September 30, 2015

9 Great Linux XFCE Themes

XFCE4. It’s everyone’s favorite lightweight desktop environment. This desktop environment has been around for quite a while. For much of the time that this desktop has been around, it hasn’t exactly looked the greatest. The default look for XFCE is frankly not that great.
Since the XFCE Desktop is in dire need of a facelift, we decided to go out and find nine really great themes for XFCE4. Check them out below!
Note: the instructions to install each one of these themes are located on the page in which you downloaded them from.
Axe theme for XFCE4.
Not all of the themes on this list are full themes. The XFCE4 desktop is an interesting one. You can theme the window manager and the panel independently. Axe is one of the many window manager themes in this list.
Axe is a clean and really minimal window manager theme. When it’s not in focus, the entire window is transparent which is a really cool effect. Want a clean, simple Xfce window manager theme? Check out this one.
Tango theme for XFCE4.
A lot of XFCE4’s window managers that come pre-installed are unimpressive. They’re all old-looking and frankly just not something visually appealing on any level. Tango is an XFCE WM theme pack that hopes to change that.
It’s an elegant, colorful and minimalist approach to window themes. It also sort of reminds me of the Windows 8 window manager. Are you in search of a decent-looking XFCE window manager theme? Tango might be for you.


Numix Holo is a pleasant re-spin of the Numix GTK theme. The creator of this theme has substituted the famous “Numix Orange” color scheme for a light blue Android Jelly Bean-inspired setup. If you love Numix, but also prefer blue over orange, definitely check out this theme.
Ambience theme for XFCE4.
Some people love the default look of Ubuntu. Others don’t. Ambiance for the XFCE desktop is a theme for those looking to make their XFCE session more like Ubuntu. If you think the Ambiance style suits you, this should be your first stop.
Glare theme for XFCE4.
Glare is a simple theme for the XFCE4 desktop environment. It doesn’t have a whole lot going for it in terms of eye candy, but that’s not necessarily a terrible thing. Sometimes its hard to find a very simple theme with no frills, shadows or anything like that. If you’re in search of a simple look for XFCE4, you might want to check out this theme.
Macbuntu theme for XFCE4.
Macbuntu is a suitable XFCE4 theme for those who want to turn their desktop into something very close to OS X. This theme isn’t 100% similar to the way the Mac looks, but it most certainly is very reminiscent of it. Searching for an Apple-like theme for your XFCE desktop? Try out Macbuntu.
Rele theme for XFCE4.
There certainly isn’t a shortage of dark themes. It’s hard to browse xfce-look.org and not run into more than twenty-five dark themes. Still, if dark is what you want, Rele is one of the best out there. The theme uses the darker colors in a really nice way and everything is really easy to read (which I can’t say about some other black/dark themes out there). Are black themes your thing? If so, you might want to install Rele.
XFWM KDE4.8 Oxygen theme for XFCE4.
It’s hard to deny that the KDE desktop environment has it right when it comes to their Oxygen theme. Honestly, it’s one of the better default themes out there for Linux. Are you a fan of the Oxygen theme like me? If so, install XFWM KDE4.8 Oxygen.
Win8-FirstTry theme for XFCE4.
Some Linux users love the way Windows 8/8.1 looks. No this isn’t a joke! There are dozens of Windows themes for Linux desktops. For those on XFCE, the Win8-FirstTry theme is a good place to start out. Be warned, the creator of this theme said it’s his first shot at a theme, so there might be a few discrepancies here or there. Still, if you want your desktop environment to look like Windows 8.1, you should give this theme a go.
XFCE4 is a great desktop environment. Overwhelmingly, it’s the most popular lightweight desktop out there. That being said, it’s not exactly the best-looking. The overall design of XFCE4 seems to be stuck in the mid-90s/early 2000s. I hope that with the help of this list you’ll be able to take your existing XFCE desktop and make it a little better looking.

September 19, 2015

How to adjust screen brightness in linux

This tip came from the current issue #59 of Full Circle Magazine. There are no brightness controls in Gnome GTK3.x  I'm running Ubuntu 11.10 under the Gnome Classic desktop. It fixed an aging CRT monitor I have and use in one of my rigs. Many thanks ! Enjoy.

Q: When I try to reduce the brightness on my laptop using System Settings, it doesn't change.

A: Open a Terminal, and enter this command:

xgamma ­-gamma .5


You can try different values than .5, to see what works for you. ( .8 works great for my monitor. )

The other available values are:

usage:  xgamma [-options]

where the available options are:
    -display host:dpy       or -d
    -quiet                         or -q
    -screen                      or -s
    -gamma f.f                Gamma Value
    -rgamma f.f               Red Gamma Value
    -ggamma f.f              Green Gamma Value
    -bgamma f.f              Blue Gamma Value

If no gamma is specified, returns the current setting




September XFCE OSX Theme Desktop

I've been enjoying the simplicity of Xubuntu 15.04 and thought I would give it a OSX theme this month. The great thing about linux is the ability to make it look anyway you want. So below are my results and where you can get the Minty Mac OSX XFCE theme. I'm using the Minty Mac OSX metacity theme and icons, and the installed Greybird theme and an old wallpaper and Docky. I installed Clementine music player, Deluge bittorrent client, Chromium browser, and Screenlets. Enjoy.




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And two more different wallpapers....









You can get the Minty Mac OSX theme here:
http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php/mintymac-osx-theme-complete?content=166789