Installing XFCE without re-install?
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Installing XFCE without re-install?
Hi, I've been using Mint 17.1 MATE for a while, but I'm trying to get XFCE running.
I've gone through other posts to install xfce4, xfce4-goodies, mint-meta-xfce etc but I'm struggling to get to the "mint" version of XFCE. On logon, I still have a desktop like this http://180016988.r.cdn77.net/wp-content ... 1/XFCE.png and no apparant way to get the whisker menu.
What I'd like is an XFCE environment that's the same as if I had downloaded the Mint XFCE edition. Is there any way to do this without re-installing?
I've gone through other posts to install xfce4, xfce4-goodies, mint-meta-xfce etc but I'm struggling to get to the "mint" version of XFCE. On logon, I still have a desktop like this http://180016988.r.cdn77.net/wp-content ... 1/XFCE.png and no apparant way to get the whisker menu.
What I'd like is an XFCE environment that's the same as if I had downloaded the Mint XFCE edition. Is there any way to do this without re-installing?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Hello, timytamy.
You might follow the steps which have been explained here
Karl
You might follow the steps which have been explained here
- xfce instead of mate (part 1)
- xfce instead of mate (part 2, details)
Karl
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Whisker is actually its own package and I don't think it's included in any of the bundles. The package is called xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin. Once you install that you just right click on the panel, then go to Add New Item and choose Whisker Menu. If you uncheck "Lock panel" you can drag the top panel down to the bottom and remove the original bottom panel.
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Hi, raptir.
You need to check the details list in my second post as well: among other packages: xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin
(The steps are not based on any scientific theory, but they are what I have done, and the system is still up and running, uhm, no, the machine is actually shutdown at this point in time at home. )
Cheers,
Karl
You need to check the details list in my second post as well: among other packages: xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin
(The steps are not based on any scientific theory, but they are what I have done, and the system is still up and running, uhm, no, the machine is actually shutdown at this point in time at home. )
Cheers,
Karl
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Coolies. So with that I seem to have most of XFCE, however the notification/applet area is lacking. Mainly some sort of network manager. I've found a network monitor, but it dosen't seem to do anything useful. Is there another package or just a config item?
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
I was not referencing your post, I was responding directly to the original post in the topic since he basically had it apart from the whisker menu not being installed.karlchen wrote:Hi, raptir.
You need to check the details list in my second post as well: among other packages: xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin
(The steps are not based on any scientific theory, but they are what I have done, and the system is still up and running, uhm, no, the machine is actually shutdown at this point in time at home. )
Cheers,
Karl
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Hi, raptir.
OK. Fine. But it was a good chance of promoting my list of software (meta) packages one more time which should be installed in order to get the full Linux Mint xfce experience in the end.
Cheers,
Karl
OK. Fine. But it was a good chance of promoting my list of software (meta) packages one more time which should be installed in order to get the full Linux Mint xfce experience in the end.
Cheers,
Karl
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
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Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Hi Karl,raptir wrote:I was not referencing your post, I was responding directly to the original post in the topic since he basically had it apart from the whisker menu not being installed.karlchen wrote:Hi, raptir.
You need to check the details list in my second post as well: among other packages: xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin
(The steps are not based on any scientific theory, but they are what I have done, and the system is still up and running, uhm, no, the machine is actually shutdown at this point in time at home. )
Cheers,
Karl
I read your reply (post #2 in this thread), which linked me to (among other things) this:
I just wanted to say, "Thanks." Bookmarked.karlchen wrote:As promised this afternoon here is the list of software packages which were selected here in order to get a full-featured xfce 4.10 desktop on Mint 16 32-bit. The primary and only desktop environment had been Cinnamon 2.0.14 at that time.
Launch Synaptic package manager and select for installation:This will pull in round about 95 software packages all in all. Confirm. And click [Apply]Code: Select all
mint-artwork-xfce mint-backgrounds-xfce mint-meta-xfce xfce4 xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin xfce4-goodies xfce4-indicator-plugin xfwm4 xfwm4-themes indicator-application-gtk2 indicator-sound-gtk2 pavucontrol
The installation will take only a few minutes and succeeded here without any errors or warnings.
Once the installation is complete logout. In the MDM greeter screen select the button "Session" and select "xfce" and login. When asked whether you wish to make xfce the default desktop or just use it for the current session, make it your default session.
Regards,
MDM
Mint 18 Xfce 4.12.
If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars make people drive drunk, and spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars make people drive drunk, and spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
karlchen wrote:Hello, timytamy.
You might follow the steps which have been explained hereHTH,
- xfce instead of mate (part 1)
- xfce instead of mate (part 2, details)
Karl
Thanks for this info. Karl. It was exactly what I was looking for, and the procedure worked perfectly on Mint Mate 17.1 to Mint 17.1 xfce conversion. It was quite quick and no snags. I was a little concerned as the post was about a year old, pre 17.1, but no issues, it is working great.
Chris
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
One related question:
I have been cleaning-up, getting rid of mate today after installing the xfce desktop, and looking at any xfce packages that might be useful. It seems that I should have this:
mint-info-xfce (description: Base package. This package is needed by the Mint tools and the system to uniquely identify the edition and release of Linux Mint you're using and to get information related to it.)
When I try to add it however, I get an error:
E: /var/cache/apt/archives/mint-info-xfce_2014.12.12_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite '/etc/linuxmint/info', which is also in package mint-info-mate 2014.12.12
Questions:
1) If I try and remove the mint-info-mate package first however, it tells me that it needs to remove eight other packages, some seemingly super-important such as: mint-meta-core, mint-meta-xfce, mintdesktop, mintsystem, etc. which I don't believe that I want to do.
Is it OK to just leave as is? Will Mint tools be able to identify edition and release with the current condition?
2) Or should I manually somehow get rid of the mint-info-mate package without messing with the packages that Synaptic wants to remove? If so, how would I do that?
Chris
I have been cleaning-up, getting rid of mate today after installing the xfce desktop, and looking at any xfce packages that might be useful. It seems that I should have this:
mint-info-xfce (description: Base package. This package is needed by the Mint tools and the system to uniquely identify the edition and release of Linux Mint you're using and to get information related to it.)
When I try to add it however, I get an error:
E: /var/cache/apt/archives/mint-info-xfce_2014.12.12_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite '/etc/linuxmint/info', which is also in package mint-info-mate 2014.12.12
Questions:
1) If I try and remove the mint-info-mate package first however, it tells me that it needs to remove eight other packages, some seemingly super-important such as: mint-meta-core, mint-meta-xfce, mintdesktop, mintsystem, etc. which I don't believe that I want to do.
Is it OK to just leave as is? Will Mint tools be able to identify edition and release with the current condition?
2) Or should I manually somehow get rid of the mint-info-mate package without messing with the packages that Synaptic wants to remove? If so, how would I do that?
Chris
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Hello, Chris.
Simply leave the mint-info-mate package alone. Replacing the mint-info-mate package by mint-info-xfce package is not worth the hassle.
In my case, I kept the mint-info-cinnamon package. xfce will work fine nonetheless, and update-manager will offer available updates correctly, too.
Cheers,
Karl
Simply leave the mint-info-mate package alone. Replacing the mint-info-mate package by mint-info-xfce package is not worth the hassle.
In my case, I kept the mint-info-cinnamon package. xfce will work fine nonetheless, and update-manager will offer available updates correctly, too.
Cheers,
Karl
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Good to hear, thanks for the Quick reply Karl!karlchen wrote:Hello, Chris.
Simply leave the mint-info-mate package alone. Replacing the mint-info-mate package by mint-info-xfce package is not worth the hassle.
In my case, I kept the mint-info-cinnamon package. xfce will work fine nonetheless, and update-manager will offer available updates correctly, too.
Cheers,
Karl
Chris
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
As Karl said, leaving it alone is a reasonable solution. But if you'd like to know how to do it, it's actually very simple and no hassle at all. This is a use case where I find aptitude to be the most powerful package management tool, and using the curses based interface you can resolve this in just a couple keypresses.cllvt wrote:One related question:
I have been cleaning-up, getting rid of mate today after installing the xfce desktop, and looking at any xfce packages that might be useful. It seems that I should have this:
mint-info-xfce (description: Base package. This package is needed by the Mint tools and the system to uniquely identify the edition and release of Linux Mint you're using and to get information related to it.)
When I try to add it however, I get an error:
E: /var/cache/apt/archives/mint-info-xfce_2014.12.12_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite '/etc/linuxmint/info', which is also in package mint-info-mate 2014.12.12
Questions:
1) If I try and remove the mint-info-mate package first however, it tells me that it needs to remove eight other packages, some seemingly super-important such as: mint-meta-core, mint-meta-xfce, mintdesktop, mintsystem, etc. which I don't believe that I want to do.
Is it OK to just leave as is? Will Mint tools be able to identify edition and release with the current condition?
2) Or should I manually somehow get rid of the mint-info-mate package without messing with the packages that Synaptic wants to remove? If so, how would I do that?
Chris
Open a terminal, and run
Code: Select all
sudo aptitude
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Thanks raptir,
When I have a chance and can get on that computer I will check this out.
Interesting, never heard of aptitude.
Chris
EDIT: I tried aptitude. Unfortunately it gave me the same error Synaptic did about overwriting, etc. Guess I will leave it as is. Thanks.
When I have a chance and can get on that computer I will check this out.
Interesting, never heard of aptitude.
Chris
EDIT: I tried aptitude. Unfortunately it gave me the same error Synaptic did about overwriting, etc. Guess I will leave it as is. Thanks.
Last edited by cllvt on Tue Feb 17, 2015 3:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Aptitude is another apt frontend just like Synaptic and apt-get. It is the recommended package management tool for Debian and is preinstalled in Linux Mint as well.
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
So, with Synaptic and with Aptitude I have been unable to remove mint-info-mate and add mint-info-xfce.
If I look in /etc/linuxmint/info folder (where the overwrite error listed in previous posts occurs with both) this is what is there:
RELEASE=17.1
CODENAME=rebecca
EDITION="MATE 64-bit"
DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca"
DESKTOP=MATE
TOOLKIT=GTK
NEW_FEATURES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_rebecca_mate_whatsnew.php
RELEASE_NOTES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_rebecca_mate.php
USER_GUIDE_URL=help:linuxmint
GRUB_TITLE=Linux Mint 17.1 MATE 64-bit
Seems like I could manually change this easily (opening the folder as root) if I knew exactly what should be there (is is xfce or XFCE, is the toolkit still GTK, etc.). Am I just asking for trouble messing with this; I guess it seems like as Karl said it should be fine but I guess I am a little OCD and on some level it bothers me that my xfce computer thinks it's Mate . I am wondering if there were some updates to xfce would they still happen? I would expect so, but since the mint-info-xfce package is not loaded maybe not? I suppose manually changing the file contents still is not going to load the package anyway, so it would not be any different?
If anyone has any thoughts about this I would love to hear them. Otherwise I guess I will leave as is and mark this solved and not worry about it.
Thanks,
Chris
EDIT: Sorry being such a pain about this, it is not that I doubt what anyone tells me, just trying to get a more complete understanding than I have now.
If I look in /etc/linuxmint/info folder (where the overwrite error listed in previous posts occurs with both) this is what is there:
RELEASE=17.1
CODENAME=rebecca
EDITION="MATE 64-bit"
DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca"
DESKTOP=MATE
TOOLKIT=GTK
NEW_FEATURES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_rebecca_mate_whatsnew.php
RELEASE_NOTES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_rebecca_mate.php
USER_GUIDE_URL=help:linuxmint
GRUB_TITLE=Linux Mint 17.1 MATE 64-bit
Seems like I could manually change this easily (opening the folder as root) if I knew exactly what should be there (is is xfce or XFCE, is the toolkit still GTK, etc.). Am I just asking for trouble messing with this; I guess it seems like as Karl said it should be fine but I guess I am a little OCD and on some level it bothers me that my xfce computer thinks it's Mate . I am wondering if there were some updates to xfce would they still happen? I would expect so, but since the mint-info-xfce package is not loaded maybe not? I suppose manually changing the file contents still is not going to load the package anyway, so it would not be any different?
If anyone has any thoughts about this I would love to hear them. Otherwise I guess I will leave as is and mark this solved and not worry about it.
Thanks,
Chris
EDIT: Sorry being such a pain about this, it is not that I doubt what anyone tells me, just trying to get a more complete understanding than I have now.
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
I figured it out and tested it in a VBox install so it should work for you. If you run...
It will force dpkg to overwrite the /etc/linuxmint/info file.
That said, i really have no idea where this information is even used.
Code: Select all
sudo aptitude -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-overwrite" install mint-info-xfce
That said, i really have no idea where this information is even used.
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Hey raptir, thanks! Not sure where/when to use this, do I run Aptitude as before and when it gives me the error then run this in terminal, or just plug this in terminal now?raptir wrote:I figured it out and tested it in a VBox install so it should work for you. If you run...
It will force dpkg to overwrite the /etc/linuxmint/info file.Code: Select all
sudo aptitude -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-overwrite" install mint-info-xfce
That said, i really have no idea where this information is even used.
Should I remove mint-info-mate first?
Chris
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
Sorry for not being clear. Aptitude has the curses-based interface but can also run commands via the terminal directly, just like apt-get. Just open a terminal and plug in the command I posted.cllvt wrote:Hey raptir, thanks! Not sure where/when to use this, do I run Aptitude as before and when it gives me the error then run this in terminal, or just plug this in terminal now?raptir wrote:I figured it out and tested it in a VBox install so it should work for you. If you run...
It will force dpkg to overwrite the /etc/linuxmint/info file.Code: Select all
sudo aptitude -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-overwrite" install mint-info-xfce
That said, i really have no idea where this information is even used.
Should I remove mint-info-mate first?
Chris
You don't need to remove mint-info-mate. mint-info-xfce depends on mint-user-guide-xfce (so it will automatically be installed), and mint-user-guide-xfce conflicts with mint-user-guide-mate (so it will be automatically removed). mint-info-mate depends on mint-user-guide-mate, so it will also be automatically removed.
Re: Installing XFCE without re-install?
"Sorry for not being clear. Aptitude has the curses-based interface but can also run commands via the terminal directly, just like apt-get. Just open a terminal and plug in the command I posted.
You don't need to remove mint-info-mate. mint-info-xfce depends on mint-user-guide-xfce (so it will automatically be installed), and mint-user-guide-xfce conflicts with mint-user-guide-mate (so it will be automatically removed). mint-info-mate depends on mint-user-guide-mate, so it will also be automatically removed."
Thanks raptir! That went flawlessly!
After reading a bit about Aptitude I thought that might be the case, but was a little hesitant to try it as I have zero experience with it. If I had started it though, I would have seen how it spelled out what was going to happen, better to check with the pros. I am sure I would have been fine as is, but I will sleep a little easier knowing my xfce box now thinks it's an xfce box!
Chris
EDIT: Many thanks to karlchen and raptir for helping get xfce on my Mint install, would not have attempted it without the guidance, but it's awesome to have it completed. Not that Mate is a bad DE, I am just more comfortable in xfce now. Thanks!
You don't need to remove mint-info-mate. mint-info-xfce depends on mint-user-guide-xfce (so it will automatically be installed), and mint-user-guide-xfce conflicts with mint-user-guide-mate (so it will be automatically removed). mint-info-mate depends on mint-user-guide-mate, so it will also be automatically removed."
Thanks raptir! That went flawlessly!
After reading a bit about Aptitude I thought that might be the case, but was a little hesitant to try it as I have zero experience with it. If I had started it though, I would have seen how it spelled out what was going to happen, better to check with the pros. I am sure I would have been fine as is, but I will sleep a little easier knowing my xfce box now thinks it's an xfce box!
Chris
EDIT: Many thanks to karlchen and raptir for helping get xfce on my Mint install, would not have attempted it without the guidance, but it's awesome to have it completed. Not that Mate is a bad DE, I am just more comfortable in xfce now. Thanks!