Linux Mint 13 “Maya” XFCE RC Released – 353 days old

[ZemaTalon]

New features at a glance:

Xfce 4.10
mintMenu and MATE applets
MDM
Artwork improvements
Search engines
For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features, visit: “What’s new in Linux Mint 13 Xfce“.

Important info:

mintMenu in Xfce
Xfwm margins
Xfce trash in live mode
Boot hangs on systems with b43 wireless cards
Moonlight
Make sure to read the “Release Notes” to be aware of important info or known issues related to this release.

System requirements:

x86 processor (for both 32 & 64-bit versions)
x86_64 compatible processor (for the 64-bit version)
256 MB of system memory (RAM)
5 GB of disk space for installation
Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
CD-ROM drive or USB port

Download:

Md5 sum:

32-bit: e837b79e7f6c2550fd4d74c7d241b2d0
64-bit: 2789901ecc92e03cf2bfc974a68ce978

Download the iso from your choice of mirrors, and read all the blog posts with comments by Clem, here.

I've really come to like XFCE which I installed to my Mint 12 KDE edition. I'm looking forward to checking out an official XFCE edition of Mint with the MintMenu.

[ZemaTalon]

This is shaping up to be a pretty nice release I think. I tweaked it out a bit with Composting etc.



The MintMenu which will be in the final release, isn't installed by default in the RC. It can be installed from the repositories but also requires installing xfce4-xfapplet-plugin (which can load Mate plugins), which you then add to your panel and edit its properties so that it loads MintMenu. You'd also want to move it to the left side of the panel if you wanted it to replace the stock XFCE applications menu. It uses some Mate libraries to work, but it's a familiar Mint menu for anyone used to using Gnome in Mint.



Now that I've been used to the simplicity of the stock XFCE applications menu I'm not sure how I feel about going back to MintMenu, but it is cool

[Grogan]

The way XFCE is presented to people in a distro is a damned shame. They made it gnome-like (by default out of the box as well as in distros) instead of the way it used to be, which was to me the whole point of using it. You don't need any menu in XFCE... set up launchers on your panel for the stuff you use (make panel larger, auto-hide if desired etc.) You can add tear-off menus to your launchers that can hold assloads of additional launchers too. Most people wouldn't even know there are other ways to work.

There's no need to drill through menus, except for rarely used stuff that you couldn't be arsed to make a launcher for. It's all done in right click menus, you don't have to do any hand editing of files to configure stuff. You also don't need to do it all at once, either. Some of it can be done as needed. (e.g. Use a program? Create a launcher for it first)

You probably wouldn't like things exactly like I do it, but get creative. You don't have to eat that dog food. Set up XFCE the way you like it. Find the way you like it instead of getting a lifelong Gnome enema.

That's one of the benefits of using an open environment like we do in Linux. You tailor your system to YOUR workflow and YOUR preferences, not the other way around, a la Microsoft. (People are about to find out, with the next computers they buy, that they are being forced to change their workflow, regressively as dictated. All stop. Actually I can't wait. I know it's cruel but I'm going to enjoy it and make some money.)

[Bad Haircut]

Always baffled me why they did that. They had a unique selling point in my eyes with xfce, and then they went and jumped on the gnome clone bandwagon.

[ZemaTalon]

Well I must admit, I am a Gnome refugee
So there Is a quick way to edit the right click menu? I've tried it from the Thunar file manager via the Configure Custom Actions, but my entries don't appear.

[Grogan]

That menu (when you right click in the desktop) is actually your system menu, displayed by XFCE, incorporating some of its menu entries and your system's .desktop files (usually in /usr/share/applications) that both KDE and Gnome use, if present. That's not really so editable. If you want to add or remove entries from that, you would use your menu editor in KDE or Gnome. Myself, I don't use that menu at all except maybe to get at some of the XFCE settings.

[ZemaTalon]

This is actually what I was thinking of, not the system menu in there, but what you referred to earlier about the right click menus:

There's no need to drill through menus, except for rarely used stuff that you couldn't be arsed to make a launcher for. It's all done in right click menus, you don't have to do any hand editing of files to configure stuff. You also don't need to do it all at once, either. Some of it can be done as needed. (e.g. Use a program? Create a launcher for it first)

I wanted to see how to do that. I'm only familiar with XFCE as it has been in recent years and don't remember how it used to be, since I've been stuck in Gnome for ages

That menu (when you right click in the desktop) is actually your system menu, displayed by XFCE, incorporating some of its menu entries and your system's .desktop files (usually in /usr/share/applications) that both KDE and Gnome use, if present. That's not really so editable. If you want to add or remove entries from that, you would use your menu editor in KDE or Gnome. Myself, I don't use that menu at all except maybe to get at some of the XFCE settings.

[Grogan]

I was talking about Panel Launchers, and the additional tear off menus you can attach to them. Right click in your Panel, create a new application launcher, fill out the fields (path, choose an icon etc.) and you'll see where to add additional launchers to it. This is what creates the tear off menu.

I meant that you "right click on the panel" and do pointy clicky shit rather than hand edit files when I said "it's all done by right click menus". I wasn't talking about the right click menu in the desktop at all, initially.

[ZemaTalon]

Ah, gotcha. I'll have to do some experimenting