XFCE in Software Center

seanragout

Anybody else seen the XFCE section of Desktop software and theming in the software center?
I replaced gedit with mouse pad for a while to see how it fares.

Is the deal with XFCE kind of like it was with KDE before it became an official download option?

brent

seanragout I do now. In desktop & theming
according to changelogs most of this stuff rumbled in on 7-11 by what must've been an incredibly busy zach.

Harvey

XFCE Desktop is not ready, but it needs to be in the repository for the team to move forward, do wider testing including internal test ISOs. Users should not install it unless they just want to play and know they might need to reinstall if something breaks. You will get no support for it at this stage.

EDIT:
To be clear individual applications like thunar should be fine to install just don't expect support for trying to run XFCE desktop at this stage, we haven't made a beta ISO available and do not even have a xfce-desktop-branding package (sets default theme etc).

bleh

Harvey Appearing in the app center makes it confusing, would be cool to have site-wide notices on stuff like this or for these to be redcoded in the gui. I accidently messed up my internet, but I don't mind reinstalling with a 4.4 iso as I was already contemplating reinstalling as I used the 4.2 iso and was already tinkering a lot.

FAb7D

Harvey It doesn't seem very clear to me to put packages in the repo and then say in the forum that users shouldn't install it (and xfce is a very common desktop) because not everyone reads it, if they are unstable need a warning or a dedicated repo or a name like xfceinprogress, if they are stable... better.

Staudey

bleh Appearing in the app center makes it confusing

How is it confusing? Those packages are available, and you may install some of them. Same goes for any other desktop's packages that you see in their respective categories. Packages for e.g. sway are also available, even though actually using it requires some additional configuration.

bleh

Staudey I think it's just part of the lack of documentation. Linux configuration is far more complex and detailed than mainstream operating systems. Solus is a very experimental distro, it would be nice to have safegaurds in a software center. Risk assesment is left to the user and most users aren't prepared for that. I went into linux trying my best to learn, but most tutorials available are made for other distros.

I enjoy the curation and having programs that actually serve a purpose, but technecalities of programs should be made clear and accessible. Even after reading, searching, and learning some linux, only now am I starting to understand terminology like operating system, daemon, package, package manager, desktop environment, firmware, bios, etc. Supported and compatible are what the average person knows, that's what I erroneously assumed of all the software center software, flatpaks, appimages, and snaps.

penny-farthing

Staudey
Just a suggestion (and in all humility) : if packages relating to XFCE Desktop are to appear in the Software Center to enable developers to carry out tests (and this is quite understandable), perhaps should it be possible to add the mention 'Experimental' with the name of the packages concerned.
I saw this in some Firefox extensions to attract the attention of users.

brent

bleh you just can't wait for it, that's what it is🙂.
I know I can't.

brent

bleh I simply wandered into the snakepit thinking I was safe!

If I had a nickel for every time this has happened to me on my linux journey

bleh e software center which is getting better and better and since this thread is on unstable packages appearing

this I have not noticed. but I've been leaning on flatpaks lately.

bleh I think it should be communicated, as the transition to serpent base should be widely known and also understood

if I had to guess this will be a massive undertaking. communication, to me, has been 1000X better since Strobl & Co. ressurected Solus. What happened to you sounds anamolous. And I don't say that in jest--my only problems are the weird and rare ones myself...

bleh Even after reading, searching, and learning some linux, only now am I starting to understand terminology like operating system, daemon, package, package manager, desktop environment, firmware, bios, etc.

oh yeah I am still learning this stuff. but I don't expect any distro to have plain-speak tutorials on an app or package beyond the software center blurb. linux requires a bit of independent research sometimes. I read a handful of articles.videos for any driver I may want to install or any reckless undertaking (my specialty) that would jeopardize the OS, or software I want to try. you got to put yourself in the position not to be in the dark, I think. Or that's just what I've learned on this non-windows road.

bleh

brent Exactly, personally I want to ease myself into testing material and eventually contribute, but as solus shows as an OS for "everyone" my only gripe has been the software center which is getting better and better and since this thread is on unstable packages appearing, I think it should be communicated, as the transition to serpent base should be widely known and also understood, even if technical details can be difficult to explain. I did attempt to use bleachbit and other similar software, so I probably deleted something related to the wifi driver. I simply wandered into the snakepit thinking I was safe!

stalebrim

bleh That shouldn't happen if one doesn't run BleachBit as root.

elfprince

bleh I simply wandered into the snakepit thinking I was safe!

If it is possible for you, you could have two pcs or laptops. One for everyday use, labelled 'Do not mess with me', and the other one for experimentation/testing, labelled 'Crash 'n Burn'. 😄

Staudey

bleh The packages are only "experimental" in the sense that the desktop environment / Solus edition they're building up to hasn't been released yet. Doesn't mean your computer will explode by installing them.
Now, if your system gets a bit untidy by installing random packages, that's on you and there's no way for the Software Center to prevent that.
All of that to say that I don't see what the issue is here.

bleh

stalebrim I don't remember if I ran it as root, could be.
Edit: You know what, I'm gonna join the big leagues and break debian!

murbert

elfprince Or a VM

stalebrim

brent It's not really a Linux thing, one can overwrite their system drive with CCleaner if they don't know what they're doing.

brent

stalebrim When it comes time to destroy my own opearating system by accident, I prefer Gparted.

stalebrim

brent At some point you'll learn dd 😄

brent

stalebrim that moment when you realize you wrote to dev/sda1 and not from /dev/sda1

bleh

Staudey I wouldn't really call it an issue, like you say, the computer is perfectly fine. I can't pinpoint what I did so it's not worth looking into. It's not about untidiness though, my wifi just stopped functioning correctly after a reboot. I was able to boot up my tails usb so everything's fine. The only "weird" thing that happened outside of that is bleachbit getting stuck and having 30gb of cache. It's a bit strange, but it's not a big deal, probably a very circumstantial thing.

EbonJaeger

bleh I'm confused, is this related to XFCE, or...?

bleh

EbonJaeger No, I got off topic.

brent

EbonJaeger I likely did not help

WetGeek

EbonJaeger I'm confused, is this related to XFCE, or...?

While you're here, I have a question that's definitely about Xfce. I created an extra Solus Budgie VM, intending to use it for exploring Xfce, such as it is now. I've fully updated it. I suspect that I would now need to install the Xfce DE components from the Software Center or the command line.

What I don't know is, "what do I ask for"? And once they're present, will they appear as a second choice of session type on the login screen, as X11 and Wayland appear for Plasma? (And as i3 once appeared for Budgie?)

EbonJaeger

bleh gotcha. I just wasn't sure where one topic ended and the other began lol. It's not a big deal, especially since mods and split threads now.