Perfect desktop : Debian minimal install + xfce

This guide will show you how to install the Xfce desktop environment on Debian  without getting GNOME in the process. It will also show you how to tweak the Xfce install to become a perfect desktop environment.
The guide will also suggest a list of applications to install in addition to Xfce, to make it a fully functional desktop install.
 Debian will install by default the entire GNOME desktop environment and the X Window System. This means many applications which you may never use will also be installed, so here is a solution in order to get only a basic system and then install only the packages you need.

First download a netinstall ico from debian page.I use for my laptop debian testing and for desktop debian sid.
Proceed with the install as instructed and when the installer reaches the window where it asks what software you want to install (like Desktop Environment, Web Server, Basic System etc.), just de-select the Desktop Environment option using the SPACE key, and also make sure the Basic System option remains selected.
After the installation is over, reboot, logi in ass root and let`s begin.

apt-get update to update APT
Now we'll install the X-server. A login manager. ALSA to get sound working. HAL (for auto mounting CDs) and Xfce. I've also included the 'goodies' and 'mixer' package for Xfce and the archive plugin for Thunar.
apt-get install xserver-xorg-core xorg alsa-base alsa-utils hal udev gdm xfce4 xfce4-goodies xfce4-mixer xfce4-mixer-alsa thunar-archive-plugin
This will give us a minimal, but functional Xfce desktop, but we won't stop here since we're looking for the prefect Xfce install.For  graphic card drivers please look on debian wiki.

Reconfigure your xorg 
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

and alsa
alsaconf

If all went well you should now get the login manager if you reboot or type gdm .

Suggestions to additional fonts are: ttf-bitstream-vera, ttf-dejavu and msttcorefonts.
apt-get install ttf-bitstream-vera ttf-dejavu msttcorefonts

It seems that Conky is a rather popular system monitor to use with Xfce. If you want Conky then simply install it with
apt-get install conky
Once Conky is installed you need a configuration file for it. The package comes with a sample .conkyrc, so we'll use that. (Do this as your regualr user, not as root)
zcat /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conkyrc.sample.gz > .conkyrc

And here is a simple conkyrc

alignment bottom_right
background yes
border_width 1
cpu_avg_samples 2
default_color white
default_outline_color white
default_shade_color white
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
draw_outline no
draw_shades no
font 6x10
gap_x 5
gap_y 10
minimum_size 5 5
net_avg_samples 2
no_buffers yes
out_to_console no
own_window yes
own_window_type desktop
own_window_hints below,skip_taskbar
own_window_transparent yes
double_buffer yes
stippled_borders 0
update_interval 3.0
uppercase no
use_spacer none

TEXT
$nodename - $sysname $kernel on $machine
$hr
${color grey}Uptime:$color $uptime
${color grey}Frequency (in MHz):$color $freq
${color grey}Frequency (in GHz):$color $freq_g
${color grey}RAM Usage:$color $mem/$memmax - $memperc%
${color grey}Swap Usage:$color $swap/$swapmax - $swapperc%
${color grey}CPU Usage:$color $cpu% ${cpubar 4}
${color grey}Processes:$color $processes  ${color grey}Running:$color $running_processes
$hr
${color grey}File systems:
${color grey} /     $color${fs_free /}/${fs_size /} ${fs_bar 6 /}
${color grey} /home $color${fs_free /mnt/spare}/${fs_size /mnt/spare} ${fs_bar 6 /mnt/spare}
${color grey}Networking:
Up:$color ${upspeed eth0} k/s${color grey} - Down:$color ${downspeed eth0} k/s
$hr
${color grey}Cpu/MoBo:$color ${platform w83627hf.656 temp 2}/${platform w83627hf.656 temp 1}
${color grey}/dev/hda;/dev/hdb:$color ${hddtemp /dev/hda};${hddtemp /dev/hdb}
$hr
${color grey}Name                  PID   CPU%   MEM%
${color lightgrey} ${top name 1} ${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1}
${color lightgrey} ${top name 2} ${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2}
${color lightgrey} ${top name 3} ${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3}
${color lightgrey} ${top name 4} ${top pid 4} ${top cpu 4} ${top mem 4}
 

Since Xfce use the GTK+2 toolkit I choose to only install GTK+2 based applications to keep things looking unified. Which applications you install is of course up to you, but here are my suggestions. Your additions to this list are welcome.

Accessories:
Gedit -- Text Editor
Xarchiver -- Archive Manager
Xpad -- Sticky Note Application

Development:
Bluefish Editor -- Advanced Web Editor
Geany -- Integrated Development Environment

Graphics:
Comix -- Comic Book Viewer
Evince -- Document Reader (PDF, etc)
Inkscape -- SVG Vector Illustrator
GIMP -- Image Editor
GQview -- Image Browser

Multimedia:
Audacious -- Audio Player
EasyTAG -- Audio Tag Editor
GnomeBaker -- DVD/CD Writer
Grip -- CD Ripper and Encoder
Smplayer -- Multimedia Player (Video, audio, DVD)
streamtuner -- Stream Directory Browser (Internet radio)

Network:
Freeloader -- Bittorrent Client
Gaim -- Multi-protocol Instant Messenger
gFTP -- FTP Client
Icedove -- E-mail Client
Iceweasel -- Web Browser
Liferea -- Internet Feed Reader
Xchat -- IRC Client

Office:
AbiWord -- Word Processor
gLabels -- Label Designer (CDs, buisiness cards, etc)
Gnumeric -- A Spreadsheet
Orage -- Calendar for Xfce

System:
Synaptic -- Package Manager (Front end to APT)
xscreensaver -- Screensaver

 

XFCE the cholesterol free Desktop Environment

Xfce is a Desktop Environment, like GNOME or KDE. It contains a suite of apps like a root window app, window manager, file manager, panel, etc. Xfce is written using the GTK2 toolkit, and contains its own development environment (libraries, daemons, etc), similar to other big DEs. Unlike GNOME or KDE, Xfce is lightweight and designed more around han Windows or Mac. It has a much slower development cycle, but is very stable and extremely fast. Xfce is great for older hardware.

Xfce (pronounced as four individual letters) is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris and BSD. It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use. The current version, 4.6, is modular and reusable. It consists of separately packaged components that together provide the full functionality of the desktop environment, but which can be selected in subsets to create the user's preferred personal working environment. Xfce is mainly used for its ability to run a modern desktop environment on relatively modest hardware.
It is based on the GTK+ 2 toolkit (the same as GNOME). It uses the Xfwm window manager, described below. Its configuration is entirely mouse-driven, and the configuration files are hidden from the casual user.
Xfce will be included with the Pandora handheld gaming system.

Olivier Fourdan started the project in 1996. The name "Xfce" originally stood for "XForms Common Environment", but since that time Xfce has been rewritten twice and no longer uses the XForms toolkit. The name survived, but it is no longer capitalized as "XFce", but rather as "Xfce". The developers' current stance is that the initialism no longer stands for anything specific.



Xfce provides a development framework for applications. Other than Xfce itself, there are third-party programs which use the Xfce libraries, most notably the Mousepad text editor, Orage calendar and Terminal. One of the services provided to applications by the framework is a red banner across the top of the window when the application is running with root privileges warning the user that they could damage system files.
Other Xfce components include:

• Xfmedia, a xine-based media player for Xfce; currently unmaintained
• Xfprint, a print manager
• Xfburn, a CD/DVD burner

Leopold Ružička

Lavoslav Ružička born as Lavoslav ( Leopold ) Ružička (13 September 1887 – 26 September 1976) was a Croatian scientist and winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry who worked most of his life in Switzerland. He received eight honoris causa doctorates in science, medicine, and law; seven prizes and medals; and twenty-four honorary memberships in chemical, biochemical, and other scientific societies.
Ružička was born in Vukovar, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His family of craftsmen and farmers was of Croatian, Czech, and German origin.[1]
Ružička attended the classics-program secondary school in Osijek. He changed his original idea of becoming a priest and switched to studying technical disciplines. Chemistry was his choice, probably because he hoped to get a position at the newly opened sugar refinery built in Osijek.
Due to the excessive hardship of everyday and political life, he left and chose the High Technical School in Karlsruhe in Germany. He was a good student in areas he liked and that he thought would be necessary and beneficial in future, which was organic chemistry. That is why his physical chemistry professor, Fritz Haber (Nobel laureate in 1918), opposed his summa cum laude degree. However, in the course of his studies, Ružička set up excellent cooperation with Hermann Staudinger (a Nobel laureate in 1953). Studying within Staudinger's department, he obtained his doctor's degree in 1910. With Staudinger, Ružička went to Zurich and was his assistant.

Work and research

Ružička's first works originated during that period in the field of chemistry of natural compounds. He remained in this field of research all his life. He investigated the ingredients of the Dalmatian insect powder (Pyrethrum cinerariifolium), a highly esteemed insecticide. In this way, he came into contact with the chemistry of terpene, a fragrant oil of vegetable origin, interesting to the perfume industry. He intended to start individual research and even started successful and productive cooperation with the Chuit & Naef Company (later known as Firmenich) in Geneva.
In 1916-1917, he received the support of the oldest perfume manufacturer in the world Haarman & Reimer, of Holzminden in Germany. With expertise in the terpene field, he became senior lecturer in 1918, and in 1923, honorary professor at the ETH (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule) as well the University in Zurich. Here, with a group of his doctoral students, he proved the structure and existence of the compounds of muscone and civet, the scents derived from the musk deer and the civet cat. The Ruzicka large ring synthesis is a method in organic chemistry for the organic synthesis of these type of compounds.
In 1921, the Geneva perfume manufacturers Chuit & Naef asked him to collaborate. Working here, Ružička achieved financial independence, but not as big as he did plan so he left Zurich to start working for the Ciba, Basel- based company. In 1927, he took over the organic chemistry chair at Utrecht University in Netherlands. In Netherlands he remained for three years, and then returned to Switzerland, which was superior in its chemical industry.
Back to Zurich, at ETH he became professor of organic chemistry and started the most brilliant period of his professional career. He widened the area of his research, adding to it the chemistry of higher terpenes and steroids. After the successful synthesis of sex hormones (androsterone and testosterone), his laboratory became the world center of organic chemistry.
In 1939, he won the Nobel prize for chemistry with Adolf Butenandt. In 1940, following the award, he was invited by the Croatian Chemical Association, where he delivered a lecture to an over packed hall of dignitaries. The topic of the lecture was From the Dalmatian Insect Powder to Sex Hormones. During the World War II, some of his excellent collaborators were lost, but Ružička restructured his laboratory with new, younger and promising people; among them was young scientist Vladimir Prelog. With new people and ideas new research areas were opened.
Following 1950, Ružička returned to chemistry, which had entered a new era of research. Now he turned to the field of biochemistry, the problems of evolution and genesis of life, particularly to the biogenesis of terpenes. He published his hypothesis, Biogenetic Isoprene Rule, which was the peak of his scientific career.[2] Ružička retired in 1957, turning over the running of the laboratory to his assistant and future Nobel laureate Vladimir Prelog.
Ružička dedicated significant efforts to the problems of education. He insisted on a better organization of academic education and scientific work in the new Yugoslavia, and established the Swiss-Yugoslav Society. Ružička became an honorary academician at the then Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb. In Switzerland, the Ružička Award was established, for young chemists working in Switzerland. In his native Vukovar, a museum was opened in his honour in 1977.

Do you wanna dance

Do you wanna dance?