If you too feel like Unity is a nightmare and would like to switch to another desktop environment, but do not fancy to reinstall everything from scratch, know that it's indeed possible to switch between multiple installed ones at login time, although it's not recommended to have more than one installed.
This example will show how to convert Ubuntu(Unity) in XUbuntu(Xfce), but can be adapted to any desktop environment you like (simply install the desired environment instead of xubuntu-desktop).
First, install XUbuntu desktop:
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
Now if you log out, before you log in, you'll be able to select which desktop environment you want to log in to by clicking on the Ubuntu logo and selecting another session (ie: XUbuntu Session).
If you wish to remove the old environment to clean things up a little, run:
sudo apt-get remove activity-log-manager-common compiz compiz* gnome-applet* gnome-bluetooth gnome-control-center gnome-desktop* gnome-pane* gnome-power-manager gnome-screensaver gnome-screenshot gnome-sessio* gnome-shell-common gnome-termina* gnome-user* hud libzeitgeist* nautilus overlay-scrollba* python-zeitgeist unity unity* zeitgeist zeitgeist*
Afterwards, you may also want to run:
sudo apt-get autoremove
and if you have installed deborphan:
sudo orphaner --purge
26/04/2014
[Linux] Xfce change show desktop keyboard shortcut
Trivially, this setting can be found under System Settings->Window Manager->Keyboard shortcuts, then just double click on a shortcut to input the new one. The default value is CTRL+ALT+D.
However, it may happen that the shortcut associated with the "Minimize all open windows and show desktop" behaviour does not work after logging out of the session or restarting the PC.
It is possible to fix this issue by manually editing the configuration in .config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml
Look for the line containing show_desktop_key as value and alter it suiting your needs. For example, to set the shortcut as Super+D, use:
Note that the "show desktop" behaviour differs from the standard in Xfce. Usually, after minimizing everything then opening a new window and minimizing everything again, you'd see the desktop. In Xfce instead, the minimization is treated as a toggle so the second time you minimize everything, you're actually bringing all the previously minimized windows back up.
You can verify this by adding the "show desktop" button to the panel, then toggling the shortcut and seeing that the button is depicted as pressed and stays that way until you toggle the shortcut again.
However, it may happen that the shortcut associated with the "Minimize all open windows and show desktop" behaviour does not work after logging out of the session or restarting the PC.
It is possible to fix this issue by manually editing the configuration in .config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml
Look for the line containing show_desktop_key as value and alter it suiting your needs. For example, to set the shortcut as Super+D, use:
Note that the "show desktop" behaviour differs from the standard in Xfce. Usually, after minimizing everything then opening a new window and minimizing everything again, you'd see the desktop. In Xfce instead, the minimization is treated as a toggle so the second time you minimize everything, you're actually bringing all the previously minimized windows back up.
You can verify this by adding the "show desktop" button to the panel, then toggling the shortcut and seeing that the button is depicted as pressed and stays that way until you toggle the shortcut again.
[XUbuntu] Disable guest session
To disable the guest session in XUbuntu, simply run:
sudo sh -c 'printf "[SeatDefaults]\nallow-guest=false\n" >/usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-no-guest.conf'
this was tested under release 14.04 LTS.
To enable it again, either delete that file or remove the allow-guest=false line from it.
You may have to log out and log in again to see the changes applied.
sudo sh -c 'printf "[SeatDefaults]\nallow-guest=false\n" >/usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-no-guest.conf'
this was tested under release 14.04 LTS.
To enable it again, either delete that file or remove the allow-guest=false line from it.
You may have to log out and log in again to see the changes applied.
[Linux] Xfce set Chrome as default browser
So, you installed Google Chrome (not Chromium) on your machine and set it as default browser from its menu but even if it's the only installed browser, you see Xfce not using it as the default one:
exo-open --launch WebBrowser
asks you to specify the default browser instead of launching it, and if you set it, Chrome complains he's not the default every time you open it.
You may work around the issue by changing the preferred application for the browser:
gksu xfce4-settings-manager
and setting the default browser as:
/usr/bin/google-chrome "%s"
then ignoring Chrome's complaint.
exo-open --launch WebBrowser
asks you to specify the default browser instead of launching it, and if you set it, Chrome complains he's not the default every time you open it.
You may work around the issue by changing the preferred application for the browser:
gksu xfce4-settings-manager
and setting the default browser as:
/usr/bin/google-chrome "%s"
then ignoring Chrome's complaint.
[Linux] Xfce not showing all apps in the menu
When using Xfce as your desktop environment, you may notice that some installed applications are not listed in the main menu while other desktop environments indeed show them.
What happens is, if one of the application categories is Settings, then it won't show up under the main menu and will be listed under the Settings Manager application, accessible from the main menu. After opening it, you'll see those unlisted applications available.
After editing the application categories by altering its .desktop file, you'll see it listed under the main menu as well.
What happens is, if one of the application categories is Settings, then it won't show up under the main menu and will be listed under the Settings Manager application, accessible from the main menu. After opening it, you'll see those unlisted applications available.
After editing the application categories by altering its .desktop file, you'll see it listed under the main menu as well.
[Linux] Add/remove PPA repositories
You can easily add and remove PPA repositories to your software sources with the apt-add-repository command. Use:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:USER/REPOSITORY
to add and:
sudo apt-add-repository -r ppa:USER/REPOSITORY
to ONLY remove (same as --remove) it. Alternatively, if you installed ppa-purge, you can use it to remove the repository AND (if possible) revert to the official packages:
sudo ppa-purge ppa:USER/REPOSITORY
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:USER/REPOSITORY
to add and:
sudo apt-add-repository -r ppa:USER/REPOSITORY
to ONLY remove (same as --remove) it. Alternatively, if you installed ppa-purge, you can use it to remove the repository AND (if possible) revert to the official packages:
sudo ppa-purge ppa:USER/REPOSITORY
[Linux] Install VMWare Player
After downloading VMWare Player for Linux, you may feel a bit stuck on how to install it. Luckily, it's as easy as:
gksudo bash PATH_TO_DOWNLOAD_LOCATION/VMware-Player-VERSION.bundle
If you do not have gksu, install it:
sudo apt-get install gksu
gksudo bash PATH_TO_DOWNLOAD_LOCATION/VMware-Player-VERSION.bundle
If you do not have gksu, install it:
sudo apt-get install gksu
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