Xfce Forum

Mugshot_Photographer

Member

Registered: 2015-11-11

Posts: 5

New XFCE user!

Hi all!

I've been using KDE for many years, on Mint KDE, Kubuntu and lately openSUSE. And I was quite happy with KDE 4, but after installing openSUSE Leap 42.1 (my current OS), I had to make the transition to KDE Plasma 5. And while I can handle its new appearance, it's just not ready for prime time -- Plasma crashed enough to ruin my workflow, various apps have bugs, settings panels crash when certain things are clicked, and overall it's fairly sluggish on my rather modern hardware.

So I said "screw it!" and decided to try XFCE. And I'm really liking it!

It really is lightning fast and amazingly responsive -- when I click on a button or menu, it appears instantly. The click lag that other DEs suffer from (and I've tried MATE, Cinnamon and Gnome 3, in addition to KDE) is not present in XFCE, and that's great.

The Whisker Menu is just what I need. The default menu is, frankly, soooo Windows XP (and 1992 or so) that without it, I would have probably kept looking for new DEs after trying XFCE. A launcher menu without search capability is an anachronism. But Whisker fits the bill and does so admirably.

The xscreensaver is hideous, of course, and probably turns non-geek users off from using any DE that uses it. Yes, it is that bad (in case anyone has grown used to it).

I still use Dolphin as my file manager. I'd like to use Thunar, as it's better integrated, but a FM without dual panels is not for me.

My only real complaints right now are that (1) the display manager doesn't seem to be able to remember already-connected displays -- I have to manually configure them every time I connect one, and (2) I can't get the multimedia keys to change or mute the volume.

Also, though this is a minor quibble, I'm having a tough time getting a consistent look across the DE and various apps. Colors, icons, cursors -- they change a lot!

But all in all, I'm very happy -- I think I've found my new definitive DE!

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: New XFCE user!

Welcome to Xfce and the forums.

(1) the display manager doesn't seem to be able to remember already-connected displays -- I have to manually configure them every time I connect one

Unlike KDE, Xfce doesn't ship a display manager - it is a desktop environment only. Most distros will ship a display manager for their product and its the distro's choice which DM they use. If you are used to using the KDE DM (sddm?), you can install it and use it. It should work fine. Maybe it will solve this issue for you.

The xscreensaver is hideous, of course, and probably turns non-geek users off from using any DE that uses it

Again, Xfce doesn't ship a screensaver, this is a distro decision as well. And you can always change it to something more suitable for your needs.

(2) I can't get the multimedia keys to change or mute the volume.

In previous versions of Xfce, xfce4-volumed was used to control the volume keys. Its been deprecated because of the switch to gstreamer 1.0, but it still might be useable if your distro hasn't yet migrated to gstreamer 1.0. There is also the xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin (if you use pulseaudio) that will allow you to control the volume keys.

If you are referring to the play, rewind, pause, etc keys, then you will need to write your own script (most media player apps have the ability to control themselves via script commands). You'll probably find a script to use if you searched for your media player and remote control scripts in google.

Anyways, enjoy your stay.

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MountainDewManiac

Member

From: Where Mr. Bankruptcy is Prez

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 1,115

Re: New XFCE user!

There are lots and LOTS of "hacks" for xscreensaver. Run Synaptic Package Manager (or whatever your distro uses for a package manager) and type "xscreensaver" (sans quotation marks) into its search box. Check to see if you have xscreensaver, xscreensaver-gl, xscreensaver-gl-extra, xscreensaver-data, and xscreensaver-data-extra installed. Then spend "a few" minutes going through all the different "hacks" until you find one - or several - that you like.

Regards,
MDM

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Mountain Dew Maniac

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Mugshot_Photographer

Member

Registered: 2015-11-11

Posts: 5

Re: New XFCE user!

There are lots and LOTS of "hacks" for xscreensaver. Run Synaptic Package Manager (or whatever your distro uses for a package manager) and type "xscreensaver" (sans quotation marks) into its search box. Check to see if you have xscreensaver, xscreensaver-gl, xscreensaver-gl-extra, xscreensaver-data, and xscreensaver-data-extra installed. Then spend "a few" minutes going through all the different "hacks" until you find one - or several - that you like.MDM

I've only got the basics in openSUSE: xscreensaver, xscreensaver-data and xscreensaver-data-extra.