LXDE Setup Guide

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A Beginners Guide To Setting Up Linux Mint LXDE, The Lightweight Champion

1. Linux File System	12. Updating and Upgrading
2. Browsers	13. Purging and Cleaning
3. Desktop	14. Password and Name Changes
4. Taskbar	15. Hidden GUI's and Run
5. Terminal	16. Dual Monitors and Autostart
6. Wallpaper	17. Sound
7. Installing & Removing Repository Applications	18. Network Sharing
8. Installing Nonrepository Applications & Handbrake	19. Renaming Hard Drives
9. Tarballs, The LXDE Main Menu & Lxmed	20. Flash Player in Firefox & Mint 64-bit
10. Microsoft Programs & Wine	21. Simple Bash Command Examples
11. Main Menu and Internet Links to the Desktop - .Desktop Files	22. Some Important Places

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Use LXSession Edit to turn on important services
Unfortunately some useful desktop services are turned off in LXDE by default. So you might need to turn them on manually in LXDE. Please execute 'lxsession-edit' or find 'Desktop Session Settings' in the application menu. Please complain to the developers of the distro you use and asked them to enable those services, such as network manager, in LXDE.

As you can see, network manager, pulse audio, and others can all be turned on here. 

Network

After login, the first issue you'll encounter is 'how to connect to the internet'?

• Network manager: Actually, network manager works pretty well under LXDE. You just need to turn it on since it's deliberately disabled in LXDE by some distros. Use LXSession Edit to turn it on.
• wicd: Many users prefer this over network manager. However it's less user-friendly and it's written in Python. So you'll need python runtime to use it.
• connman: The network management tool from Intel. I have tested it but it doesn't work on my laptop.
• lxnm: It's currently broken. Don't use it until Fred fixes it.
• Other distro-specific ways: Read the 'fine' manuals for your distros.

NOTE: unlike XFCE, Gnome, KDE and almost every other Desktop environment there is no way to "remember" wireless settings in Lubuntu or LXDE Mint, which is a huge snafu. I do not know if ubuntu plans on fixing this and can find no solution in the forums.

Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment

LXDE, Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment, is a desktop environment which is lightweight and fast. It is designed to be user friendly and slim, and keep the resource usage low. LXDE uses less RAM and less CPU while being a feature rich desktop environment. Unlike other iphone photography tightly integrated desktops LXDE strives to be modular, so each component can be used independently with few dependencies. This makes porting LXDE to different distributions and platforms easier.

A good starting point is the General Information page, where you find information on system requirements and compatibility. You also find an overview of distributions including LXDE with installation instructions, plus more general installation instructions, information on LXDE components and our future plans on the wiki. More about LXDE on the lxde.org website, the LXDE blogs, and in the LXDE forum.

Here is a complete LXDE setup guide from the creator of LXDE.

LXDE Components

• PCManFM, is a fast and lightweight file manager with features like Drag & Drop support, tabbed browsing (Similar to Firefox), Built-in file searching utility, fast load of large directories, File association support (Default application), Thumbnail for image files, Bookmarks support, correct handling of non-UTF-8 encoded filenames and more 
• LXLauncher, an easy-mode application launcher
• LXPanel, desktop panel. The panel can generate menu for installed applications automatically from *.desktop files. It can be configured from GUI preference dialog, and there is no need to edit config files. The component provides a "Run" dialog with autocompletion.
• LXSession, a session manager. The LXSession manager is used to automatically start a set of applications and set up a working desktop environment. Moreover, the session manager is able to remember the applications in use when a user logs out and to restart them the next time the user logs in.
• LXSession Edit, an edit manager for session management. The window manager in use in LXDE can be changed, the tool offers the ability to turn on disabled applications.
• LXAppearance, a theme switcher. You can change the theme, icons, and fonts used by applications easily.
• Leafpad, a text editor
• Xarchiver, archiving
• GPicView, an image viewer. GPicView features lightening fast startup and intuitive interface.
• LXTerminal, a terminal emulator
• LXTask, a task manager / system monitor
• LXNM, a lightweight network connection helper daemon for LXDE supporting wireless connections (Linux-only)
• Openbox, a window manager and obconf
• LXRandr, a screen manager. Manages screen resolution and external monitors.
• LXShortCut, an easy way to edit application shortcuts
• LXMusic, a minimalist xmms2-based music player
• LXDE Common, the default settings configuration file for integrating the different components of LXDE. LXDE Common manages the system behavior and functions to integrate icons and artwork.
• GtkNetCat, a Graphic User Interface for netcat. Netcat provides system functions as a computer networking utility for reading from and writing to network connections on either TCP or UDP.
• Menu-Cache now moved to libexec
• LXInput, a config tool to configure your keyboard and mouse under LXDE
• lxde-settings-daemon, configures theme, keyboard and mouse for you. (works with lxinput config tool)
• LXDM, a lightweight display manager
• LXMenu Data, a collection of files, intended to adapt LXDE menus to the freedesktop.org menu specification

How to customize LXDE

• Change keyboard layouts 
• Automatically start some applications
• Change window manager in LXDE
• Some suggested lightweight applications to be used in LXDE
• How to get Folders, Files and Icon Launchers on the Desktop
• How to start applications on specific desktops
• How to add entries to the menu
• How to set hotkeys

more in the category How tos