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• xed: Xed is based on Pluma and works as a default text editor.
• xviewer: It is based on Eye of GNOME and works as a default image 
viewer.
• xplayer:: It is based on Totem and works as a standard music and 
video media player.
• xreader: It is based on April and works as a default document and 
PDF reader.
• pix: It is based on gThumb, an app that organizes your photos.
• blueberry: Bluetooth device, blueberry, is ahead of GNOME-
bluetooth with systray support. The GNOME Bluetooth frontend has 
been removed from GNOME-bluetooth and has become part of the 
GNOME-control center, making GNOME-bluetooth useless with-
out GNOME. Blueberry provides a non-existent frontend and makes 
it easy for some GTK desktops to use GNOME-bluetooth.
• greetings: Slick-greeter is an automatic login screen, a LightDM 
priest that was originally forked from uninity-greeter and config-
ured to run itself (except GNOME-settings-daemon, GNOME or 
unity).
• lightdm-settings: The lightdm settings project provides a setting 
tool to set up LightDM and slick-greeter.
BENEFITS
It is still distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. 
The basic technology is made with a fork from the GNOME desktop. Since 
version 2.0, Cinnamon is a complete desktop and not just a GNOME 
location like GNOME Shell and Unity. Cinnamon is a fast version of 3D, 
which should be used frequently. It provides users with an “easy-to-use 
and comfortable desktop experience” while staying up-to-date with the 
latest technology and power. The DE was founded by Clement Lefebvre, 
who also developed and continues to develop the Linux Mint distribu-
tion for Linux. Linux Mint has also collaborated on the development of 
a GNOME desktop-based desktop platform known as MATE. It is the 
main Desktop for Linux Mint distribution and is available as a desktop 
of your choice for other Linux distributions and other applications such 
as UNIX.

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Extension
Cinnamon can be replaced with themes, applets, and extensions. Themes 
can customize the look of Cinnamon features, including but not lim-
ited to the menu, panel, calendar, and box usage. Apples are icons or text 
from a panel. Five applets are shipped automatically, and developers are 
free to create their own. A tutorial on creating simple apples is available. 
Extensions can change the performance of Cinnamon. Developers can 
upload their themes, applets, and extensions to the Cinnamon webpage 
and allow users to download and rate.
Flexibility
Cinnamon Desktop has an excellent exit menu that you can access with 
the right-click. This menu contains a selection of other commonly used 
functions such as accessing Desktop Settings and adding Desktop, as well 
as other Desktop-related functions.
Consolidation
The choice of Desktop does not depend on the availability of long-term 
applications. All apps, regardless of the Desktop they are designed for, will 
work well on any other desktop, and Cinnamon is the same. All librar-
ies required for the use of applications written for KDE, GNOME, or any 
other desktop are available and make using any Cinnamon desktop appli-
cation a seamless experience.
Speed
Cinnamon is quick and easy. Applications upload and display instantly. 
The Desktop itself loads quickly during login, although this is my personal 
experience and is not based on any timely testing.
Visible Connector
Cinnamon has a clean look using easy-to-read fonts and color combina-
tions. The Desktop is not interrupted by unnecessary rooting, and you 
can edit what icons are displayed on the Desktop using System Settings 
=
> Desktop Menu. This menu also allows you to specify whether desktop 
icons are displayed only on main monitors, only on secondary monitors, 
or on all monitors.
Discovery
Cinnamon is available in Linux Mint 12 storage and is included in all 
versions of Linux Mint 13 and above as one of the four possible desktop 

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environment options, the other being MATE. It is also the user of your 
choice in the Linux Mint Debian Edition Update Pack 4 respin.
Settings Editor
Settings editor for easy customization. Customize panel, calendar, themes, 
desktop effects, applets, and extensions.
Overview Mode
New views all over the world have been added to Cinnamon. These two 
methods are “Expo” and “Scale,” which can be configured in Cinnamon 
Settings.
Audio Enhancements
Audio settings are completely rewritten in Python to provide additional 
features such as notifying users when no input device is available on the 
custom page, visual changes in the audio settings panel, the ability to mute 
all volume controls simultaneously, with additional adjustments to the 
volume slider. / mute buttons, check the audio dialog boxes, and add the 
appropriate icons.
Touchpad Settings
Cinnamon users can gain full control of the touchpad pad available on 
their previously unlocked portable computer. The center-click action is 
fixed in the image frame.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
In this chapter, we have covered the introduction of Cinnamon with its 
features, history, core projects, applications, and development. Also, we 
have a separate section where you get a history of Cinnamon versions. 
Cinnamon has features that DEs like GNOME and Unity do not have. 
Cinnamon is custom-made for DE and does not require any external plu-
gin, widget, or tweak tool to customize the desktop. Cinnamon can benefit 
any new Linux user with fantastic and necessary features.

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C h a p t e r
8
LXDE Desktop 
Environment
IN THIS CHAPTER
¾
Introduction history
¾
Core components
¾
Installation of LXDE in Ubuntu
¾
Reasons to use LXDE
¾
Lubuntu distribution
In the previous chapter, we discussed Cinnamon. In this chapter, we will 
briefly discuss the Linux-based operating system LXDE. Firstly we will 
learn the fundamentals of LXDE.
INTRODUCTION
LXDE (abbreviation for Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a 
lightweight desktop operating system like Unix and Unix, such as BSD 
and Linux. It is designed to use fewer system resources than other desk-
top environments like GNOME. Initially approved by Taiwanese pro-
gram editor Hong Jen Lee in 2006, it was written in C programming 
language using the GTK tool kit; the new version, released in July 2013, 
is based on Qt.
Linux
LXDE Desktop Environment
DOI: 10.1201/9781003308676-8
10.1201/9781003308676-8

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The popularity of LXDE has grown slightly since its first release and is 
now the default desktop distribution platform for several Linux, includ-
ing Lubuntu, Knoppix, and Raspbian. Its tests have shown that it requires 
about half as much RAM compared to operating systems. It also uses less 
power, making it a good choice for portable computer users who want to 
extend their battery life.
Overview
LXDE is written in C programming language, using the GTK 2 tool kit, 
and works on Unix and other POSIX compliant platforms, such as Linux 
and BSD. The LXDE project aims to provide faster and more powerful 
desktop space. In 2010, experiments suggested that LXDE 0.5 had the low-
est memory usage of the four most popular desktop devices (GNOME 
2.29, KDE Plasma Desktop 4.4, and Xfce 4.6). It consumed less power sug-
gesting that Linux-distributed mobile computers use LXDE 0.5 and dis-
charge their batteries slower than those at other desktop locations.
LXDE uses output extracts from its components (or groups that have 
a corresponding dependency). The window manager (default) used is 
Openbox but can configure a third-party window manager with LXDE, 
such as Fluxbox, IceWM, or Xfwm. LXDE combines the GPL licensed 
code with the LGPL licensed code.
After installing the basic Gentoo system and the X server, there are sev-
eral options to consider in terms of which site has the best images to use. 
Many options are available, from minimalistic window managers such as 
Openbox to desktop environments like KDE and GNOME. Some users 
may want a lightweight image area but do not wish to install and config-
ure each component, like Openbox. For some time, users in this position 
have been installing Xfce because it fits the definition of a lightweight area 
and comes with a suite of light applications. While Xfce provides a fully 
integrated environment without the extensive use of the KDE or GNOME 
application, it can rely on the heavy side. Finally, another Xfce version has 
been created: Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment or LXDE for short. 
Users, however, who do not like all those dependencies (dbus, polkit, etc.) 
which are pulled by lxsession should check out Lumina.
HISTORY
The LXDE was started in 2006 by Taiwanese program coordinator Hong 
Jen Yee, also known as PCMan, when he published PCManFM, a new 
file manager and the first LXDE module. Compared to DistroWatch’s 

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Linux distribution rates in early January 2011, Ladislav Bodnar noted an 
increase in LXDE’s popularity compared to other desktop environments. 
He said that
The exciting thing is the increase in distribution that uses a light-
weight LXDE desktop but is full of features or an Openbox win-
dow manager if you look at the tables. For example, Lubuntu is 
beating Kubuntu well in page hits, while CrunchBang Linux, a 
lightweight distribution via Openbox, is still in the top 25 despite 
failing to produce stable releases for more than a year. Many other 
distributions began offering LXDE-based programs for their 
products, which contributed to the dramatic increase in the popu-
larity of this new desktop space.
Qt Port
LXDE is heading to Qt in 2013 and is trying to work with Razor-qt, 
another lightweight desktop. Hidden characters in the application menu 
are in traditional Chinese. On July 3, 2013, Hong announced the full Qt 
port of the LXDE suite, and on July 21, Razor-qt and LXDE announced 
plans to integrate two projects. This integration meant that GTK and Qt 
versions would be available for a long time, but, in the end, all the original 
team efforts were focused on the Qt port, LXQt.
CORE COMPONENTS
There are various core components of Qt port in LXDE as given below.
Window Manager (Openbox)
The desktop environment was developed by “PCMan” in Taiwan, aimed 
at soft and beautiful code and usable design. It uses Openbox as a Window 
Manager, which has parts of the lightweight module.
Openbox is a free X Window System window manager, licensed under 
the GNU General Public License (GPL). Openbox was initially based 
on Blackbox 0.65.0 but has been completely rewritten in the C pro-
gramming language, and version 3.0 is not supported on any code from 
Blackbox. It is designed to be minor, fast, and fully compliant with the 
Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM) and the 
Extended Window Manager (EWMH) Tips. It supports many features 
such as menus where the user can control applications or display various 

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dynamic information. The author of Openbox is Dana Jansens of Carleton 
University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Usage
Openbox allows right-clicking (or another component) “root menu” on 
desktop and enables users to configure windows management. When the 
window is lowered, it becomes invisible. To highlight windows, use the 
Alt + Tab or desktop menu, which is accessible by right-clicking (or, again, 
any other user-binding object) menu. Extending Openbox and other small 
programs that add icons, task layers, launchers, eye candy, and more like 
driver restore are common.
Features
The Openbox menu system has a way of using flexible menus. It is done 
by accepting the output of the text and using the output as a menu 
source. Each time the user points his mouse to the submenus, the script is 
restarted, and the menu is restarted. This capability allows users and soft-
ware developers to have more flexibility than the usual menus available 
from other window managers.
File Manager (PCManFM-Qt)
PCMan File Manager is a manager application developed by Hong Jen 
Yee of Taiwan, intended to replace GNOME, Dolphin, and Thunar files. 
PCManFM is a standard file manager in LXDE, also developed by the same 
author, in collaboration with other engineers. Since 2010, PCManFM has 
completely rewritten it from the beginning; building, setup, and configu-
ration instructions have changed in the process.
It is issued under the GNU License; PCManFM is free software. It 
follows the information provided by Freedesktop .o rg for collaboration. 
Dissatisfied with GTK3, Hong Jen Yee tested Qt in early 2013 and released 
the first version of PCManFM based on Qt on March 26, 2013. He clari-
fied, however, that it does not show any form of GTK to LXDE, saying: 
“GTK and Qt versions will be there together.” The new PCManFM-Qt is 
an integral part of the LXQt. By 2020, the Arch Linux community installed 
PCManFM on GTK 3.