steven36 Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 It’s been in development for over 4 years, but this weekend finally saw the long-awaited release of Xfce 4.14. Xfce 4.14 is the latest stable version of this lightweight desktop environment, and sees all core components ported to GTK3, most gain GObject introspection support, and everything else benefit from refinement and bug fixes. For instance, the window manager xfwm4 now supports Vsync, works better with HIDPI monitors, and leverages XInput2. It also boasts better integration with proprietary Nvidia drivers, and sports a new default theme. There’s an improved tasklist plugin available for the Xfce panel utility, now sporting grouped window indicator. This joins a new per-panel “icon-size” setting and a new default clock format. Elsewhere xfce4-session, the session manager, now lets users add and edit autostart entries; surfaces a ‘switch user’ button in the logout dialog; and the session selector benefits from some miscellaneous improvements. The Thunar file manager boasts a restyled path-bar, support for larger file/folder thumbnails, and improved keyboard navigation. Xfce 4.14 also includes, for the first time, a native screensaver in the shape of xfce4-screensaver. Other notable changes and features in Xfce 4.14 include: New colour profile manager Ability to save multi-display configs Hidden support RandR display scaling Battery plugin can show remaining time and/or % “Do Not Disturb” mode New “missed notifications” panel plugin Option to set desktop wallpaper from Ristretto image viewer Improved screenshot utility, including imgur upload MPRIS2 support in PulseAudio panel plugin You can find a complete changelog for this release on the Xfce wiki. How to Get Xfce 4.14 Unlike application upgrades it’s generally speaking a bit trickier to “get” new releases of entire desktop environments due to so many components being involved. Xfce 4.14 will form the basis of Xubuntu 19.10, which due for release in October. But you’re not out of options if you want to try it before then. It’s possible to text Xfce 4.14 without affecting your current set-up by using DockerHub or a traditional virtual machine image. Additionally, many rolling release distributions, including Arch and Manjaro, will make this update available in the coming days. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain_death Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Using it right now on Arch Linux. Updates went mainstream yesterday. It's been a while since the last stable release (v4.12) in February 2015, but the Xfce developers follow the maxim of: "If it ain't broke don't mend it." It would be interesting should Google, Microsoft and Adobe adopt a similar paradigm. PS: You can also change your File Manager, Window Manager etc to another one if you prefer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted August 13, 2019 Author Share Posted August 13, 2019 5 hours ago, brain_death said: It's been a while since the last stable release (v4.12) in February 2015, but the Xfce developers follow the maxim of: "If it ain't broke don't mend it." I liked it when i try 4.12 before just the fact that had Screen tearing was a major turn off for me so i stop using it . They many others were don't give you much issues in my case I can just do a 20-intel.conf or a 20-radeon.conf with mate or budgie. using Vsync causes too much lag so this keeps me away from light weight distros such as XFCE i know some people say replace XFCE’s compositor with Compton to fix this . I really don't fell like wasting my time testing XFCE again unless they fixed there own compositor in 4.14 ? I will read how it's going for them as it gets put on more distros and decide if it's worth installing . I guess if you don't watch videos or play games it's fine , but the bottom line XFCE has always been notorious for screen tearing so it's it always had issues i wonder is it any better now ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain_death Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 @steven36... In my experience, I've had no screen tearing in Xfce for *years* - maybe five or more? Even way back when, it was brief and annoying on a cheap and under-powered laptop with an additional MVA monitor I found on street (!!), *sometimes* when moving windows from one screen to the other. That's all. Nothing else, ever. Mind you, I take great pleasure in not using a compositor and enjoy faster performance with no ill effects that I can see. I watch plenty of videos online and off, from lo-res to hi-res with no issues. The visual/design side of things is important to me. Still, I'm not and never have been a gamer. I prefer to spend some time in the company of my partner, walking my dogs and sleeping, lol. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jango Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 MX Linux No.1 ranking right now on distrowatch they are using Xfce DE just tested yesterday MX Linux very fast and smooth eating less memory But if you want always latest software version and nice DE goto Arch Linux+KDE Planning on dual-boot Windows+Linux if i get my new ssd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain_death Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 8 minutes ago, jango said: But if you want always latest software version and nice DE goto Arch Linux+KDE Yeah, KDE Plasma 5 is very slick but just too *heavy* and makes me think I ought to stick with the Windoze interface... Still, some KDE applications are too good be without. Though they come with a shedload of dependencies, I have never found one that didn't work under Xfce. b(-_-)d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 1 hour ago, brain_death said: @steven36... In my experience, I've had no screen tearing in Xfce for *years* - maybe five or more? Even way back when, it was brief and annoying on a cheap and under-powered laptop with an additional MVA monitor I found on street (!!), *sometimes* when moving windows from one screen to the other. That's all. Nothing else, ever. Mind you, I take great pleasure in not using a compositor and enjoy faster performance with no ill effects that I can see. I watch plenty of videos online and off, from lo-res to hi-res with no issues. The visual/design side of things is important to me. Still, I'm not and never have been a gamer. I prefer to spend some time in the company of my partner, walking my dogs and sleeping, lol. Good luck! Sorry that still don't answer my question because as you can see right here it's a present day issue This guy had the same question as me dowx 2019-07-17 15:53:45 Is it some kind of fix for screen tearing in XFCE 4.14+ ? I'm currently using KDE mainly because of this issue. I didn't even have to install the Nvidia propriety driver and there is literally no screen tearing in KDE. I'm wondering why is it still the problem in XFCE. I'd love to go back to XFCE and this is the main problem on my way back. I'm writing this post from live usb of Xubuntu 19.04 hoping the issue is solved... but it's not If it's fixed it was fixed recently in the development 4.13 branch. ToZ Moderator 2019-07-17 16:31:10 What version of xfwm4 is included in Xubuntu 19.04? Perhaps its not recent enough. The changes have been pretty recent to the development 4.13 branch. Source : https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=13092 Last time i tested XFCE was 2016 i guess and it had tearing on my AMD box really bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 58 minutes ago, jango said: MX Linux No.1 ranking right now on distrowatch they are using Xfce DE just tested yesterday MX Linux very fast and smooth eating less memory But if you want always latest software version and nice DE goto Arch Linux+KDE Planning on dual-boot Windows+Linux if i get my new ssd MX Linux most likely would work OK on this PC witch is Intel but don't seem to have fixed it for radeon yet Quote MX Devs are currently working to include that option for other drivers such as radeon. https://mxlinux.org/wiki/hardware/screen-tearing/ Back when i tried Anti X on my AMD PC i never could get it to boot up it's made by MX Linux . But that like 2016 when i tested it too . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain_death Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 5 minutes ago, steven36 said: Sorry that still don't because as you can see right here it's a present day issue This guy has the same question as me With regard to the difficulties you are facing, I wouldn't like to comment. I am simply outlining my experiences over a number of years and now using the latest Xfce release, in the hope it might help or encourage other members reading my reply. Personally, after years of struggling with proprietary Nvidia drivers especially on Ubuntu variants and getting the same old garbage results, if I were you I would seriously give another distro a try... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 22 minutes ago, brain_death said: With regard to the difficulties you are facing, I wouldn't like to comment. I am simply outlining my experiences over a number of years and now using the latest Xfce release, in the hope it might help or encourage other members reading my reply. Personally, after years of struggling with proprietary Nvidia drivers especially on Ubuntu variants and getting the same old garbage results, if I were you I would seriously give another distro a try... I have used it with Manjaro witch is based on Arch before i had the same issue so i switched to using cinnamon , i never said witch Distros i tested with XFCE , that guy above did say he was using it on Ubuntu . I been using Ubuntu Budgie for 3 years and and never had no problems with screen tearing. I had problems with Ubuntu once before with AMD drivers were i could only use and older distro and that was why i messed with Manjaro back then they patched the stack tell one day they didn't and messed me up by then Ubuntu had fixed it , but now AMD have good open source drivers so its not been a issue since 2016 .I rather not fool with a rolling release not messed with it since Manjaro messed me up by dropping the stack before fixing it . PS: on Ubuntu Nvidia Graphics Drivers are no longer a problem they offer them right on auto updates now https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/07/install-nvidia-driver-update-ubuntu-its Newer versions come with them in the ISO Ubuntu 19.10 Now Includes Proprietary Nvidia Drivers on the ISO https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/05/ubuntu-19-10-nvidia-drivers-iso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 Anyway some over on OMG Ubuntu answered my question they say its fixed now i will test it again when it gets ported over to a non rolling release distro. It's on manjaro now https://forum.manjaro.org/t/stable-update-2019-08-13-kernels-xfce-4-14-kde-libreoffice-6-3-discord-mesa/98600 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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