# Xfce4 rant



## Sevendogsbsd (Feb 26, 2021)

OK, so I use Kali Linux daily at work because of what I do. Just updated and the version we use has Xfce4 as a desktop. Used to be fine, now instead of actually viewing and acting on files, Thunar only provides a "catfish" search and you apparently can't see your files any longer? No apparent away to turn this off.

I am switching to something actually useful like DWM or maybe open box. Really disappointed.


----------



## phalange (Feb 26, 2021)

DWM and Openbox don't have file managers. You could check out pcmanfm as an alternative to thunar. Or dolphin (lots of dependencies) or Caja.


----------



## Jose (Feb 26, 2021)

Sevendogsbsd said:


> OK, so I use Kali Linux daily at work because of what I do. Just updated and the version we use has Xfce4 as a desktop. Used to be fine, now instead of actually viewing and acting on files, Thunar only provides a "catfish" search and you apparently can't see your files any longer? No apparent away to turn this off.
> 
> I am switching to something actually useful like DWM or maybe open box. Really disappointed.


Typical. FOSS developers emulating Apple/Android because fear, uncertainty, doubt.


----------



## Sevendogsbsd (Feb 26, 2021)

phalange said:


> DWM and Openbox don't have file managers. You could check out pcmanfm as an alternative to thunar. Or dolphin (lots of dependencies) or Caja.


I know. Switched to LXQt and that was exactly what I was looking for. Too bad: Xfce4 used to be nice.


----------



## Sevendogsbsd (Feb 26, 2021)

Jose said:


> Typical. FOSS developers emulating Apple/Android because fear, uncertainty, doubt.


Yeah, that I can't "see" my files without searching for them is idiotic. Like I don't know where they are. Heck, even Apple now includes a file manager on iOS that is at least somewhat useful, relatively speaking. 

I normally only use command line on Kali but sometimes I still use graphical tools.


----------



## Crivens (Feb 26, 2021)

Try xfe. Or worker. Both are small, fast and have few dependencies.
After the last update to xfce I ended up with a barely usable desktop and went to windowmaker. That the close button is top-right grates on me a little bit, but I might get it over with one day.

To completely shock people you can use fvwm95.


----------



## Sevendogsbsd (Feb 26, 2021)

I like xfe but this LXQt desktop is rocking the sh*t. PCmanfm is working for me.


----------



## eternal_noob (Feb 26, 2021)

Sevendogsbsd said:


> Used to be fine, now instead of actually viewing and acting on files, Thunar only provides a "catfish" search and you apparently can't see your files any longer? No apparent away to turn this off.


AFAIK catfish is only a frontend to several search engines (doodle, find, slocate and tracker). What happens if you deinstall it? Thunar should not depend on it.


----------



## Sevendogsbsd (Feb 26, 2021)

Yeah, it is a file search tool apparently. Honestly I didn't even try. I was so disgusted that some designer thought a search was what I should be shown when opening a file manager that I just dumped the whole thing. Knee jerk reaction I know.


----------



## Matlib (Feb 26, 2021)

SpaceFM


----------



## Sevendogsbsd (Feb 26, 2021)

Nope, tried it don’t like it. Not bad, I just didn’t like it. Pcmanfm or xfe are my favorite lite file managers.


----------



## roper (Feb 26, 2021)

I have not seen this behavior in thunar, but I use it primarily as a menu for a media pc. I didn't know what catfish was until just now. Thunar 4.16 to me looks very much the same as 4.14 but now remembers folder views, which is a feature I find pleasant. When I need to search I query the locate database from a terminal window on my workstation. I've used pcmanfm under xfce in the past when thunar was buggy.


----------



## Sevendogsbsd (Feb 26, 2021)

It caught me off guard because I wanted to see the files, not search for them. Any window location I opened (system, home, etc) all gave the same view with no apparent ability to actually view any files.


----------



## recluce (Feb 28, 2021)

Sevendogsbsd said:


> OK, so I use Kali Linux daily at work because of what I do. Just updated and the version we use has Xfce4 as a desktop. Used to be fine, now instead of actually viewing and acting on files, Thunar only provides a "catfish" search and you apparently can't see your files any longer? No apparent away to turn this off.
> 
> I am switching to something actually useful like DWM or maybe open box. Really disappointed.


Thunar is not the only recent issue with XFCE4. If you want a volume control on your desktop, xfce4-mixer is no longer available and they recommend the pulseaudio mixer instead, which of course pulls in pulseaudio. Part of the reason I installed xfce4 on one machine was to have no pulseaudio messing up audio. Time to move to LXQT or something along those lines.


----------



## a6h (Feb 28, 2021)

I can't rammender the reason, but years ago I chose _pcmanfm _over {_pcmanfm-qt,_ _thunar, caja_} to use on _i3_. It works great. No complaint.


----------

