWN, but under Xubuntu I didn't see the point of adding the extra bloat.

I got as far as typing sudo apt-get install dock-name-here and hitting enter. When I saw the gazillion of packages each of them wanted to install I just couldn't do it :D