Ubuntu – How to install Xfce desktop environment

xfce

I have read this post How do I switch to Xubuntu?, but it tells me to install xubuntu-desktop.

Can I install Xfce (only)? I mean, I don't want to install any application which is not related to Xfce desktop, but becomes dependency of xubuntu-desktop, such as abiword, gthumb, etc. What package should I install?

Best Answer

Click here:

Or via command line:

sudo apt-get install xfce4

this is what you will get

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libstdc++5 libvncserver0 libaio-dev sysstat ksh expat libelf-dev
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  desktop-base exo-utils gtk2-engines-xfce libexo-1-0 libexo-common libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common
  libthunarx-2-0 libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util4 libxfconf-0-2
  orage thunar thunar-data thunar-volman xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4-appfinder xfce4-mixer
  xfce4-panel xfce4-session xfce4-settings xfce4-utils xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4
  xfwm4-themes xscreensaver
Suggested packages:
  thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin xfprint4 xfce4-goodies fortunes-mod aumix xli
  xloadimage xfishtank xdaliclock qcam streamer
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  desktop-base exo-utils gtk2-engines-xfce libexo-1-0 libexo-common libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common
  libthunarx-2-0 libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util4 libxfconf-0-2
  orage thunar thunar-data thunar-volman xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4 xfce4-appfinder xfce4-mixer
  xfce4-panel xfce4-session xfce4-settings xfce4-utils xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4
  xfwm4-themes xscreensaver
0 upgraded, 31 newly installed, 0 to remove and 17 not upgraded.
Need to get 19.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 80.0 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?

once installed log out and choose xfce desktop - log back in

versions 11.04 - 13.10

enter image description here

As the picture shows - "test" is a root menu which has been added.

To do this will require a couple of folders to be created:

mkdir -p ~/.config/menus
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications

Next copy the standard menu template file into the local menus folder

cp /etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/menus/* ~/.config/menus

Note - the stock XFCE menu could also be used - I prefer this menu so I've used it in my example:

cp /etc/xdg/menus/* ~/.config/menus

Now create our test menu - its in .desktop file-format

leafpad ~/.local/share/applications/test.desktop

copy and paste the following:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=test
Comment=
Icon=acroread
Exec=acroread
Path=
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false
Categories=X-Xfce-Toplevel;

The important bit is the last line - it must have X-Xfce-Toplevel as a category

Edit our custom menu:

leafpad ~/.config/menus/xfce-applications.menu

Add a new entry as shown:

enter image description here

Finally - lets use the custom menu file:

Right click Start and choose properties:

enter image description here

Choose the custom menu option and navigate and select the custom menu file ~/.config/menus/xfce-applications.menu

enter image description here

Ubuntu – install Unity aside with XFCE and switch them as I want

you can install a desktop interface for example gnome3 like so

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

and you can choose it from the login screen which desktop interface you want to use.

to install unity search for unity in the software-center or run this in the gnome-terminal

sudo apt-get install unity

Best Answer

once installed log out and choose xfce desktop - log back in

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versions 11.04 - 13.10

Ubuntu – install Unity aside with XFCE and switch them as I want

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