How can I get new panel/menu not old xfce one?

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eudemus

How can I get new panel/menu not old xfce one?

Post by eudemus »

Hi,
This is my first time on Mint, but I've been a Linux user (mostly Ubuntu-based systems) for about 10 years now.

BACKGROUND:
I upgraded to Mint 16 XFCE from Xubuntu 12.04 on my main machine. I kept everything in my /home partition, so only replaced the rest of the system on the / partition with a (to that extent) "clean" install of Mint 16 XFCE.
(I have simultaneously also installed a completely clean install - including /home - on a similar machine, so it is on that basis that I'm seeing some differences.)
It's all basically working well.

PROBLEM:
I want to have the Mint panels and menu as though I'd done a completely clean (from-scratch) install. Or at least, I'd like that to be how panel-0 works (I have a customised panel-1 that I'd like if possible to retain). But instead I've got the standard XFCE panel along the top, and the menu (a version of the whisker menu) is the very clunky xfce standard menu with a classification of programs into groups, etc..

How do I get the nice Mint menu, with favourites, recently used, and then some nice buttons (instead of menus) for the various groups of programs?


At the moment, the xfce panel just looks old and clunky (and for some reason the time and indicators do not stay over on the right hand side, when I only have one or two windows open).

I can happily provide more info if this doesn't quite give all that is needed.
I very much appreciate all help.
Very best, Eudemus
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karlchen
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Re: How can I get new panel/menu not old xfce one?

Post by karlchen »

Hello, Eudemus.

Starting with Linux Mint 15 xfce, this includes Linux Mint 16 xfce of course, the default menu is the Whisker Menu on Mint with the xfce desktop. Cf. here in the middle of the page What is new in Mint 15 - Whisker Menu
In case the default colour selection is not to your liking, then you might have a look at the Whisker Menu author's blog article Theming Whisker Menu.
And you can resize the menu (width / height) easily without reading anybody's block article, but by simply selecting the edges and moving them.

In case you are actually missing the old Mint Menu, the one that looked like brushed bare metal: it is gone on xfce for the simple reason that the Mate plugin which was needed to bring it to the xfce desktop does no longer work and will very likely never be updated to make it work again. (Cf. here, please)

Cheers,
Karl
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eudemus

Re: How can I get new panel/menu not old xfce one?

Post by eudemus »

Dear Karl,
OK. Thanks. Actually, your post and the link has helped me see that I had in fact misdescribed a key problem.
What I had was an "applications menu" in the top corner, not a "whisker menu" - which is what I'd wanted.

So, now one problem is solved. I've got the whisker menu, and I've found how to put a nice logo on it.

Final problem then is why the time and notifications (and a couple of other things) don't stay over on the right of the panel in the corner, where I want them!
I've never had this problem before with an xfce panel. I want it to take up the full width of the screen (I have it at the top), but with the time and notifications in the top-right corner, and the whisker menu in the top left corner, with window buttons taking up the space in between.

Thanks, Eudemus
eudemus

Re: How can I get new panel/menu not old xfce one?

Post by eudemus »

Found the answer to this independently.
What I needed to do was change the properties of the "separator" so as to "expand" to fill space. That pushes the items to its right into the corner.
Sorted.
Thanks again for your help with the menu. Best, Eudemus.
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