TROMjaro xfce beta!
by tio
A month ago some TROM friends started to tell me about this XFCE desktop environment, how fast and nice it is. But I knew about it and whenever I had a brief look over it looked very bad. Old looking. And I wanted to create a beautiful TROMjaro that can also be used on touchscreens and such. But Gnome, the version we were using, annoyed me too much for the past years when their updates broke our TROMjaro a few times. Long story short, I managed to make a TROMjaro XFCE that looks very modern and it is even decent on touchscreen devices, more than Gnome actually.
Why bye bye Gnome?
1. To customize Gnome is a pain in the ass.
I-Gnome yenza kube nzima kakhulu ukwenza kanjalo. Ngisho, impela, kukhona amathani Ezandiso ze-Gnome laphaya ezikuvumela ukuthi uguqule i-Gnome yakho ibe yinoma yini, kodwa lezi zandiso ziwuhlobo lokugebenga futhi zigcina zingabuyekezwanga futhi lapho i-Gnome iphusha inguqulo enkulu yohlelo lwabo, ezinye zalezi zandiso zingaphula ngokuphelele uhlelo lwakho lonke. Kwenzeke izikhathi ezimbalwa nge-TROMjaro Gnome. Kwangethusa lokho. Bengihlala ngikhathazekile lapho i-Gnome icindezela isibuyekezo esisha. Futhi, ngisho nalapho kufanele ngenze ushintsho oluncane lwemenyu yezinhlelo zokusebenza eziseceleni, kungithathe isikhathi ukukwenza. Bekumayelana nokudala iphakethe elizophusha lezo zinguquko ze-Gnome, zilingeze ku-repo yethu, nokunye. Lokho kwangenza ngaba manqikanqika ukuthuthukisa i-TROMjaro yethu.
2. Gnome is not meant to be customized.
People have been saying this for a long time and it is true. The custom stuff you do to Gnome feels like adding some CSS code on top of a CSS code but with the !important tag so it overwrites the original CSS. Like take the top bar in Gnome, there is little you can do with that. It is there, so you have to accept it. In XFCE you can move it, add whatever you want to it, or add as many such bars/panels as you want. You feel free to do anything with XFCE.
3. Gnome becomes slower and slower….
Njengoba i-Gnome ezenzakalelayo ibukeka ingenalutho futhi ingeyena umsebenzisi ngempela (zikuphi izinhlelo zokusebenza? amamenyu? windows?), ugcina ngokungeza izandiso eziningi ezikhohlisayo ukuze ukwenze kubukeke kusebenziseka. Kodwa ngokuhamba kwesikhathi lezi zandiso ziyanqwabelana futhi zizokwenza isistimu yakho ihambe kancane. Ngisho nakulaptop yami enamandla kuthatha imizuzwana engu-2-3 ngemva kokuba ngicindezele ukhiye we-Super, ukukhombisa amawindi avuliwe namadeskithophu abonakalayo. Akukhona konke ukuthi idla i-RAM engakanani, imayelana nendlela ideskithophu esebenza ngayo. Ngisazoyivivinya kahle inguqulo ye-XFCE emshinini wami ngezikrini eziningi ezibonakalayo nezinhlelo zokusebenza ezivuliwe, kodwa ngiyivivinye kukhompuyutha ephathekayo ye-specs ephansi kakhulu futhi isebenza kangcono (ingcono kakhulu) kunenguqulo ye-Gnome, futhi kuthebulethi yami ye-2013 windows lapho igijima khona ngokushesha kuyamangaza.
4. The Gnome extensions are weird.
So to install any Gnome extensions you have to go on a website and install from there. Update? Same way. So users are faced with some notifications from time to time that some extensions need updating. They click that and are sent to a website…and you hope that they know they have to click the green star button to update one of the many extensions in the list they are faced with… And then, most of the time, the update looks like it failed. But hey, you have to press Alt+F2 then type “r” and press Enter (if you use Xorg) to restart the desktop in order for the extension to update. If you are on Wayland…restart the computer! This always annoyed me. On XFCE no more such bullshit. All updates go through the software center.
I can continue with the reasons, but don’t get me wrong, Gnome is still a great desktop environment. It is sleek, polished, beautiful. However it has become more like a company-project not a linux do-it-as-you-want project. Plus I want a distro that’s faster for TROMjaro so it can be used with older computers too.
What's so awesome about the XFCE version?
I put a fuck ton of effort into our new homepage to explain it in a very nice way, and I will do a TROM-Cast kusasa noma ngalezi zinsuku konke ngakho, ngakho-ke kunzima kimi ukuziveza futhi lapha, ngombhalo. Kodwa ngizoklelisa ezinye zezici ezihamba phambili bese ubheka lelo khasi eliyisiqalo futhi ubuke i-TROM-Cast yethu ngakho. Empeleni ngizoshumeka abalingisi lapha ngemva kokuba seluqedile. (HLELA: skrolela phansi ukuze ubone i-TROM-Cast)
Ngakho. Izingxenye ezinhle kakhulu ngale nguqulo ye-XFCE:
- Ibukeka ifana kakhulu nenguqulo ye-Gnome. Njengokuthi...cishe kufane ncamashi. Ngoba ngikwazile ukwenza ngendlela oyifisayo kanjalo. Ngakho abasebenzisi abadala be-TROMjaro bazozizwa besekhaya. Futhi sisebenzisa u-90% wezinhlelo zokusebenza ezizenzakalelayo ezifanayo ngakho azikho izinguquko lapho. Uma ushintsha ngeke ukuthole kwehlukile.
- Kuzwakala njengesiqephu esisodwa. I don’t feel like I hacked it. Except 1 or so plugins that I use for the top menu, everything desktop related is developed by the XFCE team.
– It is so customizable yet not overwhelming. There is Windows/MacOS with their: this is what you see so get used to it. Or Gnome that’s becoming more like that. And there is something like KDE Plasma that’s so customizable that you will get 100% lost through so many options and features, that may break your system when you update parts of it due to its complexity. XFCE does not have that many options, but enough to let your brain understand them, and enough to let you customize it a fuck ton. I showcase on the new homepage how I made it look like Windows 11, or MacOS, or KDE Plasma, or Gnome and so forth. And that only takes 10 or so minutes and you only need to install some themes and icons via the software center. No more new docks, and menus, and extensions….all is done with the default XFCE tools. I LOVE THAT!
-Iyashesha futhi isabela kahle kakhulu. Ngisho nase-Virtual Box lo mdlwane uyandiza. Konke kuzwakala kushelela futhi kushesha.
– Izinzile! Kudingeka sihlole lokhu okwengeziwe ukuze siqiniseke, kodwa kulokho engingakutshela ukuthi i-XFCE izinzile kakhulu. Futhi njengoba sisebenzisa amathuluzi abo (ngokuhlakanipha kwedeskithophu) kungenzeka ukuthi izibuyekezo abazicindezelayo ngeke zephule i-TROMjaro yethu. Lokhu kungenza ngikhululeke kakhulu.
- Kulula ukwakha. Kulula kakhulu futhi kuhlanzekile ukwakha i-TROMjaro XFCE kunalokho okwakuyi-TROMjaro Gnome.
- Iyasebenza futhi iyasebenza. Yebo, izindawo zokusebenza nezithombe ze-Gnome zipholile, kodwa ngemva kwesikhashana uyabona ukuthi azisebenzi kakhulu. Isibonelo ku-Gnome, ukuze uhambise iwindi endaweni entsha yokusebenza, kuzodingeka ngicindezele ukhiye we-Super ozodalula wonke amawindi (futhi uma unamaningi kunzima ukukhomba lowo ofuna ukuwahambisa), bese uhudula iwindi endaweni entsha yokusebenzela, bese uchofoza leyo ndawo yokusebenza ukuze ushintshele kuyo. Ku-XFCE ungahudula iwindi ukuze ugxile ezindaweni zokusebenza eziphezulu. Bese uchofoza lelo windi lendawo yokusebenza entsha. Hhayi njengefashini, kepha uzoyibona ishesha kakhulu futhi ihlakaniphile uma uyisebenzisela izizathu ezisebenzayo.
Ngingathola ezinye izizathu, kodwa masiqhubeke.
Kuzokwenzekani ngenguqulo ye-Gnome?
Ungabi novalo!
The TROMjaro Gnome will be functional as long as you’ll keep it updated. Do not forget that TROMjaro is a customized Manjaro. You get your updates form the Manjaro team as usual. The only downside is that we can’t check if certain updates may break your system and how, because of those pesky extensions, but we will always provide help to fix your install. Use our Matrix channel “#tromjaro:matrix.trom.tf” if you ever have any issues with TROMjaro Gnome. We will make a new article about how you can migrate to TROMjaro XFCE, these days, because we highly recommend that you do that.
We will remove the Gnome version from our downloads in the coming weeks and XFCE will become the default TROMjaro install.
What does Beta mean?
Siyihlole kakhulu le TROMjaro XFCE, kodwa njengoba sekuyinyanga kuphela siqale lokhu, sidinga isikhathi esengeziwe ukuze sibone ukuthi yiziphi iziphazamisi ezikhona, yini okudingeka ilungiswe noma ithuthukiswe. Kodwa le TROMjaro XFCE Beta izoba yi-ISO eyinhloko. Okusho ukuthi, uma kuzoba khona izinguquko/ukulungiswa kuzochazwa kumanothi okukhishwa njengoba besihlale senza. Ngakho qiniseka ukuthi uyasilandela Ukwazi ukuthi izinhlelo zokusebenza zigangile futhi zigcina izilungiselelo zazo kokuthi ubani-wazi ukuthi iyiphi indawo ngaphakathi kwefolda yakho Yasekhaya, nokwazi ukuthi uma unamafayela kusistimu yakho (izithombe, amavidiyo, yini-hhayi) akufolda efanayo Yasekhaya, kopisha wonke yefolda yakho yasekhaya kudrayivu yangaphandle. Ungakhohlwa ngaphambi kokwenza lokho ukukhetha ukukhombisa amafayela/amafolda afihliwe. Ufuna ukukopisha yonke into!. Senze kwaba lula kakhulu kuwe ukuthi uhlale unolwazi lwakamuva nganoma yini esiyenzayo.
Kulungile manje, yibambe, dlala ngayo, sinikeze impendulo!
Qaphela: kune-quirk encane ngale ISO, esiyithole nakwamanye ama-ISO adlule futhi okungenzeka kube yinto ye-Manjaro. Ngemva kokuyifaka ungase ungakwazi ukuthola noma yiziphi izinhlelo zokusebenza kokuthi Engeza/Susa isofthiwe. Isizindalwazi sidinga ukuvuselelwa, ngakho chofoza isithonjana semenyu/igiya eliphezulu kwesokudla kokuthi Engeza/Susa Isofthiwe bese uchofoza ukuze uvuselele isizindalwazi. Kusukela lapho konke kufanele kusebenze kahle ngokuphelele. Nokho, uma i-AUR ingasebenzi (awukwazi ukuthola amaphakheji) khona-ke lena inkinga ye-AUR evimba ikheli lakho le-IP okwesikhashana. Ungasebenzisa i-VPN i-TROMjaro ehamba ngayo kuze kube yilapho i-AUR ikuvulela. Sibheka ukuthi kungani lokhu kwenzeka ...