FAQ for Xubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

May 5, 2012 — — —

1. Is there a way to use folders shared from Windows?

Yes, using Gigolo. If you are not able to see the network check if gvfs-backends is installed.

2. Thunar loads very slowly on first launch, how do I fix that?

Unfortunately, this is a known bug. There are two possible solutions:

  • Edit the file /usr/share/gvfs/mounts/network.mount (as root) and change AutoMount to false. This disables the Network browsing when Thunar starts up, but still lets you mount network storage such as Samba shares on demand. Please note that this solution leaves you with a broken “Network” link in Thunar.
  • If you don’t use Samba (Windows shares), remove gvfs-backends

3. I can’t resize windows because the window borders are too tiny!

The suggested way to resize windows is to hold the Alt key, right-click somewhere inside the window and drag to resize. See Window resizing in Xubuntu (and Xfce) for all the different methods.

4. Is there a way to use Dropbox with Thunar?

There is an unofficial and unsupported plugin for Dropbox on Thunar.

To compile the package, you need to install libthunarx-2-dev. In addition, you need to install Dropbox as well as start the daemon installation with dropbox start -i. Please note that this will install the propietary Dropbox daemon. Running this command will also start a wizard to set up your Dropbox account, including a possibility to create one.

5. How do I configure multiple monitors?

To set up and configure multiple monitors and/or other output devices you can use arandr, which is a simple drag-and-drop front-end for xrandr.

If you are using the propietary Nvidia driver, you can use the nvidia-settings tool.

6. Installing package X installs a lot of other packages!

There is a way to stop installing the so-called “recommends” packages automatically. For single packages, you should use the --no-install-recommends switch with apt-get. To turn off installing recommends for all packages, do one of the following:

  • In Synaptic, go to Settings » Preferences » tab General and uncheck “Consider recommended packages as dependencies”
  • Create the file /usr/apt/apt.conf.d/05norecommends and add the following line in the file:
    APT::Install-Recommends "false";

7. How do I disable guest login? How do I enable autologin?

Edit the file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf;

  • To disable guest login, set allow-guest to false
  • To enable autologin, edit the file to look like this:

    [SeatDefaults]
    autologin-user=<USERNAME>
    autologin-user-timeout=0
    user-session=xubuntu
    greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter

8. How can I edit the applications menu?

Xubuntu 12.04 has the Alacarte menu editor installed by default. You can launch it from Applications menu » Settings » Main menu.

9. My theme shows white text on light background. Help!

You are most probably using the Albatross theme. Unfortunately, this theme is not updated yet to fully support GTK3. There is a bug about this (LP #989814) with an attached patch which provides a quick workaround, too.

For the best GTK3 support, we advise to use the Greybird theme, which is the default for Xubuntu 12.04.

Still having issues?

Please see the earlier FAQ articles on our website. While some of the questions are release-specific, most of them are still applicable to 12.04. Topics include changing and installing themes, Compiz on Xubuntu and much more. If you are still having issues, refer to the Help & Support section for a list of available support methods.

Thanks

Joshua O’Leary for the AutoMount workaround for question 2. Everybody contributing to the top FAQ creation and proof-reading.