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faq [2018/11/12 21:25] – [How to configure Shortcuts / Hotkeys / Menu Accelerators ?] alexxconsfaq [2018/11/14 23:03] – [Misc] alexxcons
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 +----
 ====== Frequently Asked Questions ====== ====== Frequently Asked Questions ======
- +---- 
-===== How to pronounce Xfce ? ===== +=== How to pronounce Xfce ? ===
 “Ecks Eff See Eee” “Ecks Eff See Eee”
- +---- 
-===== What does it mean ? ===== +=== What does it mean ? ===
 The name Xfce originally stood for XForms Common Environment, but since then, Xfce was rewritten twice and doesn't use XForms toolkit anymore. The name survived, but the F is no longer capitalized (not “XFce”, but “Xfce”). Currently the abbreviation doesn't stand for anything (suggestion: X Freakin' Cool Environment). It's not pronounced “X-Face”. There is no “a” in it. The name Xfce originally stood for XForms Common Environment, but since then, Xfce was rewritten twice and doesn't use XForms toolkit anymore. The name survived, but the F is no longer capitalized (not “XFce”, but “Xfce”). Currently the abbreviation doesn't stand for anything (suggestion: X Freakin' Cool Environment). It's not pronounced “X-Face”. There is no “a” in it.
- +---- 
-===== What does the logo mean ? ===== +=== What does the logo mean ? ===
 A mouse, obviously, for all kinds of reasons like world domination and monsters and such. A mouse, obviously, for all kinds of reasons like world domination and monsters and such.
- +---- 
-===== On which platforms does Xfce run currently ? ===== +=== On which platforms does Xfce run currently ? ===
 Xfce is developed to be versatile. It is currently supported on Linux, Solaris and BSD, but has been known to run in some shape or form on IRIX, MacOS X, and Windows. Xfce is developed to be versatile. It is currently supported on Linux, Solaris and BSD, but has been known to run in some shape or form on IRIX, MacOS X, and Windows.
- +---- 
-===== Under which license is Xfce distributed ? ===== +=== Under which license is Xfce distributed ? ===
 Xfce 4 components are licensed under free or open source licenses: GPL or BSDL for applications and LGPL or BSDL for libraries. Read the documentation, the source code, or the Xfce homepage for more information. Xfce 4 components are licensed under free or open source licenses: GPL or BSDL for applications and LGPL or BSDL for libraries. Read the documentation, the source code, or the Xfce homepage for more information.
- +---- 
-===== How long between two official release ? ===== +=== How long between two official release ? ===
 There is no set schedule, but there are goals the developers try to meet. That said, the creation of deadlines does not lend itself well to those working without compensation. So the overall goal is to release a new version as certain goals are reached. Unfortunately, that does not allow the advanced statement of any release schedule. Please check back often to read any news releases about the product. There is no set schedule, but there are goals the developers try to meet. That said, the creation of deadlines does not lend itself well to those working without compensation. So the overall goal is to release a new version as certain goals are reached. Unfortunately, that does not allow the advanced statement of any release schedule. Please check back often to read any news releases about the product.
- +---- 
 +===== Keyboard related =====
 ---- ----
 === How to configure Shortcuts / Hotkeys / Menu Accelerators ? === === How to configure Shortcuts / Hotkeys / Menu Accelerators ? ===
- 
 A number of Xfce applications (Thunar, for example) support the standard GTK2 way of changing shortcuts: simply hover over the menu option with the mouse pointer and press the keyboard shortcut you want to rebind it to. A number of Xfce applications (Thunar, for example) support the standard GTK2 way of changing shortcuts: simply hover over the menu option with the mouse pointer and press the keyboard shortcut you want to rebind it to.
  
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 To determine keycodes of the multimedia keys use the program ''xev''. Create a ''.Xmodmap'' file in your $HOME directory containing those keycodes and assign keysyms to them. Example:  To determine keycodes of the multimedia keys use the program ''xev''. Create a ''.Xmodmap'' file in your $HOME directory containing those keycodes and assign keysyms to them. Example: 
- 
  
    keycode 162 = XF86AudioPlay    keycode 162 = XF86AudioPlay
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 ---- ----
 ===How to determine keycodes with ''xev''=== ===How to determine keycodes with ''xev''===
- 
 All keyboards are different, keycodes can differ(eg. my keyboard with few keycodes above, not working) and of course not everyone has time to search XKeysymDB file. You can acquire keycodes from your keyboard with xev. All keyboards are different, keycodes can differ(eg. my keyboard with few keycodes above, not working) and of course not everyone has time to search XKeysymDB file. You can acquire keycodes from your keyboard with xev.
 In terminal type: In terminal type:
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 ---- ----
 ===What should I do to change keyboard layout?=== ===What should I do to change keyboard layout?===
- 
 There are several options. One is to use ''xfce4-xkb-plugin'', see http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/xfce4-xkb-plugin .  You can also use the ''setxkbmap'' command with the two letter keyboard code as argument; you can edit your X server configuration file to choose a different keyboard layout (change the value after ''Option "XkbLayout"'', e.g.: ''Option "XkbLayout" "dvorak"''). There are several options. One is to use ''xfce4-xkb-plugin'', see http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/xfce4-xkb-plugin .  You can also use the ''setxkbmap'' command with the two letter keyboard code as argument; you can edit your X server configuration file to choose a different keyboard layout (change the value after ''Option "XkbLayout"'', e.g.: ''Option "XkbLayout" "dvorak"'').
 ---- ----
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 ===How do I make a shortcut that doesn't steal focus?=== ===How do I make a shortcut that doesn't steal focus?===
 You can't. You can't.
 +----
 +===== Application Menu =====
 +----
 +=== The left-click to get the menu on the title bar menu button seems a little slow. How do I change that? ===
 +The left-button single-click menu button display speed is linked to the double click speed. If one wants the menu to appear quicker, just change the double click speed in the Xfce 4 Settings Manager Mouse properties to be faster. Or, one can right click on the title bar to get the menu displayed almost instantly without adjusting the double-click speed. The menu will display both ways.
 +----
 +=== How do I display a list of all windows? ===
 +There are two possibilities. The first is by middle clicking on the desktop (if you have xfdesktop running) or you can add the window list plugin to the panel (is provided with a ''xfce4-popup-windowlist'' command).
 +----
 +=== How to edit the auto generated menu with the menu editor? ===
 +  cp ~/.cache/xfce4/desktop/menu-cache-name-of-the-generated-file.xml ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/menu2.xml
 +  cd ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/
 +  cat menu.xml > menu3.xml
 +  cat menu2.xml >> menu3.xml
 +  mv menu.xml menu.orig.xml
 +  mv menu3.xml menu.xml
 +
 +Now, you already have a menu with all the categories in the main tree with some duplicates, but you must first edit menu.xml with your favorite editor and remove the 4 following lines in the middle of the file, otherwise the menu editor will complain about a wrong format:
 +
 +  </xfdesktop-menu>
 +  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 +  <!DOCTYPE xfdesktop-menu>
 +  
 +  <xfdesktop-menu>
 +
 +That's all. Now you can run the menu editor, remove the few duplicates and edit all as you like.
 +
 +Settings > Desktop > Menu > Menu Editor
 +
 +Notes: by removing the "system" line, you will remove all the duplicates menu entries from the auto generated file. So, if it is changed in this auto generated file, they don't appear anymore, but you will get rid of most of the duplicates.
 +
 +To restore the original menu, just do in a terminal:
 +
 +  mv menu.xml menu3.xml; mv menu.orig.xml menu.xml
 +
 +----
 +===What are the exact commands used when launching the 'Setting' applications?===
 +Please see [[https://wiki.xfce.org/mcs-manager_plugin_parameters|this wiki entry]].
 +----
 +
 +===== Using a different Window Manager =====
 +----
 +Please refer to [[https://wiki.xfce.org/howto:other_window_manager|this manual page]]
 +----
 +
 +===== Desktop Manager =====
 +----
 +=== I want to disable the trash, home and filesystem icons on my desktop, is that possible? ===
 +Yes. In Settings > Desktop > Icons > Appearance, select 'None'.
 +----
 +=== My Xfce Desktop doesn't have any shortcut icons, why? ===
 +You can adjust this via Settings > Desktop > Icons > Appearance.
 +----
 +===== Panel =====
 +----
 +=== Is it possible to change the icon used by the icon box or task bar for a given application? ===
 +It's not possible. This setting has to be managed by the application itself.
 +----
 +=== I've installed a plug-in for the panel, but the indicators don't use different colors. What can I do? ===
 +First, try another Gtk theme, since some themes override the color. If it doesn't solve the problem, you probably have an old ~/.gtkrc-2.0 : remove it and try again. 
 +----
 +=== How do I set the panel layer in Xfce 4.2 and 4.4? ===
 +In order to improve focus management this option was removed.
 +----
 +=== Is there a world clock applet? ===
 +You need to add the Orage Clock to the panel. Then you can middle-click the clock to open the "Global Time" window, to which you can add any number of clocks.
 +----
 +===== Themes =====
 +----
 +=== The gtk-xfce-engine themes do not appear in the "user interface" settings dialog ===
 +The gtk-xfce-engine-2 package has to be installed using same prefix as Gtk2 itself. When installed from sources, the engine is, by default, installed in /usr/local, while Gtk2 is often installed in /usr. Just install gtk-xfce-engine-2 again using ''./configure --prefix=/usr'', and the themes will hopefully become available.
 +----
 +=== How can I customize my Xfce desktop environment ===
 +You can read everything about changing themes in the [[https://wiki.xfce.org/howto:install_new_themes|How to install new themes]] wiki page.
 +----
 +===== Misc =====
 +----
 +=== Why the file chooser is very slow ? ===
 +It is more likely that the icon theme you are using renders too many SVGs making it very hard to scroll.  Switch to another icon theme.
 +----
 +=== Why the response to Terminal application is slow? ===
 +For NVidia users, add this to your settings:
 +
 +  nvidia-settings -a InitialPixmapPlacement=0 -a GlyphCache=1
 +
 +For all users, your driver may not support argb visuals very well.  You can disable it for Terminal by exporting the environment variable XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1.  To disable it for Terminal only, put the next lines inside ~/bin/Terminal for example (given you have a personal bin directory, you can also put it inside /usr/local/bin):
 +
 +  #!/bin/sh
 +  XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1 /usr/bin/Terminal
 +
 +----
 +=== How do I enable panel transparency and window shadows? ===
 +Enable the Composite extension in the X11 config file and make sure Xfwm4 is compiled with embedded compositor (''xfwm4 -V'').
 +
 +   Section "Extensions"
 +     Option "Composite" "Enable"
 +   EndSection
 +
 +Pay attention: recent versions of X.org turn composite on by default. If you experience speed problems or any other glitches you have to disable it explicitly:
 +
 +   Section "Extensions"
 +     Option "Composite" "Disable"
 +   EndSection
 +
 +If you have a reasonably new X.org (7.1, possibly 7.0) and your graphics card is listed as "supported" at [[http://www.x.org/wiki/ExaStatus|X.org's EXA status page]], you should also enable EXA by adding this line to the card's Device section in your xorg.conf:
 +
 +     Option "AccelMethod" "exa"
 +
 +Enabling EXA will normally provide a speed increase for compositing and font rendering, but may cause a small reduction in OpenGL rendering speed.
 +
 +Once the Composite extension is activated, go to ''Settings -> Panel'' and ''Settings -> Window Manager Tweaks''.
 +
 +== ATI users (X.org radeon driver) ==
 +
 +ATI R3xx/R4xx (9500 to X850, X1050) users may also need this in the ''device'' section for the card:
 +
 +   Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"
 +   Option "AccelDFS" "true" # but see radeon(4)
 +   Option "EnablePageFlip" "true"
 +   Option "EnableDepthMoves" "true"
 +
 +== nVidia users ==
 +
 +NVidia users may also need this in the ''device'' section for the card:
 +
 +   Option "RenderAccel" "true"
 +   Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
 +
 +Read ''/usr/share/doc/nvidia-glx/README.txt.gz'' (and search for "RenderAccel" and "AllowGLXWithComposite") to see if they are recommended at all for your system. At least for recent NVidia GLX drivers, "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true" is only for X servers older than X11R6.9.0, and "RenderAccel" "true" is the default setting, and therefore not required. If you are running a recent NVidia driver and a recent xorg-server, you do not need these settings (and should not use the "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true" setting).
 +----
 +=== Kiosk - I want to use Xfce in a corporate environment and not let users modify their menu. ===
 +Use [[https://wiki.xfce.org/howto/kiosk_mode|kiosk mode]] (see [[http://www.xfce.org/documentation/4.2/manuals/xfce4-session#xfsm-kiosk-mode|xfce4-session]]  and [[http://www.xfce.org/documentation/4.2/manuals/xfce4-panel#panel-kiosk|panel]] docs).
 +----
 +=== How to use a different Window Manager ===
 +Refer to [[https://wiki.xfce.org/howto:other_window_manager|this manual page]]
 +----
 +=== How to use SCIM in Xfce ===
 +Refer to [[https://wiki.xfce.org/howto:scim|this manual]]
 ---- ----