☰
✕
✕

How to Install Xfdashboard in Ubuntu

To Install Xfdashboard in Ubuntu

Xfdashboard is a GNOME Shell based dashboard used for Xfce. It displays an overview of open applications and enables the users to switch between applications, work-space selector, application launcher and a search tool. It allows the users to create shortcuts easily. This article shows the installation process of Xfdashboard in Ubuntu.


Installation of Xfdashboard

First you need to add the repository for installing the Xfdashboard.

root@linuxhelp2:~# add-apt-repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/extras
 As always, install packages from PPA' s at your own risk.

This is a preview PPA for Xubuntu. The packages in this PPA are considered for inclusion in the Ubuntu repositories and/or Xubuntu at a later time. The packages are uploaded for the convenience of people willing to preview the new features.

NOTE: The packages haven' t undergone major testing and are not suitable for most installations!

There is no guarantee that these packages will make it into the Ubuntu repositories (or the Xubuntu seed) and they can be removed from the PPA at any time by the Xubuntu developers. Please DO NOT rely on this PPA for features you need in any installation.

File bugs!
Xfdashboard: https://bugzilla.xfce.org/buglist.cgi?component=General& product=Xfdashboard

Xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin: https://bugzilla.xfce.org/buglist.cgi?component=General& product=Xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin

Xfce4-hotcorner-plugin: https://github.com/brianhsu/xfce4-hotcorner-plugin/issues
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~xubuntu-dev/+archive/ubuntu/extras
Press [ENTER] to continue or ctrl-c to cancel adding it

gpg: keyring `/tmp/tmp7pxutw09/secring.gpg'  created
gpg: keyring `/tmp/tmp7pxutw09/pubring.gpg'  created
gpg: requesting key 142986CE from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: /tmp/tmp7pxutw09/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
gpg: key 142986CE: public key " Launchpad PPA for Xubuntu Developers"  imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)
OK

Update the newly added repository with the following command.

root@linuxhelp2:~# apt-get update
Hit:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease   
Hit:2 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease          
Get:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net/xubuntu-dev/extras/ubuntu xenial InRelease [17.5 kB]
Hit:4 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease                  
Hit:5 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease                 
Get:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/xubuntu-dev/extras/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages [2,316 B]
Get:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/xubuntu-dev/extras/ubuntu xenial/main i386 Packages [2,316 B]
Get:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/xubuntu-dev/extras/ubuntu xenial/main Translation-en [1,012 B]
Fetched 23.2 kB in 2s (8,072 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done

Now its time to install the Xfdashboard.

root@linuxhelp2:~# apt-get install xfdashboard -y
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-2-0 libxfce4ui-common libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util7
  libxfconf-0-2 libxfdashboard0 xfconf xfdashboard-plugins
Suggested packages:
  devhelp
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-2-0 libxfce4ui-common libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util7
  libxfconf-0-2 libxfdashboard0 xfconf xfdashboard xfdashboard-plugins
0 upgraded, 13 newly installed, 0 to remove and 304 not upgraded.
Need to get 2,592 kB of archives.
After this operation, 8,532 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 libxfce4util-common all 4.12.1-2 [50.1 kB]
.
.
.
Setting up libxfce4util-common (4.12.1-2) ...
Setting up libxfce4util7 (4.12.1-2) ...
Setting up xfconf (4.12.0-2) ...
Setting up libxfconf-0-2 (4.12.0-2) ...
Setting up libxfce4ui-common (4.12.1-2) ...
Setting up libxfce4ui-1-0 (4.12.1-2) ...
Setting up libgarcon-common (0.4.0-2) ...
Setting up libgarcon-1-0 (0.4.0-2) ...
Setting up libxfce4ui-2-0 (4.12.1-2) ...
Setting up libxfce4util-bin (4.12.1-2) ...
Setting up libxfdashboard0:amd64 (0.6.0-0ubuntu1~16.04) ...
Setting up xfdashboard (0.6.0-0ubuntu1~16.04) ...
Setting up xfdashboard-plugins:amd64 (0.6.0-0ubuntu1~16.04) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu3) ...

Once the above process is completed, open the Xfdashboard through the terminal.

root@linuxhelp2:~# xfdashboard

Start enjoying your favorite application through Xfdahsboard.

To Uninstall Xfdashboard

Utilize the following command to remove the Xfdashboard.

root@linuxhelp1:~# apt-get remove xfdashboard -y
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-2-0 libxfce4ui-common libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util7
  libxfconf-0-2 libxfdashboard0 xfconf xfdashboard-plugins
Use ' sudo apt autoremove'  to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  xfdashboard
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 304 not upgraded.
After this operation, 2,268 kB disk space will be freed.
(Reading database ... 209264 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing xfdashboard (0.6.0-0ubuntu1~16.04) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-0ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu5) ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.3~bzr0+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.59ubuntu1) ...

Tag : Gnome desktop XFCE Ubuntu
FAQ
Q
What is Xfdashboard?
A
Xfdashboard is a GNOME Shell based dashboard used for Xfce. It displays an overview of open applications and enables the users to switch between applications, work-space selector, application launcher and a search tool. It allows users to create shortcuts easily.
Q
Why is xfdashboard starting up so slow?
A
xfdashboard is not lightweight and as it depends on Clutter and OpenGL most performance issues will be graphics card and driver related. Xfce you find this autostart entry to enable in your a
Q
Can I launch xfdashboard via hot-corners like in Gnome shell?
A
xfdashboard does not support hot-corners and likely never will.

But you can use other applications, e.g. brightside or xdotool.
Q
How did you deal with the libclutter problem exactly?
A
I assume it's because the program is dynamically linked in the PPA to a newer version of libclutter. Building against ours makes it work with it. There's a good explanation in this week's Dis
Q
Why does xfdashboard only find applications but not files when searching on GhostBSD?
A
xfdashboard only supports the searching application by default and will never do more in the future. But it is planned to allow developing plug-ins which can extend xfdashboard's search capabilities.