01:00:16 <nirik> #startmeeting
01:00:26 <nirik> #meetingtopic A Tour Of Xfce
01:00:46 <nirik> Welcome to the classroom everyone. Hopefully some folks are awake and reading. ;)
01:01:16 <nirik> Tonight I am going to be doing a quick tour/overview of the Xfce Desktop tonight.
01:01:21 <nirik> (too many tonights there. ;)
01:01:46 <nirik> Feel free to chime in with questions or comments at anytime...
01:02:37 <nirik> Lets go ahead and get started. :)
01:02:44 <nirik> #topic What is Xfce?
01:03:07 <nirik> Xfce is a lightweight, but full featured Linux desktop env.
01:03:31 <nirik> It has a suite of applications and a core of base desktop functionality.
01:03:48 <nirik> We are going to touch on things and give a high level overview here...
01:03:57 <nirik> #topic History
01:04:08 <nirik> A bit of background/history first.
01:04:24 <nirik> Xfce was orig written using the XForms widget toolset.
01:04:45 <nirik> It was made to look somewhat like the CDE desktop that was popular at the time.
01:05:37 <nirik> When the free linux distros started to get popular, the XFce guys wanted to add it into Red Hat Linux and Debian, but found that XForms was not free enough to be included in either of those distros.
01:05:53 <nirik> So, it was re-written first for GTK+ and then GTK2 as it came along.
01:06:19 <nirik> It's worth noting that currently Xfce doesn't stand for anything... it's just Xfce. ;)
01:06:44 <nirik> #topic DE vs WM
01:07:05 <nirik> It's worth a quick segway here to talk about what a Desktop Env is vs just a Window Manager.
01:07:23 <nirik> A window manager is just a program that controls windows... placement, movement, resizing, etc. Thats it.
01:07:43 <nirik> A DE on the other hand has a entire suite that is integrated.
01:08:22 <nirik> a DE includes a window manager, but also has a file browser, applications, session saving, policys on things, configuration management and many other things. ;)
01:08:42 <nirik> Any questions so far?
01:08:54 <onekopaka_laptop> nirik: nope.
01:09:12 <nirik> cool.
01:09:21 <nirik> #topic How can you try out Xfce in Fedora
01:09:39 <nirik> Next, lets talk about installing and using Xfce in Fedora. There are several ways to try it out:
01:09:58 <nirik> You can download and boot a copy of the Xfce live media. Either on dvd/cd or usb.
01:10:14 <nirik> You can also install fedora from that media if you like.
01:10:39 <nirik> If you already have Fedora installed and want to try it out, you can use yum from the command line: 'yum groupinstall xfce-desktop'
01:10:55 <nirik> that will install the typical Xfce desktop apps and their dependencies.
01:11:27 <nirik> Once it's installed, logout, and then from the GDM screen select your user, then select the Xfce session from the bottom menu and then type in your password.
01:11:51 <nirik> You can of course choose Gnome/KDE/LXDE again on your next login if you want.
01:12:15 <nirik> You can find the Xfce live download at: http://spins.fedoraproject.org/
01:12:31 <nirik> It's easy to try out and see if you like it or if it's for you.
01:12:49 <nirik> #topic Core Components
01:13:25 <nirik> It's somewhat hard to point to specific things over irc... so I do urge everyone to try things out and play around with the desktop.
01:13:39 <nirik> There are a number of core components in Xfce.
01:14:12 <nirik> The window manager is xfwm4. It has a bunch of prefs which you can set from the prefs menu, or command line (as we will see in a while).
01:14:37 <nirik> It does have COMPOSITE functions built in to do window transparency, etc.
01:14:52 <nirik> all the typical focus options you would normally see in w WM these days.
01:15:34 <nirik> Any window manager questions.
01:16:24 <nirik> Next I would like to touch on the session manager... xfce4-session.
01:17:02 <nirik> Xfce can save your session and restore all your windows the way you had them on your next login.
01:17:28 <nirik> You can also use it's pref now to manage which system items are started on login... pulseaudio, etc.
01:17:45 <nirik> And finally you can save your session anytime you like and edit the order things are started in.
01:18:17 <nirik> The panel is the next Core app I would like to touch on.
01:18:43 <nirik> You can put as many panels you like around your desktop. Panels contain menus or windows or panel plugins...
01:19:17 <nirik> so, for example you can have launchers for apps you use a lot, a virtual desktop widget, clocks and time apps, task lists, etc.
01:19:48 <nirik> You can also have a system tray, which is used by things like nm-applet to show network status, or xfce4-power-manager to show your battery/plugin status.
01:20:14 <nirik> There are a ton of panel plugins, almost all of which are packaged for fedora and easily available to install.
01:20:29 <nirik> (I'll touch on some of the more popular ones in a while)
01:21:08 <nirik> The next core app I was going to touch on is the settings manager.
01:21:35 <nirik> Starting in Xfce 4.6.0, the settings backend was completely re-written. Newer versions use the xfconf setup.
01:21:55 <nirik> This is basically a way for all the Xfce apps to store settings in a common framework.
01:22:33 <nirik> You can use the gui settings manager to manage things, or you can now use the xfconf-query command from the command line to view or change settings.
01:23:05 <nirik> for example a "xfconf-query -c xfce4-power-manager -p /xfce4-power-manager/brightness-on-battery" will tell you what the power manager setting for brightness on battery is set to.
01:23:33 <nirik> any pretty much any setting can be viewed or changed via that tool.
01:24:13 <nirik> Any questions on the Core parts so far?
01:25:16 <nirik> ok, lets move along to applications then.
01:25:21 <nirik> #topic applications
01:25:42 <nirik> There are a number of apps that are developed with Xfce.
01:26:11 <nirik> These apps often work under other DE's, but they are designed to integrate most with Xfce.
01:26:20 <nirik> First up: Thunar
01:26:28 <nirik> Thunar is Xfce's gui file manager.
01:26:56 <nirik> You can select files, change permissions, and pretty much everything you expect from a file manager.
01:27:04 <nirik> It's fast and lightweight.
01:27:50 <nirik> There are several plugins for Thunar available, one important one is called 'thunar-volman'
01:28:14 <nirik> this allows thunar to manage your removable media... you can tell what to do when you plugin in a camera or a usb drive, or whatever.
01:28:40 <nirik> Next up we have: Orage
01:28:52 <nirik> Orage is the Xfce calendar/time app
01:29:07 <nirik> It can be used as a panel plugin to disable whatever part of time from whatever timezone you like.
01:29:25 <nirik> you can schedule appointments, or view calendars by day/week/month/etc.
01:30:10 <nirik> Next: A big Favorite for the command line crowd: Terminal
01:30:23 <onekopaka_laptop> yay!
01:30:24 <nirik> Xfce has it's own terminal program called confusingly enough: Terminal. ;)
01:30:48 <nirik> It's a pretty fast and full featured terminal app.
01:31:05 <nirik> It can share a single instance with as many windows or tabs as you like.
01:31:24 <nirik> It remembers where your windows were and what dir they were in over login/logout.
01:31:53 <nirik> It also nicely notices any changes to it's config file so if you make a change, all windows update as soon as the change is commited.
01:32:10 <nirik> You can do transparent backgrounds, or image backgrounds.
01:32:38 <nirik> Next Up: Xfburn
01:32:53 <nirik> Xfce has it's own cd/dvd burning app: Xfburn
01:33:11 <nirik> It's pretty simple, but it does the job nicely. Detects media/speeds, etc.
01:33:53 <nirik> Next up: midori
01:34:06 <nirik> midori is a lightweight WebKit based web browser.
01:34:24 <nirik> It's gained a ton of features and functionality recently... and is under rapid development.
01:34:39 * onekopaka_laptop thinks WebKit is a good rendering engine.
01:34:41 <nirik> You can use some firefox plugins such as adobe flash with
01:34:47 <nirik> midori
01:35:01 <nirik> It's fast and does a pretty nice job.
01:35:16 <nirik> It gets 100/100 score on the web acid3 test now.
01:35:47 <nirik> It should work in any DE, so feel free to try it out.
01:36:00 <nirik> Next: mousepad
01:36:16 <nirik> it's worth a quick mention that Xfce has it's own very very simple text editor: mousepad.
01:36:36 <nirik> If you just need to write a quick note or edit something, mousepad is very fast and easy to use.
01:37:05 <nirik> Next: Ristretto
01:37:14 <nirik> Xfce has it's own image viewer: Ristretto
01:37:24 <nirik> you can view and page through a bunch of images quickly with it.
01:37:41 <nirik> It doesn't do any editing, but if you just need to view a bunch of images it's a great little app.
01:38:04 <nirik> Next up: Xfce4-mixer
01:38:21 <nirik> The Xfce4-mixer is a simple mixer app that lets you adjust and change inputs.
01:38:51 <nirik> It's worth noting that you can use it in any desktop
01:39:07 <onekopaka_laptop> and laptop I hope.
01:39:14 <nirik> ha. Yes.
01:39:25 <onekopaka_laptop> nirik: ;-)
01:39:44 <nirik> ok, anyone have any questions on the apps? There are more of them, but I am running low on time and there are other things I want to go over. ;)
01:40:07 <onekopaka_laptop> nope.
01:40:21 <nirik> #topic Goodies
01:40:30 * onekopaka_laptop seems to be the only one participating.
01:40:54 <nirik> Another area that Xfce has is the Goodies. ;) These are the apps or plugins that are maintained apart from the core, so they can be updated independenly
01:41:04 * nirik hopes others are reading too.
01:41:31 <nirik> See the http://goodies.xfce.org/ site for info on all of them.
01:41:41 * nb is reading
01:41:49 <nirik> There are a few super nice ones I want to point out:
01:42:11 <nirik> xfce4-power-manager - This is very much like gnome-power-manager, but has less in the way of dependencies.
01:42:35 <onekopaka_laptop> my laptop's battery is just awful.
01:42:38 <nirik> This is a must for laptop users. It can show your battery usage, if you are plugged in or not, time remaining, suspend and resume
01:42:48 <nirik> yeah, they degrade over time sadly. ;(
01:42:51 <onekopaka_laptop> I'm lucky if I get over 20 minutes.
01:43:03 <onekopaka_laptop> and the computer's no more than 3 years old!
01:43:13 <nirik> You can also have it dim the screen if you like or lock it on idle, etc.
01:43:25 <nirik> This app has had rapid development recently as well.
01:43:58 <nirik> Next goodie: gigolo
01:44:19 <nirik> This application with an unfortunate name is a GVFS/GIO app.
01:44:33 <nirik> You can use it to mount sshfs / ftp /whatever sites
01:44:37 <nirik> and use them locally on your machine.
01:44:45 <nirik> It lets you manage them, add new ones, or edit old one.
01:45:29 <nirik> It can also do smb shares.
01:45:36 <Khaytsus> webdav?
01:45:50 <nirik> yep.
01:45:56 <Khaytsus> \m/
01:46:13 <nirik> http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/applications/gigolo
01:46:25 <onekopaka_laptop> yay sshfs!
01:46:37 <Khaytsus> giggity
01:46:39 <onekopaka_laptop> gvfs screws up a ton with that.
01:46:50 <nirik> Next up: Panel plugins
01:46:59 <nirik> the goodies contain a ton of panel plugins.
01:47:00 <onekopaka_laptop> it will screw with permissions, etc.
01:47:07 * onekopaka_laptop shuts up.
01:47:21 <nirik> For a list of them you can see: http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/start
01:47:39 <nirik> Some that I find particularly useful:
01:47:45 <Khaytsus> clipman++
01:47:47 <nirik> clipman - clipboard manager.
01:48:21 <nirik> notes - the sticky notes plugin. Handy for little todo lists and the like.
01:48:40 <nirik> screenshooter - a excellent screenshot plugin.
01:49:07 <nirik> You can have it do windows, or the entire desktop, or the selected window or after a timeout.
01:49:24 <nirik> very flexable
01:49:53 <nirik> The weather plugin is kinda fun as well
01:50:49 <onekopaka_laptop> nirik: is it limited to NWS/NOAA weather stations?
01:51:13 <nirik> it uses weather.com.
01:51:19 <onekopaka_laptop> hmm
01:51:22 <onekopaka_laptop> weather.com..
01:52:03 <onekopaka_laptop> oh good weather.com is on Apache.
01:52:12 <nirik> yeah, it autodetects your current location, or you can enter one.
01:52:21 <nirik> I don't know if it uses NWS or something else.
01:53:11 <nirik> it looks pretty sharp and works pretty well though. ;)
01:54:14 * nirik looks to see if there were any other goodies he wanted to mention.
01:54:19 * onekopaka_laptop thinks he might switch to XFCE
01:54:27 <nirik> any questions on anything so far?
01:54:47 <nirik> #topic Some Links/more info
01:55:06 <nirik> running low on time here, so I will toss out some links and resources here.
01:55:23 <nirik> The Xfce folks have a nice faq on their wiki: http://wiki.xfce.org/faq
01:56:00 <nirik> they have a bugzilla instance for bugs (http://bugzilla.xfce.org/) and of course you can file any bug you find under the fedora bugzilla as well.
01:56:07 <onekopaka_laptop> yay bugzilla!
01:56:25 <nirik> There is a short tour on the fedora wiki: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User_Guide_-_Tour_of_the_Xfce_Desktop
01:56:31 * onekopaka_laptop wishes his MySQL had InnoDB so he could run Bugzilla again.
01:56:56 <nirik> folks are welcome to join the Fedora Xfce SIG and help us out with it... always looking for interested parties.
01:57:35 <nirik> If anyone has any questions, feel free to ping me with them, happy to try and answer anything Xfce related.
01:58:01 <nirik> I hope everyone will spend a few minutes and try it out and see if it's the desktop for them.
01:58:40 * nirik will leave things open for a minute or two for any last minute questions/answers.
01:58:56 <onekopaka_laptop> nope no Questions from me.
02:00:05 <nirik> thanks for coming Khaytsus / nb / onekopaka_laptop. :) Hopefully more folks were reading along or will read the transcript later. ;)
02:00:10 <nirik> #endmeeting