How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

Skaperen · 2018-12-16 06:38:30

i'm ready to start my transition to XFCE. what i want to do is start using XFCE on just ONE X server. does XFCE have its own login greeter or is the one i see on Lightdm with Unity the same one used on Xubuntu? i don't want to switch my whole system, yet.

ToZ · 2018-12-16 11:23:05

Skaperen wrote:

what i want to do is start using XFCE on just ONE X server.

What do you mean by "ONE X server"? One computer?

does XFCE have its own login greeter

No.

or is the one i see on Lightdm with Unity the same one used on Xubuntu?

Lightdm is the display manager (login greeter) that is used with both flavours

i don't want to switch my whole system, yet.

Unity and Xfce can co-exist.

Install the Xfce packages (xfce4, xfce4-goodies and xubuntu-desktop) from your package manager. When logging in, select "Xfce Session" or "Xubuntu Session" ( from the lightdm session chooser. See also: https://www.howtogeek.com/193129/how-to … -on-linux/.

A note about Xfce Session and Xubuntu Session. If you select Xfce session, this will give you the default Xfce configurations (which some say are bland and dated). Selecting "Xubuntu Session" will give the more modern look and feel that the Xubuntu team have put together. The difference is mostly just the look and feel. The functionality is the same. But you have the make this choice on your first login because so that the proper initial configuration files are used.

Xfce desktop: https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/up … Lapp6l.png

Xubuntu desktop: https://xubuntu.org/wp-content/uploads/ … thunar.png

Skaperen · 2018-12-16 16:49:09

> What do you mean by "ONE X server"? One computer?

i mean that i do not want to switch the whole computer, yet. this one computer is running 10 to 12 X server instances, one per user. Unity starts up when each user logs in (such as through the login greeter).

> Unity and Xfce can co-exist.

i don't normally go through the login greeter. i have all these userids set to login without a password, though they do have an /etc/shadow password set up (so an ssh login does require a password or key). the reason for this is so that the user switching does not re-prompt for a password, letting me switch around faster.

so i might not even see the session chooser.

what would be good is to know what files are set up which way to represent the choice. then i won't need to go to the session chooser.

i do like the Xubuntu Session better.

ToZ · 2018-12-16 23:14:43

If you are lightdm with AccountsService (it needs to be installed and I believe it is by default), then each user's default session will be stored in /var/lib/AccountsService/users in a file for each user. For example, something like:

BackgroundFile='/home/toz/Pictures/starfield_wallpaper_by_blackwater627-d5tr7on.png'

[User]
Session=xfce
XSession=xfce
Icon=/var/lib/AccountsService/icons/toz.png
SystemAccount=false

If you are using autologin, I believe you can change the Xsession value in this file to load the proper desktop environment.

alcornoqui · 2018-12-17 00:15:21

Interesting thread, thanks. Also, that's a nice wallpaper, ToZ!

Skaperen · 2018-12-17 05:50:56

yes it is there:

lt2a/forums /home/forums 1> dpkg -l|gf accountsservice
ii  accountsservice                     0.6.40-2ubuntu11.3     amd64                  query and manipulate user account information
ii  libaccountsservice0:amd64           0.6.40-2ubuntu11.3     amd64                  query and manipulate user account information - shared libraries
lt2a/forums /home/forums 2> ls -1 /var/lib/AccountsService/users|lc
28
lt2a/forums /home/forums 3>

and for this userid i read forums on:

lt2a/forums /home/forums 3> cat /var/lib/AccountsService/users/forums
[com.canonical.indicator.sound.AccountsService]
PlayerName=''
Timestamp=0
Title=''
Artist=''
Album=''
ArtUrl=''
PlayerIcon=<('themed', <['application-default-icon', 'application-default', 'application']>)>

[InputSource0]
xkb=us

[User]
XSession=ubuntu
SystemAccount=false
lt2a/forums /home/forums 4>

> If you are using autologin, I believe you can change the Xsession value in this file to load the proper desktop environment.

do i need to add the Session= field or just modify the one that is in there now (XSession=) ?

and, i like that star field, too.

Last edited by Skaperen (2018-12-17 05:55:44)

ToZ · 2018-12-17 11:34:45

I believe you only need Xsession. Not exactly sure why I have both.
Here is some documentation.

Skaperen · 2018-12-19 00:40:09

ToZ wrote:

I believe you only need Xsession. Not exactly sure why I have both.
Here is some documentation.

how much of Gnome does XFCE use? obviously there is some difference, e.g. gnome-terminal vs. xfceterminal.

Skaperen · 2018-12-19 00:57:57

when i login to a user that will have XSession=xfce or XSession=xubuntu, what will i do there to switch back to one of my other users or the login greeter, without logging this user out, and without starting up a terminal and running the dm-tool command? in unity i would move the mouse pointer to the rear icon in the upper right corner (or the username next to it), {left or right}-click the mouse over it, select a user from the menu that drops down, and {left or right-click on that user. i didn't see this icon in the screen samples you linked to in post #2 (p=50650).

ToZ · 2018-12-19 02:03:20

Add the Actions plugin to the panel. It has a switch user option.

See if that meets your needs.

Skaperen · 2018-12-20 21:39:21

for now that "Switch User" option could meet my needs. in long term what i will need is something that will let me quickly switch to a specific user. since i have not tried this, yet, i don't know how choosing that works. if it goes to the greeter, then that will be too slow. a really nice solution would be an app that can bring up or have up a menu with the names of logged in users. alternatively, something without a name but specific to certain users would be ok. i can memorize a position relating to a user. another alternative is to broadly (e.g. anywhere the focus is) intercept keystrokes and process something like Ctrl+Fn+Alt+(any key) to switch to a user associated with that key.

ToZ · 2018-12-21 01:42:51

Skaperen wrote:

a really nice solution would be an app that can bring up or have up a menu with the names of logged in users.

You can use:

#!/bin/bash

USERS=$(dm-tool list-seats | grep UserName | awk -F"=" '{print $2}' | sed -e s/\'//g)
ANS=$(zenity --title "Direct Switch To User" --list --text "Select a user from the list below" --column "User" $USERS)

if [ ! -z "$ANS" ]; 
then
	dm-tool switch-to-user $ANS
fi

...and create a launcher in the panel to run this script.

Skaperen · 2018-12-21 19:15:15

++like

Skaperen · 2018-12-24 18:27:27

i am ready to do it. where can i find a list of the packages i need to install or should install?

ToZ · 2018-12-24 23:33:17

Important Note: you should test this first on a non-production system (or VM) to see exactly what happens. I just tested this in a VM and here is what I found,

Basically, you would:

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin

When you switch a user over to Xfce for a given user, you will see some issues/inconsistencies:

The overlay scrollbars don't look good on Xfce (and I can't get them to work)
The Unity panel indicators will show up in Xfce's indicator plugin and they will duplicate existing functionality and/or not work properly. The easiest solution is to remove the indicator plugin from Xfce's panel
the xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin will need to be added to the panel

Since you are managing a number of different users, I'd imagine you'd want this as automated as possible. I've created the following script and it appears to work for me (limited testing). It does the top 3 for every user who logs into the Xfce session.

To use this script, create /usr/local/bin/xfce-setup.sh with the following content:

#!/bin/bash
echo 0 > /tmp/X
if [ "$( env | grep XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP | awk -F"=" '{print $2}')" = "XFCE" ]; then
    echo 1 >> /tmp/X
    # disable overlay scrollbars
    gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal
   
    # if exists, remove indicator plugin
    if [ "$(xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep indicator | grep -v known-indicators)" != "" ]; then  
        echo 2 >> /tmp/X
        xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -r -p /plugins/$(xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep indicator | head -1 | awk '{print $1}' | awk -F "/" '{print $3}')    
        xfce4-panel -r
        sleep 3
    fi
    echo 3 >> /tmp/X
    # add pulseaudio-plugin if it isn't alreaady added
    if [ "$(xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep pulseaudio | awk '{print $1}' | awk -F "/" '{print $3}')" = "" ]; then
        echo 4 >> /tmp/X
        xfce4-panel --add pulseaudio
    fi
echo 5 >> /tmp/X
else
    echo 6 >> /tmp/X
    # enable overlay scrollbars
    gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode overlay-auto
fi
echo 7 >> /tmp/X

...and make the file executable. I'll leave the debug statements in there in case you need to troubleshoot. It basically dumps numbers into /tmp/X so you can see how the processing took place.

To make this a part of each user's login, create /etc/xdg/autostart/setup-xfce.desktop with the following content:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Setup XFCE
Comment=Custom Xfce Setup
Icon=update-notifier
Exec=xfce-setup.sh
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=
NotShowIn=KDE;
NoDisplay=false

Again, test this first to make sure it works properly for you.

Skaperen · 2018-12-26 21:14:37

ToZ wrote:

A note about Xfce Session and Xubuntu Session. If you select Xfce session, this will give you the default Xfce configurations (which some say are bland and dated). Selecting "Xubuntu Session" will give the more modern look and feel that the Xubuntu team have put together. The difference is mostly just the look and feel. The functionality is the same. But you have the make this choice on your first login because so that the proper initial configuration files are used.

i inadvertently installed "xfce4". should i uninstall that first (it is a meta-package that brought in many others) or should do the steps you suggest over it? my list of installed packages is too large to show here (over 2000 packages).

ToZ · 2018-12-26 21:29:08

I'm not sure. In theory, you should be able to uninstall then install the other one. Many of the packages should be the same.

Skaperen · 2018-12-28 01:50:36

even with XSession=xfce the user i changed still has Unity but the background image has change to an xfce one.

ToZ · 2018-12-28 04:34:54

What if you use "Session=xfce"? Does that make a difference?

Also, is there an ~/.dmrc file in the user's home directory?

Skaperen · 2018-12-28 06:21:59

all users, except the one user i intended to test XFCE on first (username=ka9wgn) have a ~/.dmrc file. all of them are the same (according to sha384):

lt2a/forums /home/forums 1> cat .dmrc
[Desktop]
Session=ubuntu
lt2a/forums /home/forums 2>

ka9wgn might not have one because i deleted the user and all its files, and added it back.

i think the problem is that i have not restarted lightdm, yet (by reboot). so i did that. now 4.5 other userids got switched over to XFCE. it looks like all new users will be XFCE. the reason for the ".5" is that one user (username=skaperen) got partially switched. it's still structured like Unity but all the theme and color settings, including many launcher logos, are XFCE styled. it looks kind of crazy, now. i need to go look around and see what's going on. at least 3 critical userids did not switch (good).

one good thing is that gear icon that drops a user switch menu of logged in and recently logged in users is there, but in a different location. instead of being in the far upper right corner it is left of there, between the battery logo on its left and the time on its right. so i can still switch users. i can get used to a new location. i'm sure there is some way to rearrange things along the top, too. something to learn.

workspaces are not working. in Unity i had 9 (nine) workspaces per user for most users. if we can get this going, then i think it will be good enough to transition the remaining users. i do remember there was a way to get 4 of them which showed 4 little rectangles along the top that would cleanly switch workspace when clicked. it was even easier to use than how Unity does it. if we can get that going with at least 6 workspaces, that would be great.

Last edited by Skaperen (2018-12-28 06:25:05)

ToZ · 2018-12-28 14:36:59

Skaperen wrote:

workspaces are not working. in Unity i had 9 (nine) workspaces per user for most users. if we can get this going, then i think it will be good enough to transition the remaining users. i do remember there was a way to get 4 of them which showed 4 little rectangles along the top that would cleanly switch workspace when clicked. it was even easier to use than how Unity does it. if we can get that going with at least 6 workspaces, that would be great.

Make sure that the "Workspace Switcher" plugin is added to the panel. Then go to Settings Manager > Workspaces and set the number of workspaces to the correct number.

Skaperen · 2018-12-28 19:25:57

ToZ wrote:

Make sure that the "Workspace Switcher" plugin is added to the panel. Then go to Settings Manager > Workspaces and set the number of workspaces to the correct number.

how do i do that? where do XFCE plugins come from? are there others of any interest?

i will want to write some apps of my own that end up with access anchored from that bar along the top. these will primarily be in Python3. Bash, Pike, and C are also possible.

ToZ · 2018-12-28 19:38:44

Skaperen wrote:

ToZ wrote:
Make sure that the "Workspace Switcher" plugin is added to the panel. Then go to Settings Manager > Workspaces and set the number of workspaces to the correct number.
how do i do that?

I'm surprised its not already there. Right-click the panel, select Panel > Add new Items, and select the "Workspace Switcher" plugin. Or manually, via:

xfce4-panel --add pager

where do XFCE plugins come from?

Most come from the Xfce project. Some are community-created. A number of default ones are included with the xfce4-panel packages (like the workspace switcher) others are standalone. Search your package manager for "xfce4 plugin".

are there others of any interest?

See https://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/start

i will want to write some apps of my own that end up with access anchored from that bar along the top. these will primarily be in Python3. Bash, Pike, and C are also possible.

See https://wiki.xfce.org/dev/howto/panel_plugins

MountainDewManiac · 2018-12-28 22:14:17

ToZ wrote:

where do XFCE plugins come from?
Most come from the Xfce project. Some are community-created. A number of default ones are included with the xfce4-panel packages (like the workspace switcher) others are standalone. Search your package manager for "xfce4 plugin".
are there others of any interest?
See https://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/start

And they need not be Xfce-specific panel applets, either. I recently installed Redshift (basically decreases color temperature when the sun sets, increases it at dawn), and it has a panel applet. And there's a little "control" applet for my CPU frequency thing (just Performance / Powersave options since they removed the ability to set specific frequency (to the nearest 100mHz)). These two and more sit "inside" the Indicator Plugin panel applet.

Regards,
MDM

Last edited by MountainDewManiac (2018-12-28 22:14:51)

Skaperen · 2018-12-29 01:57:08

i thought there might be one big settings app. but with these directions, i got it on and set to 6 workspaces.

part of the difficulty i am having is that the font is small so it is marginally hard to read. know what to expect helps. now this where i need a more wide scope setting. i want to increase the font size. i'll go looking for it.

i'm not really accustomed to GUI environments. Unity really didn't help; i'd mostly open terminals and Firefox and did very little with Unity in particular. but XFCE looks like it is intended to be useful at the GUI level. i'm already glad i'm moving to it. it looks like i'll be installing Xubuntu in 2020.

i tend to find hunting for things in menu trees hard and in file trees easy. but i have tools for the latter.

things i am wanting to do:

1. increase the font size. almost double what it is now will probably be what i go with.

2. explore the available plugins and maybe add more.

3. change the background to what i had before (dark blue (top) to dark orange (bottom) vertical gradient).

4. maybe add a 2nd bar on the left or bottom.

5. change other aspects of color.

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#1 2018-12-16 06:38:30

How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#2 2018-12-16 11:23:05

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#3 2018-12-16 16:49:09

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#4 2018-12-16 23:14:43

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#5 2018-12-17 00:15:21

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#6 2018-12-17 05:50:56

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#7 2018-12-17 11:34:45

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#8 2018-12-19 00:40:09

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#9 2018-12-19 00:57:57

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#10 2018-12-19 02:03:20

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#11 2018-12-20 21:39:21

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#12 2018-12-21 01:42:51

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#13 2018-12-21 19:15:15

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#14 2018-12-24 18:27:27

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#15 2018-12-24 23:33:17

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#16 2018-12-26 21:14:37

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#17 2018-12-26 21:29:08

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#18 2018-12-28 01:50:36

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#19 2018-12-28 04:34:54

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#20 2018-12-28 06:21:59

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#21 2018-12-28 14:36:59

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#22 2018-12-28 19:25:57

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#23 2018-12-28 19:38:44

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#24 2018-12-28 22:14:17

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

#25 2018-12-29 01:57:08

Re: How can i switch ONE X server over to XFCE?

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