Can't Find User Accounts & Can't Open Items As Root In XFCE

[jimwg]

Greeting!

I don't know whether this is because I loaded XFCE right behind installing Cinnamon on the same flash drive just experimenting, but I can't find a way to open items as root in XFCE as you can in MATE and Cinnamon, and I can't find a User Accounts anywhere in XFCE either. Are these features included in XFCE or did my prior Cinnamon install wiped that out?

Thanks for any info!

Jim in NYC

[aac74]

yep if you want the same functionality in xfce as cinnamon/mate/gnome3 shell you can just install various gnome or mate packages.
xfce is less of an out of the box experience and more a blank canvas to build your desktop UI on.
Thus it's more popular with advanced users who have a checklist of customisations they make on install.

e.g. install the package gnome-system-tools to get the gnome 'users and groups' tool on your system menu

install gnome-control-center to get better sound settings (via volume indicator > sound settings) and set the system time/date/timezone (via sound settings>all settings>time and date)

install gnome-system-monitor to get the system monitor tool on your system menu

install gnome-do for fast access to apps/files via search

install alacarte and set the xfce menu to use the default menu to edit the menu via the alacarte 'main menu' tool

install gnome-terminal and set xfce to use it as the default in xfce settings > preferred apps > utilities

install:
nautilus (set in as default file manager in xfce settings > preferred apps > utilities )
nautilus-gksu (open stuff as root on right click)
nautilus-open-terminal (open folder path in terminal)
nautilus-share (share tab on file properties)
nautilus-dropbox (dropbox integration)

If you want high quality non tearing video playback and hardware accelerated openGL compositing effects you will need to install and configure various compiz packages.
The xfce software compositor is very basic and offers limited performance.

If you play full screen openGL games the cinnamon compositor (which can not be turned off) will limit their performance/framerate but a properly configured compiz will not.
Also (unlike unity) compiz can be turned off (via fusion-icon) in xfce and mate to get acceptable VNC performance if you access a system remotely.

If you want to auto lock your workstation or run an advanced screensaver then you need to remove the gnome-screensaver package and replace it with the various xscreensaver packages

[jimwg]

yep if you want the same functionality in xfce as cinnamon/mate/gnome3 shell you can just install various gnome or mate packages.
xfce is less of an out of the box experience and more a blank canvas to build your desktop UI on.
Thus it's more popular with advanced users who have a checklist of customisations they make on install.

e.g. install the package gnome-system-tools to get the gnome 'users and groups' tool on your system menu

install gnome-control-center to get better sound settings (via volume indicator > sound settings) and set the system time/date/timezone (via sound settings>all settings>time and date)

install gnome-system-monitor to get the system monitor tool on your system menu

install gnome-do for fast access to apps/files via search

install alacarte and set the xfce menu to use the default menu to edit the menu via the alacarte 'main menu' tool

install gnome-terminal and set xfce to use it as the default in xfce settings > preferred apps > utilities

install:
nautilus (set in as default file manager in xfce settings > preferred apps > utilities )
nautilus-gksu (open stuff as root on right click)
nautilus-open-terminal (open folder path in terminal)
nautilus-share (share tab on file properties)
nautilus-dropbox (dropbox integration)

If you want high quality non tearing video playback and hardware accelerated openGL compositing effects you will need to install and configure various compiz packages.
The xfce software compositor is very basic and offers limited performance.

If you play full screen openGL games the cinnamon compositor (which can not be turned off) will limit their performance/framerate but a properly configured compiz will not.
Also (unlike unity) compiz can be turned off (via fusion-icon) in xfce and mate to get acceptable VNC performance if you access a system remotely.

If you want to auto lock your workstation or run an advanced screensaver then you need to remove the gnome-screensaver package and replace it with the various xscreensaver packages

Great tips! Thanks! Is it possible to totally strip off the original Cinnamon install first to do this?

Jim in NYC

[aac74]

best to do a clean mint 14 xfce install on the machine I think.

However you might find that the mate version of mint 14 isn't much heavier than the xfce version and works better out-of-the-box for you ?

[jimwg]

best to do a clean mint 14 xfce install on the machine I think.

However you might find that the mate version of mint 14 isn't much heavier than the xfce version and works better out-of-the-box for you ?

Thanks!
Running XFCE and MATE co-habituating a flash drive originally installed with Nadia Cinnamon was a learning experiment. Wish there was a way to speed up XFCE & MATE on it without dumping Cinnamon which they're almost as sluggish running on! I'm trial and error ways to prune Cinnamon libraries from them to completely isolate XFCE (and MATE) from Cinnamon to accomplish this!