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Xfce 4.4 Beta 1 is Available

User discussion about Debian Development, Debian Project News and Announcements. Not for support questions.
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Harold
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Xfce 4.4 Beta 1 is Available

#1 Post by Harold »

You can download the graphical installer from http://www.xfce.org/archive/xfce-4.3.90.1/installers/ It won't take long; it's only 18 Meg! If you've never before worked with the Xfce installer, you are in for a big surprise. Building from source just can't be any easier than this!

The first issue is that the ALSA libraries required to compile the Xfce sound mixer just aren't anywhere to be found in the Debian repositories. This is a Debian problem, not a Xfce problem. Your choices are (1) download the ALSA library tarball from ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/lib/, build the source code, then launch the Xfce installer, or (2) just not select the Xfce mixer at the start of the installation process and instead use either aumix or alsamixer, both of which are available as Debian packages. My opinion is that aumix still has by far the superior interface. YMMV.

The second issue is that the Xfce 4.4 panel code is significantly different than Xfce 4.2 panel code. Your customized Xfce 4.2 panel is history! Get over it! If you wanted an automated process for populating the panel, you never would have chosen Xfce in the first place.

The good news is that icon rendering on the 4.4 panel is DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS! Icon rendering on the 4.2 panel was a little screwy. No more! You're going to start drooling over your keyboard when that first custom icon pops up in front of you!

With 4.4, Xfce introduces their new file manager: Thunar. I'll be honest with you. I really liked the Xfce3 file manager, and the original Xfce4 file manager -- Xffm -- just didn't appeal to me at all. With Thunar, Xfce is back on the right track. Again, YMMV.

Xfce has traditionally used a blue colour scheme. The 4.4 scheme is a very attractive yellow and green. I find the new scheme easier on the eyes.

Otherwise, Xfce looks and acts much as it always has, which in my opinion, is A Good Thing! Most of the changes are under-the-hood changes, making the code base more compliant with the Freedesktop standards. This is a goal that the Xfce programmers have been pursuing for a couple of years now, and the polish really shows!

Stable? Rock solid from what I've seen this evening.

What's not to like? :-)

OneTinSoldier
Posts: 3
Joined: 2006-05-12 19:05
Location: Denver, Colorado USA

#2 Post by OneTinSoldier »

Hello,

I haven't used Linux in three and a half years but I recently installed etch. Now I almost feel like a newbie all over again! But with some help on #debian on irc I have gotten X working. Sound is working fine too. I loved Xfce when I used it years ago and I will go download and compile it right now! Thanks for annoucing it on here and giving a link where to get it from Harold. :)

Cheers,

OneTinSoldier

danielrigano
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Joined: 2008-01-19 07:27

#3 Post by danielrigano »

The software is very strong.

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mzilikazi
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#4 Post by mzilikazi »

I've been looking forward to this for some time now. Xfce has always been one of my favorites (with E17 being the other). The larger desktops just don't do it for me since they still follow the aging desktop paradigm of a taskbar w/ a start menu.

Thunar imho still does not compare to ROX feature-wise (admittedly I have not tried the latest) but Thunar does have some very nice volume management capabilities.

Can't wait until 4.4 is in Sid!
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garrincha
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#5 Post by garrincha »

mzilikazi wrote: Can't wait until 4.4 is in Sid!
It's been in Sid about a year ago.It's v 4.4.2 currently in Debian/Sid. :lol:
Maurice Green on Usain Bolt's 9.58: "The Earth stopped for a second, and he went to Mars."

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mzilikazi
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#6 Post by mzilikazi »

garrincha wrote:
mzilikazi wrote: Can't wait until 4.4 is in Sid!
It's been in Sid about a year ago.It's v 4.4.2 currently in Debian/Sid. :lol:
Doh! Stable...can't wait til it's in Stable.... I do have the one box. Hmm bad coffee this morning perhaps?? I dunno.....
Debian Sid Laptops:
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Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2390 @ 1.86GHz / 3G

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Issyer
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#7 Post by Issyer »

I made a howto about xfce-4.4.2. Here. I play with it on Etch.
Harold wrote:With 4.4, Xfce introduces their new file manager: Thunar. I'll be honest with you. I really liked the Xfce3 file manager, and the original Xfce4 file manager -- Xffm -- just didn't appeal to me at all. With Thunar, Xfce is back on the right track. Again, YMMV.
Thunar has been on Etch for a long time already:

+++-=============================-=============================
ii thunar 0.4.0rc1-3 File Manager for Xfce
ii xfce4 4.3.99.2 Meta-package for the Xfce Lightweight Desktop Environment

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