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Slackware Xfce Improvements© Copyright Darrell Anderson. KDE is bundled with many apps and those additional tools render KDE a quality end product. Yet Xfce does not come packaged with the equivalent productivity tools of KDE. Comparing Xfce only to KDE-Base would be a fair comparison. The stock Slackware provides some GTK packages, such as Firefox, Thunderbird, Seamonkey, GQView, Pidgin, gFTP, and gucharmap, but not enough to render a fair comparison of the two desktops. In Slackware 12 all KDE apps run within Xfce. Doable, yes, and works fine. However, to improve Xfce I would like to see additional GTK apps packaged with Slackware — to create a natural GTK environment rather than a mixed GTK-QT. Some people have attempted to create an Xfce based Slackware derivative distro, such as Zenwalk or Wolvix. Such a route is reasonable for some folks, but others want to remain rooted in the stock Slackware. Here is a partial list of GTK package candidates: gURLChecker: replacement for KLinkStatus, a GUI web site link validator There are Xfce plugins too: xfce4-mount-plugin: replacement for Kwikdisk Many of the previous packages are available at SlackBuilds.org, SlackBuilds.net, or linuxpackages.net. Unknown GTK replacements: ???: replacement for KFileReplace (global in-file string replacements; see PowerGrep in Windows) Other nits:
I realize some tasks can be performed from the command line, but I’m not interested in command line bragging — my goal is to create a GUI environment within Xfce that is reasonably equivalent to KDE. My goal is not to create another Zenwalk or Wolvix, but to help myself and other Slackers improve the Xfce environment while continuing to use Slackware rather than other distros. Until a day arrives when Xfce is better supported in the stock Slackware, perhaps this page will serve as a pivot point to help other Slackers improve Xfce. I don’t think Xfce can be transformed into an exact equivalent production environment as KDE, but I think with people within the Slackware community helping, that a significant improvement is attainable. I’ve been a KDE user for as long as I have used GNU/Linux and I am unfamiliar with the GTK world. Please contact me if you discover GTK packages that will help create an Xfce desktop environment that reasonably approaches what KDE offers. I will update this page accordingly. Additionally, I do not want to restrict this page to one-for-one replacements. I will list two or three packages if they satisfy the purpose. I am prepared to help test any packages or SlackBuilds created, although with my schedule I can’t respond immediately to such requests. I also will improve this page to a basic Slackware Xfce improvement page if sufficient suggestions appear. Finis. |
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