Going 100% XFCE

[rufousfelix]

I've installed xubuntu on two ThinkPads (one a year old, one seven years old) from the Dapper Drake CD with flawless execution, I would say. (Ubuntu + ThinkPads seems a good combination).

Still, I was tempted by A Y Siu's postings over at psychocat.net to go 100% xfce and jettison about 25% of the files for the gnome desktop available in the standard ubuntu session. Siu's procedure to sudo apt-get remove ...a long list ... works. With the new ThinkPad, it was a straight shot. BUT REMEMBER to do sudo apt-get update first or you can get wild results calling for a reinstall (I did!).

On the older ThinkPad, however, the system choked. I got an "Abort." message in terminal. Possibly my RAM of 256 was the problem. So what I did was do the sudo apt-get remove of Siu's long list in about five or six batches--worked fine.

The beauty of a 100% xfce is you is you have the leanest of xubuntu installations and can build up as you find the need for other packages.

[aysiu]

I'm glad the guide worked for you.

I moved your thread to the Ubuntu Cafe. It's about desktop environments, but it's not really a support thread--more of a celebration inviting discussion.

[roderikk]

A Y Siu's postings over at psychocat.net

http://psychocat.net/ doesn't get me a site about ubuntu.... Or am I just not looking good enough?

[aysiu]

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu

There's an s in the domain name.

[xmastree]

I'm interested in this...
I have a rather old laptop, PIII600/384MB/4GB running ubuntu(breezy)/Gnome and whilst it's ok, I am interested in trying something lighter.

Hmm...

[roderikk]

I know, love your site! Great job. My new favourite install method is just installing a server install and only than the (x|k)ubuntu-desktop, of course with aptitude ;-). I wonder, why did you remove this description at the 'install only XFCE' section? It was there a few weeks ago?

EDIT and are you going to add your stuff on IceWM there too?

[aysiu]

I changed the XFCE section because Xubuntu is now an actual disk. So you no longer need to do a server install to get it without Gnome or KDE.

Of course, you can do a server install, but I thought those instructions might just confuse new users.

I'll put up IceWM when I feel more comfortable with it.

[roderikk]

Hm yes, I know how you feel. I still find it a bit 'new', at least quite the difference from gnome and even xfce. But my laptop now runs very smoothly!!!
Maybe you could add that other installation method as a sort of 'afterthought'...? I think it is a nice way to install things, and I consider myself to be a noob... It is also a good way to go if you really want to try out kubuntu and xubuntu using aptitude. But then again, it might be that you are aiming for a different audience.
Thanks for all the good work you are doing for the community!

[John.Michael.Kane]

aysiu I tried flux/open box. talk about striped down,however. still highly usable/light.

XFC is light,and the user interface takes a little getting use to.

[maniacmusician]

I changed the XFCE section because Xubuntu is now an actual disk. So you no longer need to do a server install to get it without Gnome or KDE.

Of course, you can do a server install, but I thought those instructions might just confuse new users.

I'll put up IceWM when I feel more comfortable with it.
sorry, off topic, but aysiu, when did you become part of the staff? congratulations.

[K.Mandla]

aysiu I tried flux/open box. talk about striped down,however. still highly usable/light.

XFC is light,and the user interface takes a little getting use to.
I was a big XFCE fan for a long time (if the better part of the last year can be considered a 'long' time), but I started in with Openbox when I was plunking around with Ubuntu on a 120Mhz machine.

I'm Openbox across the board now. I keep Xubuntu on one machine as a backup.

[mustang]

sorry, off topic, but aysiu, when did you become part of the staff? congratulations.

I was going to comment on that as well. Congratulations---if it's anyone that deserves being part of the staff, it's aysiu.

[Iandefor]

Yeah, I recently installed XFCE on my older laptop. It's really not that slow, but GNOME was kind of a pain to use. XFCE is so much faster. I'm tempted to follow aysiu's instructions as well, just to see how light a system I can get.

Speaking of aysiu, congratulations on being part of staff again.

[xmastree]

I'm glad the guide worked for you.
Ok, I'm typing this from firefox running under XFCE. (installed with synaptic rather than that aptitude command)
I opened a terminal and C&P that huge command from here (http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/purexfce), and it fell at the first fence. :(


Password:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package alacarte
chris@lappy:~$

How can I make it ignore non-existent packages?


Ach, scratch that. I just noticed it's for Dapper and I'm still Breezy here.

So, instead I'll get the xubuntu dapper ISO and start over.

[.t.]

Yeah; congrats aysiu!

[xmastree]

So, instead I'll get the xubuntu dapper ISO and start over.
Damn, wish I hadn't... ](*,)

[orev]

I am starting to like xfce quite a bit, and I am even using it now on all my Ubuntu machines - servers and desktops. The built in transparency and compositing are nice.

It is decidedly faster, and possibly even better looking...at least to me, but I like a "clean" look.

[slimdog360]

http://psychocat.net/ doesn't get me a site about ubuntu.... Or am I just not looking good enough?
hahaahaha

I have kde (mepis) currently on my thinkpad. Its about a year or two old and runs great, not really much slower then xubuntu.