🚀 Getting Started with XFCE Linux
XFCE Linux is a lightweight, immutable XFCE desktop OS image built from source with BuildStream. It layers the XFCE desktop on top of freedesktop-sdk and publishes a bootable OCI/bootc image.
Available Images
# Pull the image
podman pull ghcr.io/tuna-os/xfce-linux:latest
# Switch an existing bootc system
sudo bootc switch ghcr.io/tuna-os/xfce-linux:latest
sudo systemctl reboot
Quick Start
Prerequisites
- BuildStream 2.7.0+
- Podman or Docker
- QEMU + KVM for testing
- 200GB+ free disk space
- 8GB+ RAM recommended (lighter than GNOME/KDE)
Build from Source
git clone https://github.com/tuna-os/xfce-linux.git
cd xfce-linux
# Build OCI image
just build
just export
just boot-vm # Test in QEMU
Install via bootc (from pre-built image)
sudo bootc switch ghcr.io/tuna-os/xfce-linux:latest
sudo systemctl reboot
First Look
XFCE Linux provides a classic, lightweight desktop experience:
- XFCE 4.20 — latest stable with Wayland support (
xfwl4) - 55 XFCE applications — including Thunar (file manager), Ristretto (image viewer), Parole (media player)
- 31 panel plugins — extensive panel customization
- Low resource usage — runs well on 4GB RAM systems
Key XFCE Features
| Feature | How to Access |
|---|---|
| Application Menu | Alt+F1 or click Whisker menu |
| Window Manager | Alt+F7 (move), Alt+F8 (resize) |
| Workspaces | Ctrl+Alt+Left/Right to switch |
| Panel Customization | Right-click panel → Panel Preferences |
| Settings Manager | Applications → Settings |
Customization
# Open Settings Manager
xfce4-settings-manager
# Configure panel
xfce4-panel --preferences
# Install XFCE themes
brew install xfce-themes
Lightweight Advantage
XFCE Linux is the lightest TunaOS variant:
| Variant | RAM at idle | Disk usage |
|---|---|---|
| GNOME | ~1.2 GB | ~4 GB |
| KDE Plasma | ~1.0 GB | ~3.5 GB |
| XFCE | ~600 MB | ~2.5 GB |
Perfect for older hardware, VMs, and minimal environments.
Software
# Flatpak (pre-enabled)
flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox
# Lightweight native apps
sudo dnf install mousepad ristretto parole
See Also
- Build Guide — detailed build instructions
- Project Status — current development status
- Contributing — how to help
- Tromsø (KDE) — the KDE Plasma variant
- Managing with Bootc — switching variants