
Xfce not default in future release of Debian - dsirijus
http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=tasksel/tasksel.git;a=commit;h=56f8dffd7e7d0cd013a1251e1f12a4a1124262d7
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emillon
I don't know why people focus so much on "default" desktop environments. No
desktop is more supported than another one, as long as there is a package (and
a maintainer! come join us, all hands are welcome) for it. This commit is from
tasksel's git repository, which is used when you decide to install "tasks"
from the debian installer.

Choosing to install a particular desktop environment when you want a
"graphical environment" is only a matter of convenience : proposing GNOME from
a CD install is getting harder because of the size of new versions. Several
ideas were proposed : changing the default DE in tasksel, changing the
compression scheme for .debs (using LZMA instead of bzip2), or even dropping
CD installations IIRC (keeping just CD and USB netinstalls, and DVD
installations).

~~~
zanny
One problem with defaults is that if you put, say, a modern version of Unity
on a live cd, and try running it in some system with a really crummy
integrated GPU, you will have a completely unresponsive experience because
hardware acceleration isn't on.

Starting with something light and making eye candy available as an option
sounds better than having extreme eye candy (gnome3, kde, Unity) and having to
endure extreme slowness to get to lxde or openbox.

~~~
rdtsc
Make both install-able and working and pick automatically at install time?

When running on old hardware offer something light (all the way down to text,
say for mainframes).

~~~
zanny
This actually happens with the netinstall of Fedora, and I imagine you can do
it with the netinstall of Debian as well.

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sanxiyn
3 months ago here: Debian Now Defaults To Xfce Desktop

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4356197>

Read the thread for the back story.

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pwpwp
You can choose Xfce under Advanced Settings in the Debian installer, giving
you a very lean desktop environment.

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willvarfar
Anyone got a good summary of the back story?

~~~
morfa
[http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=tasksel/tasksel.git;a=co...](http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=tasksel/tasksel.git;a=commit;h=2a962cc65cdba010177f27e8824ba10d9a799a08)

Here is a summary of the changes:

[http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/p=tasksel/tasksel.git;a=sum...](http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/p=tasksel/tasksel.git;a=summary)

And this as well:

[http://www.neowin.net/news/debian-drops-gnome-chooses-
xfce-a...](http://www.neowin.net/news/debian-drops-gnome-chooses-xfce-as-
default-desktop)

Basically a while back, Joey Hess changed Debian to XFCE from Gnome. Someone
else has just changed it back. But looks like it's probably temporary. We'll
see.

~~~
keithpeter
Mr Hess has commented on the Debian tradition that the first CD image of the
CD installer set is able to install a complete functional desktop. See

<http://joeyh.name/blog/entry/debian-cd_work_at_DebCamp/>

The implication is that I draw from this is that the XFCE as default
suggestion was related to getting the first iso size below 700Mb.

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deelowe
Anyone know why?

~~~
rquirk
Gnome was taken off as the default because it wouldn't fit on a CD. After some
work to get it to fit on again, Gnome is back as the default.

~~~
deelowe
Thanks. I assumed it was this, but wanted to be sure.

