For a Lightweight Linux Desktop, Try the New Xfce 4.10

I have stayed away from installing themes. I use one that comes with the distro and that mostly closely meets my needs. Then, I make minor modifications to get things just so. I haven't messed with icons either. I don't much care about the appearance of the desktop, per se, since I mostly run whatever I run maximized. Boring but true.

 

I put the shimmerproject greybird folder into .themes. Now I have the grey panel and the greybird theme.I love it.Thanks. I downloaded the tarball for the greybird theme from the shimmerproject page.I hope the file is safe.

 

A review of 4.10: http://www.datamation.com/open-source/is-xfce-a-gnome-and-unity-replacement-1.html

Any idea what support implies? I've left it at the default "disabled". I guess I could turn it on and then turn it off but I'd rather find out without doing so in case the on/off thing leaves traces behind.

 

cet i download from these site

http://gnome-look.org/

http://xfce-look.org/

http://kde-look.org/

they are pretty safe for extra security what i do is from virus total site i scan then folder

https://www.virustotal.com/

or if you want extra

you can check webup8 themes

http://www.webupd8.org/p/ubuntu-ppas-by-webupd8.html

they added in launchpad and used and reviewed by many so they are very much safe

edit: also this site i get my all themes icons from http://www.deviantart.com/ and http://gnome-look.org/ alone

3rd go for safe themes like faenza ...common type

 

XFCE is the sweet spot for me, a major plus is that I can use all my favorite Gnome/KDE apps such as Krusader, Basket, Guake, Glippy, etc..

Easy to configure and super fast.. what more do you need.

 

Agreed, it strikes the perfect balance of speed, configurabilty and features. I'm still back on 4.6.2 which is perfect for my old P4.

 

Okay, I finally fixed that

 

The following is my .gtkrc.xfce4 info which makes the Desktop Icon text box transparent, changes the text to white, and adds a black shadow to the text (so you can see the icon's name even on a white background).

It also allows for changing the panel font to anything you wish (but not the digital clock..it has its own separate function for changing the font)....

Code:

## Icon View Text Appearance
#
style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {

    ## transparency (alpha) factor
    # original: XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 75
    # set transparency of icon text background to 100%
    XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 0
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-label-alpha = 170
    XfdesktopIconVIew::ellipsize-icon-labels = 1

    XfdesktopIconView::shadow-x-offset = 1
    XfdesktopIconView::shadow-y-offset = 1
    XfdesktopIconView::shadow-color = "#000000"
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-x-offset = 1
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-y-offset = 1
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-color = "#ffffff"

    XfdesktopIconVIew::cell-spacing = 6
    XfdesktopIconView::cell-padding = 6
    XfdesktopIconView::cell-text-width-proportion = 2.5

    base[NORMAL] = "#cccccc"
    base[SELECTED] = "#cccccc"
    base[ACTIVE] = "#cccccc"

    fg[NORMAL] = "#ffffff"
    fg[SELECTED] = "#000000"
    fg[ACTIVE] = "#000000"
}
widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"

########
## Panel Font section
 
style "panel"
{
  font_name = "Droid Sans Bold 11"   ## change to whatever you wish
}
widget "*Xfce*Panel*" style "panel"

########
##Panel color section


style "panel-color" {
  fg[NORMAL]               = "#FFFFFF" # was 222222
  fg[ACTIVE]               = "#111111" # was 111111
  bg[NORMAL]               = "#EDEFF2"
  bg[PRELIGHT]             = "#DCD2CC" # was 81756a or CA4C22 or F5D36E or F76738
  bg[ACTIVE]               = "#DCD2CC" # was 3d6eab
}

widget "*PanelWidget*" style "panel-color"
widget "*PanelApplet*" style "panel-color"
widget "*Panel*" style "panel-color"
widget_class "*Panel*" style "panel-color"
class "*Panel*" style "panel-color"
class "*Tray*" style "panel-color"
class "*tray*" style "panel-color"

##############

Save the above to your Home folder. Be sure to name it ".gtkrc.xfce4".

Next, create another text file with the following in it...

Code:

## $HOME/.gtkrc-2.0 may be changed on updates, so just add this line to it
include "/home/your-user-name/.gtkrc.xfce4"

Be sure to name it ".gtkrc-2.0", and save it to Home folder, as well. Reboot, and voila.

BTW, the latest Cardapio unstable version (ppa) now works in Xubuntu. But don't add the ppa to synaptic (that will drag in a bunch of other dependencies that you don't need). Instead go to the ppa site, follow the link to their repo and download it there. I used gdebi to install it. It still will want to install 4 or 5 dependencies (small in size) but that's still quite small compared thru synaptic. I should mention that Cardapio is a menu launcher...an alternative to the xfce4 menu.

Also, if you run Cairo Dock, like I do, I've found a way to run GnoMenu from the dock should you wish. It also works in AWN as well as witnessed in the latest Zorin OS 6.

I hope you find this useful.

Later...

 

But you fixed that long ago.

Something else, how many .goutputstreamXXX files do you have in your home folder (hidden files) ?

 

I used to see them in Unity sessions (can't remember with just 3D or even with 2D) but none if I stay with Xfce. I'm not sure there's a clear explanation. Different people seem to have different explanations. I stopped worrying once I switched to Xfce since I'm not seeing them now.

 

Nice post here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12038130&postcount=4) introduced me to themerc.

 

I went analog The color of the "dial" seems to be governed by selected_fg_color in /usr/share/themes/Theme_Name/gtk-2.0/gtkrc.

 

Very nice link(s), thank you.
BTW. If you arrange items by name/modification date etc. unfortunately it seems to globally apply, eg. if I want to sort stuff in Documents by name this will apply to all folders unlike with Ubuntu/Kubuntu where I can arrange items in different folders uniquely. Do you have a tip on how to get around this ?

 

Sorry, I haven't looked at that but if I come across anything I'll post here.

 

Definitely a bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/lightdm/ bug/984785
I have them in Xubuntu 12.04
Workaround till fixed:- place in startup programs sh -c "rm ~/.goutputstream-*"

 

So it's something that Unity and Xubuntu have in common since I'm not seeing them with plain Xfce 4.10. I wonder if someone would be kind enough to see if they're generated in a GNOME Classic (no effects) session.

 

I've started a GNOME Classic (no effects) session (GCne) and there's none so far.
Meanwhile, now that Moody's has downgraded 15 major banks and India is being regularly downgraded, one day by S&P, the next day by Fitch, I'm going to have to hang on to this laptop for dear life and stay away from CPU-guzzling stuff

If you don't use your workaround, how many of those files do you generate? Can you make any sort of correlation? Opening GNOME Player to watch Too old to rock (JT) doesn't give me any

Maybe you need to cut down on Opera (not the browser) and switch to RnR

Let's see LibO ... nil
Google Chrome ... nil
Opera ... nil

Now I'll go back to my dear Xfce although GCne is certainly not the pits. The bottom panel steals one row of "real estate" but that's about it.

 

Nothing as yet. All clear.

 

Seems to occur on shutdown - but I am not in Xubuntu now so will check on weekend.
RnR is definitely better than opera. I also recommend classical.

 

Not for me. But I shutdown from an Xfce 4.10 session. I wonder what the difference is between an Xfce 4.10 session (on Ubuntu 12.04) and running Xubuntu 12.04 (apart from the obvious 4.8 v/s 4.10).

Have you "upgraded" your Xubuntu to 4.10 or will you do so automatically along with 12.10?

 

Confirmed, shutdown triggers those files. Deleted them all then shutdown. On starting again one of those .goutputstream- files was there in all its glory.
One laptop = pure Xubuntu 12.04 (4.10) it was upgraded from 11.10
Other laptop = as above but not upgraded from 11.10
Hoping for a fix. Some folks who never enable 'show hidden files' will of course never notice.

Edit: They are all 0 bytes.
-rw------- 1 ocky ocky 0 Jun 23 14:06 .goutputstream-82PKGW

 

Mine too were zero bytes when I used to see them. Since you're seeing them on both 4.8 and 4.10 whereas I'm not seeing them on 4.10 even after start-up seems to point to something about Xubuntu and Ubuntu (in a Unity session) that somehow isn't going on with an Xfce 4.10 session running on Ubuntu.

 

I've just this moment tried Xfce for the first time, absolutely fantastic!!

 

4.8 or 4.10?

 

version 4.8

Edit: Upgraded to 4.10 and now all my panel items have moved to the far left of the panel, I'll do some googling to see if I can find a solution.