I want to get rid of gnome and install xfce

Ken Schafer · 01-17-2014, 06:06 AM

I've installed Ubuntu with the Gnome desktop. Big mistake - I hate it and would like to install XFCE. If possible I'd like to get rid of Gnome completely and install XFCE in its place.

Help would be appreciated.

widget · 01-17-2014, 06:14 AM

If you installed Ubuntu you should have the Unity DE.

Did you do a minimal install of Ubuntu?

Did you install Gnome along with the Unity DE?

Are you installed on one partition; just /, or on two; / and /home?

It is important to know how you installed Gnome before anyone can suggest how to get rid of it. Knowing how you have partitioned your Ubuntu install will let us know what kind of safe options you have other than removing and adding different DEs.

Would also be a very good thing to know if this is the only OS installed and what size the HDD is.

Ken Schafer · 01-17-2014, 06:46 AM

Thanks for that, Widget! I'm an idiot! I did not realise Gnome and Unity were different animals! My machine (Acer Aspire V3-571g 750gig HD) has xubuntu 13.04 on 2 partitions (/ and /home) together with ubuntu 12.04 also on 2 partitions. Ubuntu (a full 12.04 installation) is the one I'm playing with and would like to change to XFCE. If there is a quick fix change that I can make I'd be thrilled to hear about it but I can, of course, simply download a new copy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by widget

If you installed Ubuntu you should have the Unity DE.

Did you do a minimal install of Ubuntu?

Did you install Gnome along with the Unity DE?

Are you installed on one partition; just /, or on two; / and /home?

It is important to know how you installed Gnome before anyone can suggest how to get rid of it. Knowing how you have partitioned your Ubuntu install will let us know what kind of safe options you have other than removing and adding different DEs.

Would also be a very good thing to know if this is the only OS installed and what size the HDD is.

cascade9 · 01-17-2014, 10:13 AM

You are in luck.

Quote:

Getting Back to a Pure XFCE on Ubuntu

Note, this applies only to Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise). If you're using 11.10, go here. If you're using 11.04, go here. If you're using 10.04, go here.

These removal commands were created based on what Ubuntu, Kubuntu, etc. packages were added to a default Xubuntu installation. It's possible that the commands might remove some other packages you have since added to the default and want to keep. If that's the case, keep track of which packages those are and reinstall them. Theoretically, your settings should still be there. I am not responsible for any damage you do to your *buntu installation. If you're worried about breaking anything, do a full back up of your *buntu installation.

Remove Ubuntu

Paste this command into the terminal:
sudo apt-get remove activity-log-manager-common activity-log-manager-control-center adium-theme-ubuntu apg appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-qt apturl apturl-common bamfdaemon baobab bluez-gstreamer branding-ubuntu brasero brasero-cdrkit brasero-common checkbox checkbox-qt cmap-adobe-japan2 compiz compiz-core compiz-gnome compiz-plugins-default compiz-plugins-main-default compizconfig-backend-gconf deja-dup duplicity dvd+rw-tools empathy empathy-common eog evolution-data-server evolution-data-server-common example-content folks-common gedit gedit-common geoclue geoclue-ubuntu-geoip ginn gir1.2-gnomebluetooth-1.0 gir1.2-gnomekeyring-1.0 gir1.2-gst-plugins-base-0.10 gir1.2-gstreamer-0.10 gir1.2-gtksource-3.0 gir1.2-indicate-0.7 gir1.2-peas-1.0 gir1.2-rb-3.0 gir1.2-totem-1.0 gir1.2-totem-plparser-1.0 gir1.2-ubuntuoneui-3.0 gnome-bluetooth gnome-control-center gnome-control-center-data gnome-desktop3-data gnome-disk-utility gnome-font-viewer gnome-icon-theme-symbolic gnome-media gnome-menus gnome-nettool gnome-online-accounts gnome-orca gnome-power-manager gnome-screensaver gnome-screenshot gnome-session gnome-session-bin gnome-session-canberra gnome-session-common gnome-settings-daemon gnome-system-log gnome-system-monitor gnome-terminal gnome-terminal-data gnome-user-share growisofs gstreamer0.10-gconf gwibber gwibber-service gwibber-service-facebook gwibber-service-identica gwibber-service-twitter hwdata indicator-appmenu indicator-datetime indicator-power indicator-printers indicator-session intel-gpu-tools landscape-client-ui-install libatk-adaptor libatk-adaptor-schemas libaudio2 libavahi-gobject0 libavahi-ui-gtk3-0 libbamf0 libbamf3-0 libboost-serialization1.46.1 libbrasero-media3-1 libcamel-1.2-29 libcanberra-gtk-module libcanberra-gtk0 libcanberra-pulse libcmis-0.2-0 libcompizconfig0 libcurl3 libcurl3-nss libdbusmenu-qt2 libdconf-dbus-1-0 libdconf-qt0 libdecoration0 libdiscid0 libdmapsharing-3.0-2 libebackend-1.2-1 libebook-1.2-12 libecal-1.2-10 libedata-book-1.2-11 libedata-cal-1.2-13 libedataserver-1.2-15 libedataserverui-3.0-1 libexempi3 libexttextcat-data libexttextcat0 libfolks-eds25 libfolks-telepathy25 libfolks25 libfreerdp-plugins-standard libfreerdp1 libgail-common libgdata-common libgdata13 libgdu-gtk0 libgexiv2-1 libglew1.6 libglewmx1.6 libgmime-2.6-0 libgnome-control-center1 libgnome-desktop-3-2 libgnome-media-profiles-3.0-0 libgnome2-common libgnomekbd-common libgnomekbd7 libgoa-1.0-0 libgoa-1.0-common libgpgme11 libgpod-common libgpod4 libgtksourceview-3.0-0 libgtksourceview-3.0-common libgtkspell-3-0 libgweather-3-0 libgweather-common libgwibber-gtk2 libgwibber2 libhyphen0 libidl-common libidl0 libjson-glib-1.0-0 liblircclient0 liblouis-data liblouis2 libmetacity-private0 libmission-control-plugins0 libmtp-common libmtp-runtime libmtp9 libmusicbrainz3-6 libmysqlclient18 libmythes-1.2-0 libneon27-gnutls libnux-2.0-0 libnux-2.0-common liboauth0 liborbit2 liboverlay-scrollbar-0.2-0 liboverlay-scrollbar3-0.2-0 libpackagekit-glib2-14 libpeas-1.0-0 libpeas-common libprotobuf7 libprotoc7 libproxy1-plugin-gsettings libproxy1-plugin-networkmanager libpth20 libqt4-dbus libqt4-declarative libqt4-network libqt4-opengl libqt4-script libqt4-sql libqt4-sql-mysql libqt4-sql-sqlite libqt4-svg libqt4-xml libqt4-xmlpatterns libqtbamf1 libqtcore4 libqtdee2 libqtgconf1 libqtgui4 libquvi-scripts libquvi7 libraw5 libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-calc libreoffice-common libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-emailmerge libreoffice-gnome libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-help-en-us libreoffice-impress libreoffice-math libreoffice-style-human libreoffice-style-tango libreoffice-writer librest-0.7-0 librhythmbox-core5 librsync1 libsdl1.2debian libssh-4 libstlport4.6ldbl libsyncdaemon-1.0-1 libtelepathy-farstream2 libtelepathy-logger2 libtimezonemap1 libtotem-plparser17 libtotem0 libubuntuoneui-3.0-1 libunique-3.0-0 libunity-2d-private0 libunity-core-5.0-5 libunity-misc4 libvncserver0 libwacom-common libwacom2 libwmf0.2-7-gtk libzeitgeist-1.0-1 light-themes linux-headers-3.2.0-24 linux-headers-3.2.0-24-generic-pae linux-headers-generic-pae media-player-info metacity metacity-common mousetweaks mysql-common nautilus nautilus-sendto nautilus-sendto-empathy nautilus-share notify-osd notify-osd-icons nux-tools obexd-client overlay-scrollbar plymouth-theme-ubuntu-logo protobuf-compiler pulseaudio-module-bluetooth pulseaudio-module-gconf python-aptdaemon.pkcompat python-brlapi python-configglue python-dateutil python-dirspec python-egenix-mxdatetime python-egenix-mxtools python-libproxy python-louis python-mako python-markupsafe python-packagekit python-protobuf python-pyatspi2 python-pyinotify python-speechd python-twisted-names python-ubuntuone-client python-ubuntuone-control-panel python-ubuntuone-storageprotocol python-uno python-zeitgeist qdbus qt-at-spi remmina remmina-common remmina-plugin-rdp remmina-plugin-vnc rhythmbox rhythmbox-data rhythmbox-mozilla rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder rhythmbox-plugin-magnatune rhythmbox-plugin-zeitgeist rhythmbox-plugins rhythmbox-ubuntuone seahorse shotwell sni-qt ssh-askpass-gnome telepathy-gabble telepathy-haze telepathy-idle telepathy-indicator telepathy-logger telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-salut thunderbird-gnome-support totem totem-common totem-mozilla totem-plugins ubuntu-artwork ubuntu-desktop ubuntu-docs ubuntu-mono ubuntu-sounds ubuntu-system-service ubuntu-wallpapers ubuntu-wallpapers-precise ubuntuone-client ubuntuone-client-gnome ubuntuone-control-panel ubuntuone-couch ubuntuone-installer unity unity-2d unity-2d-common unity-2d-panel unity-2d-shell unity-2d-spread unity-asset-pool unity-common unity-greeter unity-lens-applications unity-lens-files unity-lens-music unity-lens-video unity-scope-musicstores unity-scope-video-remote unity-services uno-libs3 ure vino whois whoopsie wodim xdiagnose xfonts-mathml zeitgeist zeitgeist-core zeitgeist-datahub && sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop && sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults -g lightdm-gtk-greeter

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/purexubuntuprecise

JWJones · 01-17-2014, 11:58 AM

You might be better off just installing Xubuntu instead.

Ken Schafer · 01-17-2014, 12:19 PM

D'yer know what? I think you're right! Thanks JWJ! :-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JWJones

You might be better off just installing Xubuntu instead.

ivtec · 01-18-2014, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken Schafer

D'yer know what? I think you're right! Thanks JWJ! :-)

Hi Ken if your machine can Handle Xubuntu 1310 do it cause it comes with XFCE from the box and so far it's been great,

Ken Schafer · 01-19-2014, 03:07 AM

Hi Ivtec. I do run 1310 and have been for a while - it's a good, stable system. I'm just playing around with different things to keep myself out of mischief and I have partitioned my drive so that I always have something to fall back on. Thanks for your interest. Take care!