Xfce/Guide

This guide provides an extensive introduction to Xfce, a fast, lightweight, full-featured desktop environment.

The Xfce desktop environment
Xfce is a fast, lightweight desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems. It is designed for productivity, and is quite configurable while still adhering to the Freedesktop specifications.

Unlike heavier desktop environments, such as Gnome and KDE, Xfce uses far fewer system resources. Additionally, it offers greater modularity and fewer dependencies; it takes up less space on your hard disk and takes less time to install.

This guide will not only show you how to install and configure a minimal Xfce environment, but will also explore options to create a full-featured desktop in keeping with the Xfce philosophy: light, fast, and modular.

The last part of this guide lists a few commands to run after upgrading to a new Xfce release, so be sure to follow them if you are upgrading from an older version.

The basics
First make sure Xorg has been configured as instructed in the Xorg Guide. If these steps have not been completed the rest of this guide will not apply as expected.

Next, double-check the USE flags in ; most users will want to set the following:

Emerge
Now that the USE variables have been set in, it is time to install Xfce.

If desired add regular user(s) to the,  , and   groups, so that they can mount and use devices such as cameras, optical drives, and USB sticks.

Update the system's environment variables:

A graphical terminal will be needed to continue working in the new desktop environment. The package is a good choice; it is made specifically for Xfce. Install Terminal as shown:

Starting Xfce
Now that Xfce is now installed, we'll configure it to be the default desktop environment when we issue the command. Exit your root shell and log on as a regular user.

Now start your graphical environment by typing :

Congratulations, and welcome to your new Xfce desktop environment. Go ahead, explore it a bit. Then continue reading to learn how you can configure Xfce to suit your needs.

Sessions and startup
If you've installed (or plan to install) popular Gnome or KDE applications such as, , , , etc. then you should make sure that Xfce launches the appropriate services for these at startup. Navigate to. On the tab, select the appropriate checkbox. This might slightly increase Xfce startup times, but it decreases load times for KDE and Gnome applications.

Xfce has the ability to save your session settings and running programs from the tab in the  menu. They can be automatically saved when you logout, or Xfce can ask you each time. This feature is particularly useful for undoing configuration mistakes. Accidentally killed a panel? Just select "No" when prompted to save your current session, and the next time you start Xfce, your old desktop is restored. Want to automatically launch your open web browser, terminal, and email client the next time you login? Just save your session before logging out.

You've now got a basic working environment installed and configured. But if you're interested in doing more, then continue reading!

Additional applications
Every user should consider installing some or all of the following useful applications and utilities:

Desktop applications
Next, let's see about adding some useful but lightweight desktop applications, staying with Xfce's philosophy.

Though is nice enough as a basic text editor, if you need a full-featured word processor but don't want the bloat of LibreOffice, try emerging. AbiWord is lighter, faster, and is completely inter-operable with industry-standard document types.

Need a nice email client/newsreader that is not as demanding as or ? Try emerging.

For your internet chat needs, is an excellent, tiny, incredibly configurable IRC client that runs in your terminal. If you prefer a compact all-in-one client that handles nearly all chat protocols, you may want to.

If you need movie and music players, look no further than and. They can play most every media format available quite nicely.

Finally, you'll need a web browser. Nearly all graphical web browsers require more resources than most of your other desktop applications. Still, Firefox and Medori are always good choices. Alternatively, you may find Opera to be quite fast. However, Opera is not available on as many processor architectures as Firefox, and it has more dependencies unless you override them with a few USE flags.

Now that we've explored some good suggestions for rounding out your desktop applications, let's see what else we can do to enhance your Xfce experience.

Panel plugins
In this chapter, we'll discuss some useful plugins and applications for everyday use within Xfce.

There are many plugins for the panel available in Portage; see for yourself with. Though for the most part their names are self-explanatory, a few deserve extra attention, as they are quite helpful. To use them, simply them. They'll be added to the list of available items in the menu shown when you right-click on the panel.

Graphical login
Remember when the line was added to the  file? All you have to do to get into your desktop is type after logging in. This is fine if you prefer a completely text-based boot and login, but let's use a display manager that will automatically start Xfce after booting (so that you can login graphically).

First, let's make sure Xfce loads at boot:

We aren't quite finished yet. We have to pick a display manager and set the appropriate variable. Though there are a few choices available in Portage, for this guide, we'll stick with SLiM, the Simple Login Manager.

is speedy and lightweight, with minimal dependencies. Perfect for Xfce!

Then edit the DISPLAYMANAGER variable in :

SLiM can automatically start your Xfce session if you add  to :

Beautifying the desktop
A little customization of the desktop's appearance can go a long way. Xfce has all the options one would expect from a modern desktop environment, font anti-aliasing settings, color schemes, dozens of window decorations, themes, and more. If these are not enough, it is easy to install third-party themes, icon sets, mouse cursor themes, and wallpapers.

A selection of nice Gentoo wallpapers in a variety of resolutions are hosted on the Gentoo website. When looking for icon sets and complete Xfce themes, Xfce-Look has a huge collection. The important thing to remember about any third-party eye candy is that it will usually need to be unpacked and then installed to the proper directory. Icon sets go in, and themes go to ; use these directories for all users to be able to access themes and icon sets. Individual users can install themes and icon sets to their home directories in and.

If SLiM has been installed as the display manager, there are lots of themes in the  package available in the main Gentoo repository. Also, be sure to check the SLiM themes page for more themes. Creating your own SLiM theme is fairly easy; just read the Themes HowTo.

Finally, Xfce has its own built-in compositor to manage window transparency. This option can be found in. For best performance, you will need to be running a graphics card with drivers that support hardware-accelerated rendering. Make sure the package has been emerged with the   USE flag, then enable compositing in  by adding the following section:

This is the bare minimum configuration required for Xfce and Xorg-X11. However, setting up hardware-accelerated rendering depends on the system's graphics card, and is beyond the scope of this guide. Please see the other guides in the Desktop resources to learn about configuring hardware-accelerated rendering for various graphic cards.

Once finished setting up a beautiful Xfce desktop, the next thing to do is take a screenshot of it to share with other folks! Install and post the pictures somewhere for all to admire.

Summary
Congratulations on making it this far! You've installed and configured a speedy desktop environment with a solid suite of applications for your computing needs.

Upgrading
When upgrading Xfce from earlier major versions (4.x), the old cached sessions and profiles will need to be removed; they are incompatible with new releases. For each user, run the following commands to remove the old incompatible cached sessions and profile:

Users will be greeted with a new and shiny interface, but will lose many of their individual settings. Sadly, no migration of configuration(s) exist...

External resources
Need additional help on configuring and using Xfce? Need more lightweight application suggestions? Try checking out:


 * The Gentoo forums
 * The installed help files and other documentation provided by Xfce: . Just point your browser at it and start reading. There are even a lot of "hidden" configuration options detailed in the help files.