Desktop

Change the Desktop Background Image

If you want to set up a different background image, do the following:

  1. Launch Applications → Settings → Xfce 4 Settings Manager.

  2. Choose Desktop.

  3. Under the Background tab, in the Images section, click on an image from the list provided or press on the button with the green plus sign, navigate to and click a different picture in the Add Image File(s) window.

  4. If you are choosing a different image, press Add to add the image to the list in the Images section and apply it to the background.

  5. Using the options in the Style field, you can choose how the image is displayed in the background, for example, Centered or Tiled.

  6. Press Close to close the Desktop window and you will see your selected image as a background.

Application Icons on the Desktop (CDE style)

To have minimized application icons instead of file/launcher icons displayed on your desktop, do this:

  1. Launch Applications → Settings → Xfce 4 Settings Manager.

  2. Choose Desktop, and then the Icons tab.

  3. Change the Icon type entry from File/launcher Icons to Minimized Application Icons.

Add Panel Plugins

Here is a list of available Plugins for your Xfce Panel:

[Note]

Some of the following plugins are not installed by default, but are part of the Xfce Goodies package in Xubuntu. You will need super-user privileges to install the non-default plugins. See Chapter 13, Administrative Tasks.

User Switching Plugin

Allows you to switch to another user without closing the current session.

Xfce XKB Plugin

Displays your current keyboard layout and allows to easily switch between multiple layouts. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Weather Plugin

The weather plugin displays information about the current weather according your timezone and settings. It allows you to search for weather location codes in the same plugin and displays weather status in little icons. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Wavelan Plugin

The WaveLAN plugin displays information about a WaveLAN device. Installation: 

sudo apt-get install xfce4-wavelan-plugin

Xfce Verve Plugin

The plugin displays a mini-command line on the Xfce panel. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Systemload Plugin

This plugin displays the current CPU load, the memory in use, and the swap space. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Screenshoter Plugin

Xfce4-screenshooter-plugin is a simple plugin to take screenshots of your desktop. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Quicklauncher Plugin

Application launcher plugin for the Xfce panel. It supports multline launchers, zoom effect, and more. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Netload Plugin

This plugin displays the current load of the network interfaces of your choice. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Mount Plugin

This plugin for Xfce displays a list of the various devices available, giving the opportunity to mount/unmount them. Note that most removable media are mounted automatically by the File Manager in Xubuntu. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Mailwatch Plugin

Mail checker panel plugin with support for local, POP3, IMAP, and Gmail accounts. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Generic Monitor Plugin

This plugin repeatedly spawns the indicated script/program, displaying its output as a string in the panel. It is useful for periodic status monitoring. Installation: 

sudo apt-get install xfce4-genmon-plugin

Xfce Filesystem Guard Plugin

The fsguard plugin checks free space on a chosen mountpoint frequently and displays an alarm if free space is less than given alarm limit. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce CPU Graph Plugin

The CPU graph plugin displays a graph of your current system load. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Clipman Plugin

Store and recall sequential X clipboard selections in Xfce4 with this plugin. Installation: Installed by default.

Xfce Battery Plugin

A battery monitor panel plugin for Xfce4 compatible with APM and ACPI. Installation: Installed by default.

Disk Performace Plugin

The DiskPerf plugin displays disk/partition performance statistics. Installation: 

sudo apt-get install xfce4-diskperf-plugin

Dbus Messenger Plugin

Xfce4 Messenger Plugin for Xfce4 Panel is a plugin that listens for DBus messages and displays received messages in the panel and/or a popup window, and maintains a log of received messages. Installation: 

sudo apt-get install xfce4-messenger-plugin

VLC Radio Plugin

This is an Xfce panel plugin which allows you to control your video4linux radio device. You can turn your radio on/off, tune it to some frequency, and manage station presets. Installation: 

sudo apt-get install xfce4-radio-plugin

Sensors Plugin

The sensors plugin reads your hardware sensor values and displays then in your panel. Installation: 

sudo apt-get install xfce4-sensors-plugin

XfApplet Plugin

XfApplet is a plugin for the Xfce 4 panel. The plugin itself has no special functionality. Its only purpose is to enable one to use GNOME applets inside the Xfce 4 panel just as they are used inside the GNOME panel. Installation: 

sudo apt-get install xfce4-xfapplet-plugin

Add New Window Manager Style

When you download new window manager styles, for example, from Xfce-Look.org, they usually come in a .tar or .zip archive. Extract the contents, and type in a terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal): 

sudo cp -r folder-with-new-theme /usr/share/themes/

[Note]

You will need super-user privileges to do this. See Chapter 13, Administrative Tasks.

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