

Xfce 4.8 released - ahmet
http://www.xfce.org/

======
X-Istence
Xfce is my main desktop choice for older laptops that don't have a while lot
of computing power, but where I still want to have some sort of window
manager.

It is sad though that the developers mention that I am going to be losing
functionality because I am running Xfce on FreeBSD ... I've noticed the trend
as well, more and more things are being written only for Linux and are not
being ported to alternate operating systems such as FreeBSD.

~~~
listic
I've heard that Xfce is lighter and faster, but have you really checked
whether it is still so? I performed some superficial testing when I needed to
install a simple system that could run a browser on an old computer and I
didn't find any noticeable advantage myself. And I have read that lightness is
no more a focus of development.

I installed several Linux systems consequentially on a USB flash drive, booted
my laptop and measured memory consumption at system startup and when running a
single instance of Firefox browser pointed to a certain website. Here's what I
measured:

    
    
      OS                      | RAM | RAM (w/FF)
    
      xubuntu 8.04.1            183   (didn't run FF on this)
      xubuntu 10.04.-RC         157   187
      ubuntu 10.04-RC desktop   160   228
      ubuntu 10.04-RC netbook   162   219
      Tiny Core Linux 2.10       43   (failed to permanently install FF here)
    

I wanted to try NetBSD and other systems, but I failed to install them on a
USB stick.

Tiny Core is a special Linux distribution in a way that it doesn't have much
of anything installed by default, but you can "mount" applications and drivers
as you need. I very much appreciate the fact that you are getting "clean
slate" each time you boot, but in my case I needed to install Firefox
permanently, which is doable, but not a default way of doing things. I haven't
figured out how to do it, or Tiny Core would be ideal for me.

As far as differences between Ubuntu and Xubuntu go, I didn't see any
significant advantage of Xfce here. Both systems could run on a 256 MB system,
hardly on 128 MB. On the other hand, I didn't see any disadvantage either. To
my eyes, xubuntu system looked very much like ubuntu I use.

~~~
w1ntermute
Forget about the memory usage - most computers have at least 1 GB of memory
these days. What about things that matter, like load time on login, lag when
interacting with the UI, etc.?

~~~
listic
That's the thing, I didn't see any difference (granted, that was on my quite
recent laptop, but that's what I had for testing). Memory constraint was real
in my case: I was going to use this on a computer that had either 256 MB or
less.

I guess as a rule of thumb if you don't care about memory usage, you don't
need to care about 2D graphics performance either.

~~~
w1ntermute
I don't think that's true - I have a machine with 4 GB RAM & a 2.x Core 2
Quad. I have no memory problems, but I do have lag when using KDE or GNOME
that's not present with Openbox. I haven't tried Xfce so I can't comment on
it, but I'm guessing it's at least a little better than KDE/GNOME.

------
jamesbritt
I've tried xfce a few times in the past, but the absence of certain features
ended up making it too annoying. For example, I could not navigate the main
menu just by typing the initial letters of menus or programs; I either had to
use the mouse, or the arrow keys. I also think (but might be mistaken) there
was no way to assign different backgrounds to each desktop.

Unfortunately, looking around xfce.org, I couldn't find a place where I might
learn if these things were implemented or not. Is there some place people an
learn, for example, how menu navigation is handled, or how multiple desktops
are configured?

<http://docs.xfce.org> just says, "Soonish this page will contain the Xfce
users and developers documentation. "

~~~
hiperlink
Their wiki (linked from the homepage) has a page:
<http://wiki.xfce.org/menu_accelerators> (Note: I did not try it). And you can
embed the gnome-menu to the panel too (via some applet). And there is their
forum... where you can find
<http://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?pid=19506#p19506> for wallpaper/desktop
switching.

------
i80and
I first tried Xfce 4.2 way back in the day: I hated it. Xfce 4.4 came out, and
for a long long time I was convinced that it was the best thing since sliced
bread. I've since moved on to tiling window managers, but Xfce will always be
special to me.

Happy 4.8, Xfce!

~~~
ludwigvan
I have been experimenting with Awesome tiling wm today, and it seems Awesome.
What a day to switch from Xfce.

~~~
stcredzero
How much do you suppose is the popularity of tiling wm due to the increase in
affordable screen area? I just ordered a 27" monitor for $300.

------
yoblin
Can someone with experience point out the major gnome vs xfce differences?
Other than performance, I haven't really had too much of an issue with that.

~~~
bnoordhuis
Xfce should speak to the HN crowd, it's the MVP of desktop environments. It's
fast, uses little memory, has a no clutter interface and is pretty in an
austere way.

GNOME is the kitchen sink of UNIX desktops. It has everything and does
everything (the KDE crowd will disagree with me here). Slightly more polished,
better integrated, accessible to the casual user.

I'd recommend GNOME over Xfce to most people but if you want a desktop that
doesn't get in your face (and flies!), give Xfce a spin.
<http://www.xubuntu.org/> has a live CD you can try out.

~~~
wyclif
If you want to go even lighter and more MVP (esp. to revive an old ThinkPad or
whatnot) there's always LXDE: <http://lxde.org/>

~~~
namdnay
LXDE now comes pre-packaged: <http://lubuntu.net/>

I cannot recommend this distribution enough.

------
gladimdim
I also gave a try to XFCE 4.8 on my notebook with 1Gb RAM. I cannot say that
it is lightweight. It took about 15 seconds to start XFCE. I also spent about
20 mins doing usual job on it and then uninstalled it. That is why I use
pekwm.org . It is ultra-small, fast and light. Actually XFCE is environment
and PEKWM - window manager. No additional functionality like panels, quick
launchers, trays etc.

For me LXDE stays betwen XFCE and PekWM. It is not so heavy as XFCE but PekWM
is lighter.

~~~
sigzero
I like the lean and mean window managers as well (fluxbox at the moment).

