Linux Mint 15 XFCE Desktop Edition Step by Step Installation Guide
Linux Mint 15 Codename ‘Olivia’ Xfce Edition is released with the exciting features stated below. Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment aiming to be fast instead of low system resources. In this edition, Xfce 4.10 desktop, all the improvement with latest packages are included. In this post we’ll see step by step installation and Update of packages post installation.
New Features of Linux Mint 15 Xfce Edition
- Xfce 4.10
- Whisker Menu
- MDM
- Software Sources
- Driver Manager
- Software Manager
- System Improvements
- Supports for Upstream components
- Artwork Improvements
Please go through the Release Notes to know important info or known issues before installation of this edition.
Those who are looking for a MATE Desktop installation, they can follow the Linux Mint 15 MATE Installation Guide.
Direct Download of Linux Mint 15 Xfce Edition
Please use following links to download XFCE Desktop .ISO format for 32-bit & 64-bit.
- Linux Mint 15 “Olivia” – Xfce (32-bit) – (946 MB)
- Linux Mint 15 “Olivia” – Xfce (64-bit) – (950 MB)
Installation of Linux Mint 15 Xfce Edition
1. Boot Computer with Live media or ISO.
Boot Linux Mint Xfce ISO
2. Booting with installation media.
Booting Xfce Desktop
3. It will directly boot into the live environment from where we can either test Linux Mint 15 or install it on Hard Drive. To install double click on ‘Install Linux Mint’:
Linux Mint Live Xfce Desktop
4. Welcome, Select Language and click on ‘Continue’.
Xfce Select Language
5. Preparing to install Linux Mint, click on ‘Continue’.
Preparing Xfce Installation
6. Installation type, choose ‘Something Else’ if you want to customize partition by your own. Two options ‘Encrypt the new Linux Mint installation for security’ and ‘Use LVM with the new Linux Mint installation’ included in Linux Mint Version 15.
Choose appropriate options and click on ‘Install Now’. It’s recommended to use ‘Erase disk and install Linux Mint’ would be a good choice for new entrants in Linux. Here, we have chosen ‘Something else’.
Xfce Installation Type
7. Installation type, click on ‘New partition table’ for manually partition filesystems.
Xfce New Partition Table
8. Installation type, click on ‘Continue’ to create empty partition table.
Create New Partition
9. Installation type, Create partition, selecting ‘Size‘, ‘Type for the new partition‘, ‘Location for the new partition‘, ‘Mount point‘, etc. and click on ‘Ok’.
Create Partition Table
10. Installation type, selecting ‘Mount point‘ click ‘Ok’ once selected the correct mount point.
Select Mount Point
11. Installation type, Summary of partitions. Here, we have created ‘/boot‘, ‘swap‘, and ‘/‘ partitions. It’s recommended to give 200MB for ‘/boot‘ partition.
Partition Summary
12. Regional Settings, click on ‘Continue’.
Select Regional Settings
13. Choose Keyboard layout, click on ‘Continue’.
Choose Keyboard Layout
14. Type user details like name, desired username and password to login post installation, click on ‘Continue’.
Create User Information
15. Linux Mint 15 Xfce Edition is getting installed, Files are getting copied & installing on system. Relax and sit back…!!! Have a sip of coffee as this may take several minutes depending your system configuration and internet speed.
Installing Linux Mint 15 Xfce
16. Linux Mint 15 Xfce Edition installation completed. Eject boot media and reboot system, click on ‘Restart now’.
Xfce Installation Completed
17. A brand new HTML greeter, login with username and password created during installation, click on ‘Ok’.
Xfce Greeter Login Screen
18. Linux Mint 15 Xfce Edition base system is ready. This is end of the installation.
Xfce Desktop Screen
18. Linux Mint 15 Xfce Edition Desktop.
Xfce Menu
19. Post installation it’s recommended to check for updates and install it using Update Manager. Start it from Menu >> System >> Update Manager from Desktop.
Xfce Post Installation
20. Provide password for Update Manager.
Enter Password for Update Manager
21. The Update Manager checks for updates. Click on Install Updates to install them.
Checking Updates
22. The Update Manager downloading and installing packages.
Update Manager Downloading Packages
23. Reboot your system to make the changes effective.
Xfce Logout Screen
24. System is up to date.
Xfce System Updated
Hi Narad.
i just about to try theses tutorial but, i want to ask something before i do this, in case i face problem or issue while installing Linux mint, I got PC Pentium 4 (3.00GHz ) and also Ram 1 Gb, its work?
@Furiose,
It should work well with your PC hardware configuration without any issues, give a try and see if any issues we are here to help you..
I’m fine to work and pleasure.
Thanks
After using Gnome 2 for many years, now I am using XFCE. I think it is such a great desktop.
However, I needed to tweak it a little. I wrote a simple tutorial explaining the changes I did to adapt it to my own taste:
http://cosmolinux.no-ip.org/raconetlinux2/xfce_wheezy.html
I wish it is useful to someone else.
But how to install packages for mint 15 if internet is not available. Actually i have wireless networking & I m unable to find the wireless network driver for Mint 15
Try install first mint mate or cinnamon and then, xfce 4.10.
While XFCE is ideally suited to old machines, it is a great choice for any machine where the user is looking for a desktop with a clean look and feel. I’ve tried a number of Linux distributions and desktops and for me Mint XFCE is perfect. XFCE gives a simple, fast, modern desktop feel and the additional tweaks from Mint gives you everything you need. Mint XFCE is my only OS on my i3 desktop PC and I’m dual booting it with Windows on my notebook.
Are you familiar with any networking issues in this release? I upgraded from 13 and I’m having some, at least…
No any issues with network, its working fine for me.
A nice guide to the installation process, but really this is not much if at all different from the installation process for other flavors of Linux Mint. The article would have been much better to explain why someone would want to choose XFCE over for example MATE or Cinnamon or KDE?
Is the XFCE architecture different to better suit older machines? Or is it it just a slimline version of MATE/Cinnamon? Is it any different from those two in terms of general and major updates?
As you’ve said XFCE is an alternative for older machines even though it’s becoming less lightweight with times. It’s nice for someone who used Gnome before but with modern desktop is unable to run Gnome 3/Cinnamon because of an older GPU. It is also compatible with gnome because it uses gtk as well and that makes migration much easier. Overall it doesn’t have all the facilities that Gnome has, like for example drag and drop on system panel, but these are minor things that you can get used to very easily.