XFCE is a most popular lightweight desktop environment for Unix like operating systems such as GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Mac OS X etc. It is a free and open source software, consumes less resources then other desktops available for Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) – such as Gnome 2.*, KDE etc. Xfce desktop comes along with some applications installed by default – e.g Thunar (File Manager), Midori (Web browser), Mousepad (Text Editor); that is very simple to use and provides pretty fast experience without consuming a lot of memory or other resources.

Why should you try XFCE ?

Ubuntu 11.04 uses ‘Unity’ desktop by default but if you are running ubuntu on a older hardware/computer or got tired with the slow performance of other desktops then Xfce is the right desktop for you. Since, Ubuntu has very modular structure you can install as many desktop as you want; it means you don’t need to go for Xbuntu distribution – The Xfce version of Ubuntu, if you are already using Ubuntu or any other flavor of Ubuntu. Xfce 4.8 is the latest stable version available, released in Jan 2011. You can install it either from command line or Synaptic Package Manager, and it works not only for ubuntu but also for other Linux distros such as Linux Mint, Fedora etc.

xfce-4-8-snapshot-ubuntu

Installing XFCE Desktop on Ubuntu 11.04

step1 : Open terminal and type (You may need to authenticate yourself by login password):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xfce4

step2 : Wait until the installation is complete. Next, logout from the current session and select Xfce session in login prompt.

step3 : That’s all.. Enjoy XFCE.. if you want to use other desktop then just select it at the login prompt.

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4 Comments

  1. When i get to the end of the installation and hit the reboot it tells me

    For realtek RTL8111B/8111C Gigabit ethernalcontroller v2.11 (071127)PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cablePXE-MOF: Exiting PXE ROM.

    Intel UNDI, PXE-2.1 (Build 082)
    Copyright  ……… blabla

    And that it gives me over and over again.. Any easy solution for that you know about? 🙂

    I tried to reinstall it a couple of times, and i made sure ofcourse that the internet should work and run with the computer

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