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LXDE

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LXDE
Original author(s)Hong Jen Yee (“PCMan”)
Developer(s)The LXDE Team
Initial release2006; 18 years ago (2006)
Preview release
0.99.0 / October 24, 2014; 9 years ago (2014-10-24)[1]
Repository
Written inC (GTK+), C/C++ (Qt)
Operating systemUnix-like
Available inMultilingual
TypeDesktop environment
LicenseGNU GPL, GNU LGPL
Websitelxde.org
lxqt.org

LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for resource-constrained personal computers[2] such as netbooks or System on a chip computers.

Overview

LXDE is a desktop environment designed for Unix-like platforms, such as Linux or FreeBSD. The goal of the project is to provide a desktop environment that is fast and energy efficient. LXDE stands for "Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment".[3][4]

In 2010, tests suggested that LXDE 0.5 had the lowest memory usage of the four most popular desktop environments of the time (GNOME 2.29, KDE Plasma Desktop 4.4, and Xfce 4.6),[5] and that it consumed less energy,[6] which suggests mobile computers with Linux distributions running LXDE 0.5 drained their battery at a slower pace than those with other desktop environments.

LXDE is the default desktop environment of Knoppix, Lubuntu, LXLE Linux, Peppermint Linux OS and Raspbian, among others.

LXDE is written in the C programming language, using the GTK+ toolkit, and runs on Unix and other POSIX compliant platforms, such as Linux and BSD. GTK+ is commonly used in many Linux distributions and allows applications to run on different platforms.[7] LXDE uses rolling releases for the individual components (or group of components with coupled dependencies).[8] Its window manager is Openbox. LXDE includes GPL licensed code as well as LGPL licensed code.[3]

History

The project was started in 2006 by Taiwanese programmer Hong Jen Yee (Chinese: 洪任諭; pinyin: Hóng Rènyù), also known as PCMan, when he published PCManFM, a new file manager and the first module of LXDE.

Comparing Linux distribution rankings for DistroWatch in early January 2011 for the year 2010 versus 2009, Ladislav Bodnar noted the increase in popularity of LXDE versus other desktop environments. He said, "Looking through the tables, an interesting thing is the rise of distributions that use the lightweight, but full-featured LXDE desktop or the Openbox window manager. As an example, Lubuntu now comfortably beats Kubuntu in terms of page hits, while CrunchBang Linux, a lightweight distribution with Openbox is still in the top 25 even though it failed to produce a stable release for well over a year. Many other distributions started offering LXDE-based editions of their products, further contributing to the dramatic rise in popularity of this relatively new desktop environment."[9]

Qt port

LXQt 0.7

Dissatisfied with GTK 3,[10] Hong Jen Yee experimented with Qt in early 2013[11] and released the first version of a Qt-based PCManFM on 26 March 2013.[10] He clarified, though, that this means no departure from GTK in LXDE, saying “The Gtk+ and Qt versions will coexist”. He later ported LXDE’s Xrandr front-end to Qt.[12]

On 3 July 2013 Hong Jen Yee announced a Qt port of the full LXDE suite.[13] And on 21 July 2013, Razor-qt and LXDE announced that they are merging the two projects.[14][15][16] The merger of LXDE-Qt and Razor-qt was renamed LXQt,[17] and the first release, version 0.7.0, was made available on 7 May 2014.[18] Version 0.8.0, bringing with it full Qt 5 compatibility, was made available on 13 October 2014.[19]

LXQt version 0.9 was released in February 2015, it requires Qt5 & KDE Frameworks 5.[20]

Software components

See also: List of GTK+ applications

LXDE has forked a couple of the GNOME Core Applications and written several from scratch. Unlike other major desktop environments such as GNOME, the components of LXDE have few dependencies and are not tightly integrated.[21] Instead, they can run independently of each other.[22]

LXDE consists of several components:

PCMan File Manager File manager and Desktop metaphor provider.
LXInput Mouse and keyboard configuration tool
LXLauncher Easy-mode application launcher
LXPanel Desktop panel
LXSession X session manager
LXAppearance GTK+ theme switcher
GPicView Image viewer
LXMusic An audio player frontend for XMMS2
LXTerminal Terminal emulator
LXTask Task manager
LXRandR A GUI to RandR
LXDM X display manager
LXNM Lightweight network connection helper daemon. Supports wireless connections (Linux only). Discontinued
Leafpad Text editor Not developed by the LXDE project.
Openbox Window manager Not developed by the LXDE project.
obconf A GUI tool to configure Openbox Not developed by the LXDE project.
Xarchiver File archiver Not developed by the LXDE project.
  • LXDE Picture Viewer
    LXDE Picture Viewer
  • LXAppearance
    LXAppearance
  • LXPanel
    LXPanel
  • LXPanel Preferences
    LXPanel Preferences
  • LXTask
    LXTask
  • PCManFM
    PCManFM
  • Autocompletion of Panel tasks
    Autocompletion of Panel tasks

See also

References

  1. ^ LStranger (24 October 2014). "LXDE-Common 0.99.0 released". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  2. ^ Christopher Smart (9 September 2009). "Lubuntu: Floats Like a Butterfly, Stings Like a Bee". Linux Magazine. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
  3. ^ a b LXDE Team. "LXDE". Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  4. ^ LXDE Team. "About LXDE". Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  5. ^ Larabel, Michael. "Power & Memory Usage Of GNOME, KDE, LXDE & Xfce". Phoronix. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  6. ^ Larabel, Michael. "Power & Memory Usage Of GNOME, KDE, LXDE & Xfce (page 2)". Phoronix. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  7. ^ "GTK+ Features".
  8. ^ "Description of current release process". Article.gmane.org. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  9. ^ Bodnar, Ladislav (January 2011). "DistroWatch Page Hit Ranking statistics in 2009 and 2010". DistroWatch. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  10. ^ a b "PCManFM Qt 0.1.0 released". LXDE Blog. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  11. ^ "PCManFM file manager is ported to Qt?". LXDE Blog. 19 February 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  12. ^ "LXDE xrandr GUI frontent lxrandr is ported to Qt in one day". Gmane. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  13. ^ "LXDE - LXDE-Qt Preview". Blog.lxde.org. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  14. ^ brother (22 July 2013). ""The future of Razor and LXDE-Qt" at LXDE blog". Blog.lxde.org. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  15. ^ "The future of Razor and LXDE-Qt at Razor-qt Google group". Groups.google.com. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  16. ^ ""The future of Razor and LXDE-Qt" at the LXDE-list archive". Sourceforge.net. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  17. ^ "The First Alpha Release of LXDE-Qt (or LXQt) is in Preparation". Blog.lxde.org. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  18. ^ "LXQt 0.7.0 released". Blog.lxde.org. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  19. ^ Leclanche, Jerome (14 October 2014). "LXQt 0.8.0 released!". LXDE Official Blog. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  20. ^ "LXQt". lxqt.org. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  21. ^ Łukasz Bigo. "LXDE - lekka alternatywa do GNOME". Retrieved 8 August 2008.
  22. ^ "About LXDE". Lxde.sourceforge.net. Retrieved 19 May 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LXDE.

Template:LXDE

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