Xubuntu-desktop (XFCE) recipes

How to move from Ubuntu 13.04 to Xubuntu (Xfce)?

Good steb-by-step manual: https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/alternative

How to create keyboard layout shortcut?

setxkbmap  -option grp:caps_toggle,grp_led:scroll "us,ru"

How to make desktop icons text transparent (icons shadow analog on Windows)?

Run vi ~/.gtkrc-2.0 and add the following config there:

style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {
  ## opacity of text background (0 - 255, 0 = transparent)
  XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 0
  XfdesktopIconView::selected-label-alpha = 100

  ## text background colors
  base[NORMAL]    = "#EDECEB"
  base[ACTIVE]    = shade (0.8, "#86ABD9")
  base[SELECTED]  = "#86ABD9"

  ## text foreground colors
  fg[NORMAL]      = shade (0.9, "#FFFFFF")
  fg[ACTIVE]      = shade (0.8, "#FFFFFF")
  fg[SELECTED]    = "#FFFFFF"

  ## whether or not unselected icon text gets truncated (...)
  # XfdesktopIconVIew::ellipsize-icon-labels = 1

  ## text shadow to be painted with the icon labels
  # XfdesktopIconView::shadow-x-offset = 0
  # XfdesktopIconView::shadow-y-offset = 0
  # XfdesktopIconView::shadow-color = "#000000"
  # XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-x-offset = 0
  # XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-y-offset = 0
  # XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-color = "#ffffff"

  ## spacing and sizing of icons on the grid
  # XfdesktopIconVIew::cell-spacing = 6
  # XfdesktopIconView::cell-padding = 6
  # XfdesktopIconView::cell-text-width-proportion = 2.5
}
widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view" 

How to switch version of Java in Ubuntu

Had a little headache trying to change version of JDK back from 1.7 to 1.6, so here is the instruction:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install update-java

Then type:

sudo update-java

… and you’ll see the window with versions of Java to switch to.

Voila.

P.S. To extend the list of available JDK’s download the version you need and extract it to /usr/lib/jvm/