5 ms·

Or just install XFCE. I'm continually confused when people recommend different operating systems to change the window manager.

lukeschlather 13y ago
Xubuntu is just a set of packages for Ubuntu. I use Ubuntu LTS and one of the first things I do on a new install is sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop . Now, if you're on RHEL then Xubuntu would be a bit of a leap, but just installing xfce on Ubuntu is going to be a lot more painful than installing xubuntu-desktop which has a little more functionality out of the box.
- dfc 13y ago
  You ubuntu users crack me up. How hard is this: # apt-get --install-suggests install xcfe4 Package info: http://packages.ubuntu.com/saucy/xfce4 http://packages.ubuntu.com/saucy/xfce4
  - dontdieych 13y ago
    Ubuntu's target audience are actually who think that command harder. Seriously.
    - dfc 13y ago
      You think that the people who have an opinion on XFCE4 versus Gnome are going to have trouble with one command?
  - asdfaoeu 13y ago
    Xubuntu is significantly different from stock XFCE
    - dfc 13y ago
      What is significantly different? I looked on the xubuntu site and I could not find much information. I did not realize that xubuntu was a lot different than normal ubuntu with xfce4 installed.
- keypusher 13y ago
  RHEL is primarily a server, not a desktop. All the desktops are in the repos already though, and Fedora has offical spins if you don't want to install them yourself for some reason. Gnome, MATE, KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, it just takes one command to group install.
dfc 13y ago
It has always seemed strange to me too. I have just always chalked it up to being an ubuntu thing.[1] I don't know if it has caught on in other distro-ecosystems but it seemed like it started with Ubuntu; which was peculiar because you do not have to deal with dependency hell--you have apt right there in that little black box! The other ubuntu curiosity is installing `command-not-found` by default? I never thought you could have something worse than /usr/games/sl in your path, but then ubuntu introduced me to `command-not-found`. [1] I say this as a 15+ year Debian user.
- herokusaki 13y ago
  What's bad about "command-not-found"? Surely, it is more useful than sl.
  - okasaki 13y ago
    It takes a couple of seconds to process if it's not cached.
  - teddyh 13y ago
    If I mistype something, it takes ages for command-not-found to search the entire Internet for “emacss” or whatever, during which I am slowly driven mad by the system punishing me and forcing me to wait.
    - a1369209993 13y ago
      Ah, that makes sense, the version on my machine runs off the local apt/dpkg database, so I was wondering why why you'd consider it worse than sl. (It does spew several lines of noise, but that's less of a problem when you have a sixty-somthing line terminal and barely a problem at all when you've got scrollback.)
      - dfc 13y ago
        What would you estimate is the ratio of typos versus "thought it was installed"? Personally mine is probably 1,000 to 1. If I type a command and bash says command not found I know the program is not installed. If I need that program I am a big boy and can use apt without anyone holding my hand.
mistercow 13y ago
You can do that too, although I have had an ... interesting experience jumping around desktop environments on Ubuntu. I'm not sure what exactly is happening, but some kind of config information is steadily bleeding between them every time I do a system update. Sometimes if I pull up KDE (which I don't usually, since I found xfce), the panel will have as many as three different sound menus, only one of which is actually functional.
- SimHacker 13y ago
  That's "mechanism, not policy" for you!
- tod222 13y ago
  From looking at the Gnome Developer page "Desktop files: putting your application in the desktop menus" [1], it seems that it wasn't designed to work correctly with more than one desktop installed. This isn't surprising as it's an uncommon use case. [Edit: This is incorrect, see below] For example, on a system running 13.04 with MATE installed, the Graphics menu has entries for Image Viewer (Eye of Gnome, the default) and Eye of MATE Image Viewer (MATE's port of eog). Looking in /usr/share/applications there are the two corresponding .desktop files: /usr/share/applications/eog.desktop /usr/share/applications/eom.desktop [Edit]: Neither file uses the OnlyShowIn field which is an extension to the desktop entry format designed specifically to handle this case. [2] [1] https://developer.gnome.org/integration-guide/stable/desktop-files.html.en https://developer.gnome.org/integration-guide/stable/desktop... [2] http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/ar01s03.html#desktop-entry-extensions-examples http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/ar01s03.ht...

lukeschlather 13y ago

Xubuntu is just a set of packages for Ubuntu. I use Ubuntu LTS and one of the first things I do on a new install is sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop . Now, if you're on RHEL then Xubuntu would be a bit of a leap, but just installing xfce on Ubuntu is going to be a lot more painful than installing xubuntu-desktop which has a little more functionality out of the box.

dfc 13y ago
You ubuntu users crack me up. How hard is this: # apt-get --install-suggests install xcfe4 Package info: http://packages.ubuntu.com/saucy/xfce4 http://packages.ubuntu.com/saucy/xfce4
- dontdieych 13y ago
  Ubuntu's target audience are actually who think that command harder. Seriously.
  - dfc 13y ago
    You think that the people who have an opinion on XFCE4 versus Gnome are going to have trouble with one command?
- asdfaoeu 13y ago
  Xubuntu is significantly different from stock XFCE
  - dfc 13y ago
    What is significantly different? I looked on the xubuntu site and I could not find much information. I did not realize that xubuntu was a lot different than normal ubuntu with xfce4 installed.
keypusher 13y ago
RHEL is primarily a server, not a desktop. All the desktops are in the repos already though, and Fedora has offical spins if you don't want to install them yourself for some reason. Gnome, MATE, KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, it just takes one command to group install.

dfc 13y ago

It has always seemed strange to me too. I have just always chalked it up to being an ubuntu thing.[1] I don't know if it has caught on in other distro-ecosystems but it seemed like it started with Ubuntu; which was peculiar because you do not have to deal with dependency hell--you have apt right there in that little black box! The other ubuntu curiosity is installing `command-not-found` by default? I never thought you could have something worse than /usr/games/sl in your path, but then ubuntu introduced me to `command-not-found`. [1] I say this as a 15+ year Debian user.

herokusaki 13y ago
What's bad about "command-not-found"? Surely, it is more useful than sl.
- okasaki 13y ago
  It takes a couple of seconds to process if it's not cached.
- teddyh 13y ago
  If I mistype something, it takes ages for command-not-found to search the entire Internet for “emacss” or whatever, during which I am slowly driven mad by the system punishing me and forcing me to wait.
  - a1369209993 13y ago
    Ah, that makes sense, the version on my machine runs off the local apt/dpkg database, so I was wondering why why you'd consider it worse than sl. (It does spew several lines of noise, but that's less of a problem when you have a sixty-somthing line terminal and barely a problem at all when you've got scrollback.)
    - dfc 13y ago
      What would you estimate is the ratio of typos versus "thought it was installed"? Personally mine is probably 1,000 to 1. If I type a command and bash says command not found I know the program is not installed. If I need that program I am a big boy and can use apt without anyone holding my hand.

mistercow 13y ago

You can do that too, although I have had an ... interesting experience jumping around desktop environments on Ubuntu. I'm not sure what exactly is happening, but some kind of config information is steadily bleeding between them every time I do a system update. Sometimes if I pull up KDE (which I don't usually, since I found xfce), the panel will have as many as three different sound menus, only one of which is actually functional.

SimHacker 13y ago
That's "mechanism, not policy" for you!
tod222 13y ago
From looking at the Gnome Developer page "Desktop files: putting your application in the desktop menus" [1], it seems that it wasn't designed to work correctly with more than one desktop installed. This isn't surprising as it's an uncommon use case. [Edit: This is incorrect, see below] For example, on a system running 13.04 with MATE installed, the Graphics menu has entries for Image Viewer (Eye of Gnome, the default) and Eye of MATE Image Viewer (MATE's port of eog). Looking in /usr/share/applications there are the two corresponding .desktop files: /usr/share/applications/eog.desktop /usr/share/applications/eom.desktop [Edit]: Neither file uses the OnlyShowIn field which is an extension to the desktop entry format designed specifically to handle this case. [2] [1] https://developer.gnome.org/integration-guide/stable/desktop-files.html.en https://developer.gnome.org/integration-guide/stable/desktop... [2] http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/ar01s03.html#desktop-entry-extensions-examples http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/ar01s03.ht...