Foray into XFCE on Zorin OS 16 Core

Chat about Zorin
1

This is not a solution - just a workaround.

Now, I am going to be blunt.

You have had nothing but strange little Problems that inhibit your work - on Gnome.
This is how my experience was, when I first moved to Linux. I literally spent months constantly Chasing and Fixing issues and often, not fixing, just finding workarounds.
Until I switched to Zorin Lite.

I really disagree (Strongly) with how the Download page for Zorin OS markets this... "The Gnome Advanced Desktop... And then 'lite' for old junk."
It is exceptionally misleading.
If anything, the XFCE desktop is more advanced than Gnome. Hands down. It has the Full functionality of a Full Desktop, while not gobbling through resources. Funnier still since Artyom Zorin uses XFCE on his personal machine. Linus Torvalds bounces between XFCE and KDE. Torvalds installs XFCE on Fedora, even and disses Gnome as often as I do.
Gnome, on the other hand, is a stripped down desktop with much functionality removed, causing independent users to create Gnome-Extensions to restore some of it- until those break in a myriad of weird ways...
In spite of being stripped down, Gnome is buggy, clunky, and resource hungry.
Gnome is Microsoft -on Linux.
And the funny thing is, on this forum over the past couple of years (Including the old ZorinGroup forum, now archived), Gnome Problems and troubleshooting absolutely dominate the help desk. XFCE help requests account for less than 6% of all topics. The rest is all Gnome.

Perhaps you are a victim of misleading wording or marketing... But personally, I think you need to stop messin' about and Install XFCE.

3 Likes
2

I am moving to lite side whenever 16 lite is released. One more question, it might feel like a dumb question if I do the xfce install command on my core will I get the 16 features or are the features just for gnome.

3

Can you detail what features you are referring to?

4

I am just talking about the blured walper on lock, revamped look (which I don't think I will get) and jelly mode :sweat_smile:

5

Probably not, no. You can install wobbly windows on XFCE if you want. "Revamped Look" is vague... It's the same Zorin Themes on XFCE, but if you mean the Minimalist look of Gnome... That is the problem with Gnome so...
Blurred Wallpaper on Lock Screen - I know of no way of doing that on XFCE. Doesn't mean it cannot be done - I just never looked into that.

All of the above are not Gnome Features - these are additions made by Zorin OS to make Gnome seem more appealing.

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6

I am moving to xfce. And just to make sure isn't this the command I need to use ?
sudo apt install zorin-os-desktop-lite

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Yes, but that command will not yield any result at this time. The package is not yet in the Zorin OS repository.

8

Then how do I move to xfce?

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sudo apt install xfce4

sudo apt install xfce4-zorinmenulite-plugin

Once Zorin OS 16 Lite is released- If you want to you can run sudo apt install zorin-os-desktop-lite in order to experience certain configurations that Zorin OS adds, such as the use of Dockbarx. We have covered my opinion on this before... And the impatient may prefer to just install and configure dockbarx on their own before then.

Crossover:

Solution:
https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-power-manager/preferences

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jeslin@jeslin-Satellite-L510:~$ sudo apt install xfce4-zorinmenulite-plugin
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package xfce4-zorinmenulite-plugin

What should I do?

11

I use whiskermenu :expressionless:

sudo apt install xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

Trying again for the Zorin Menu:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zorinos/stable

sudo apt update && sudo apt install xfce4-zorinmenulite-plugin

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12

Done this. Should I now restart?

13

You can if you want to.
If you are logged into XFCE, you can Right Click the panel, then the Menu Right Arrow next to panel for Panel Preferences. This will open the panel settings. Last tab is Items.
This is where xfce shines - You can literally do almost anything you want with these panels.
In the Items tab, select what items you want. I have my custom launchers on the right, then Window Buttons in the middle. Then the App menu far left.
You can arrange any of the above however you want in the Items tab, using the up or down arrows.
You can add the WhiskerMenu or the Zorin Menu.
With Whiskermenu, you can right click the Whiskermenu and hit Configure - then a settings window will pop up with a zillion different settings including custom icon, layout, treeview, list view, where everything is arranged... It's enough to overwhelm.

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14

So, how do I log in to xfce ? :sweat_smile:

15

Did you get a prompt in the terminal to configure LightDM?
IF so - log out from the leftmost icon lower rightside of the app menu, then select the XFCE Session option from the drop down menu on the top menubar of the LightDM Login Screen.

If not... it gets a lot more fun. Because GDM is made by Gnome and Gnome likes to Hide Everything.
On your GDM Login window, click your user name as if to change user- but instead, click the gear icon that should (But maybe won't) appear next to your name on the right side. If it does, a drop down menu will appear offering the Desktops - Choose XFCE session.
If it doesn't, get a large hammer...

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16

Screenshot from 2021-09-10 16-24-43
Screenshot from 2021-09-10 16-24-431366×768 106 KB

This one? This was before I restarted

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17

Found an Alternative to Light-locker that has the blur effect you want:

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18

After this I chose the first option the one that starts with g and thats all where I got to. Am I missing something?

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From what you just said, I can assume you chose GDM instead of Lightdm.
In which case see the "if not" from up above.

1 Like
20

correct