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It works, baby, my little Holy Grail of getting a normal and fully functional xfce desktop on the A1 has been obtained at long last! I have double checked everything by repeating it after a system restore.
Open the terminal by pressing Alt-F2 and typing "terminal"...
1. Edit xfce4-session.rc to change the Client0 line to point to xfdesktop rather than xfdesktopnew.
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sudo mousepad /etc/xdg/xfce4-session/xfce4-session.rc
replace xfdesktopnew with xfdesktop
#Client0_Command=xfdesktopnew
Client0_Command=xfdesktop
Client0_PerScreen=False
Client1_Command=xfwm4
Client1_PerScreen=False
Client2_Command=xfce4-panel
Client2_PerScreen=False
Client3_Command=/usr/share/search-bar/start-search_bar.sh
Client3_PerScreen=False
Client4_Command=xfcepost
Client4_PerScreen=False
2. Edit xfdesktop to launch xfdesktop-xfce instead of xfdesktop2.
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sudo mousepad /usr/bin/xfdesktop
replace xfdesktop2 with xfdesktop-xfce
#!/bin/sh
if [ -f /usr/bin/xfce-mcs-manager.new ];then
sudo mv /usr/bin/xfce-mcs-manager.new /usr/bin/xfce-mcs-manager
fi
#/usr/bin/getnum.sh
#/usr/bin/xfdesktop2 & >/dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/xfdesktop-xfce & >/dev/null 2>&1
sleep 5
if [ -f /usr/bin/xfce-mcs-manager ];then
sudo mv /usr/bin/xfce-mcs-manager /usr/bin/xfce-mcs-manager.new
fi
3. Disable the Acer search bar.
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sudo mousepad /usr/share/search-bar/start-search_bar.sh
place a # in front of all the lines
#!/bin/sh
#resolution=`xrandr |grep \*|awk '{print $1}'`
#resolution=`xrandr |grep current|awk -F"current" '{print $2}'|awk -F"," '{print $1}'|sed 's/\ //g'`
#
#if [ $resolution = "1280x800" ];then
# acer-search-desktop --x=650 --y=90 --width=490 --height=31
#elif [ $resolution = "1024x600" ];then
# acer-search-desktop --x=510 --y=65 --width=490 --height=31
#else
# acer-search-desktop
#fi
4. Move the xfce4 user configuration directories to backup locations.
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mv ~/.config/xfce4 ~/.config/xfce4.old
mv ~/.config/xfce4-session ~/.config/xfce4-session.old
5. Reboot
New xfce4 user configuration directories are automatically created.
6. Let xfce manage the desktop, and enable your wallpaper
Open the terminal by pressing Alt-F2 and typing "terminal"...
Copy your wallpaper image to the /usr/share/xfce4/backdrops directory, {example for the picture originally in the Pictures directory}
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sudo cp ~/Pictures/{filename.jpg} /usr/share/xfce4/backdrops/{filename.jpg}
then bring up the desktop settings,
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xfce-setting-show
- click Desktop icon, tick "Allow xfce to manage the desktop".
- select background wallpaper (click on the little icon next to the file path)
{...you can stop here, the rest of this section and the remaining sections below just tidy things up...}
- on Behaviour tab, tick "show desktop menu on right click"
- reduce icon size to 48 and font size to 10 (adjust to taste)
7. Edit the bottom taskbar by adding a start menu.
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xfce4-panel -a
- drag Xfce Menu item from the window to the left hand side of the taskbar
- other icons can be added too, for various shortcuts and links
- the "trash" icon apparently prevents USB devices from automounting, so avoid adding that one!
8. Remove the system desktop icons by making a new file called xfdesktoprc in the .config/xfce4/desktop directory.
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mousepad ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/xfdesktoprc
and add the following text
[file-icons]
show-filesystem=false
show-home=false
show-trash=false
now save the file and reboot
9. Add your favorite icons to the desktop by copying the .desktop file from /usr/share/applications to ~/Desktop
This is most conveniently done by opening File Manager (thunar) - View - View as advanced mode, navigating to /usr/share/applications and dragging the icons you want directly to the desktop. The icons can be repositioned on the desktop with the cursor.
10. Clean up the xfce menu.
Get rid of the useless links to hotmail, google maps, etc by moving or deleting the contents of the edesktop folder.
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sudo mv /usr/share/applications/edesktop ~/Documents/edesktop
the main part of the menu is generated automatically from the .desktop files, but some items can be edited from
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xfce4-menueditor
NOTES
An equivalent route, one less step: leave xfce4-session.rc as is, but edit xfdesktopnew changing the word xfdesktop2 to xfdesktop-xfce. I didn't try that though.
I have to say having a clean desktop and my own choice of desktop icons makes an gigantic difference to how I feel towards my A1. The problem with Acer desktop is twofold, first it's impersonal and dull, even though its practical and attractive enough in its way, second, it is a constant and unwelcome visual clutter around any open window. The latter is like background noise: you don't notice it until you turn it off. Then you realize just how annoying it was.
Feel free to post your screenshots to this thread. Press Alt-F2 and type "gnome-screenshot --interactive" in the command line.
