Den tirsdag den 5. september 2017 kl. 18.44.29 UTC skrev Guy Frank:
> Thanks!  I'll give that command a try when I get a chance.  Will let you know 
> how it turns out.
> 
> Qubes 4 says it requires IOMMU and non-USB keyboard, which isn't my machine 
> (no non-USB ports for keyboard e.g.), so am under the impression I can't move 
> to 4 until I get new hardware.  Am hoping that 3.2 will be supported for a 
> couple years.  Does anyone have any idea?
> 
> I didn't notice a way to make XFCE nicer (and am not sure it solves the icons 
> issue).  Will need to look into Whiskermenus.  Would also have to find a way 
> to get back to XFCE now that I activated KDE (didn't see instructions for 
> reversing).

I'm a little worried about giving out advice on this as I'm by no means a 
super-user, however it should be relatively easy and quick to switch between 
the two, XFCE4 and KDE. Be sure you google it first to double check before you 
follow these commands, and also that you have backups of your system, just in 
case anything should go wrong. 
It's also discussed here: 
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28386453/how-do-i-set-the-default-window-manager-under-fedora-21

Be sure you didn't remove XFCE4 first, similar you don't need to remove KDE, 
they can both be installed at the same time, but only one is allowed to be run 
at the same time.
Enter fullscreen command tty with "Ctrl+Alt+F2" and type in your credentials. 

sudo systemctl stop gdm
sudo systemctl disable gdm 
sudo systemctl enable lightdm
systemctl start lightdm

Last command should trigger graphics to return, if it doesn't, try manually 
"Ctrl+Alt+F1". 

The enable/disable parts make it stick when you boot, while the stop/start is 
only until you reboot again. Be absolutely sure you never run them both at the 
same time.

~ ~ ~

hmm, I'm not sure if USB-VM is forced to be enabled, or if it is just 
"default". Like how Qubes 4 gives the choice between PV and HVM virtualization, 
I'd imagine it might also allow you to have a choice between USB-VM and USB in 
Dom0, even if USB-VM is default. I'm not sure, a lot changes in Qubes 4, and I 
haven't got the chance to try it much yet. I installed Qubes 4-RC1 temporarily 
on my Tablet/PC hybrid, and it worked fine despite my touchscreen is connected 
to the USB. I believe Qubes 4 will by default not force the USB-VM if it isn't 
feasible to do so. If I manually  make a Qubes USB-VM on that machine, the 
entire screen freezes, so USB-VM is definitely a no-go, yet it still booted and 
worked just fine. Ran it for a couple of minutes, so I don't think you are 
forced to use PS/2 or USB keyboard through a USB-VM, Qubes seems to detect if 
you can't make a USB-VM. To be determined, there are some unanswered questions 
there. As for IOMMU, perhaps it is similar logic, it might still install, but 
it won't be optimal or recommended by Qubes. Remains to be seen also.

~ ~ ~

As for the Qubes 3.2 support, it has been extended from the default 6 months to 
12 months, due to the hardware requirements as you noted. Qubes 4 is released 
about now, give or take some weeks, so roughly in one year Qubes 3.2 support is 
planned to end. That is, assuming no further extended support has been given, 
due to the hardware issue. Remains to be seeen I guess, but for now, you should 
have a year. The question is probably whether Qubes wants to force security, or 
if they will allow choice to opt-out some security in order to make it run on 
older hardware. They have shown a good positive attitude towards giving people 
choice before (within having resources/time to do so), so perhaps they will 
allow choice in Qubes 4. Who knows though, we still need an official statement 
on that. at least I haven't seen one.
There is also this page, which you may or may not have read yet 
https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2016/09/02/4-0-minimum-requirements-3-2-extended-support/

~ ~ ~ 

Taste is unique, but I'll tell you what I did so you can easier experiment to 
find yours. What I did with XFCE4 was to put the panel on the left side of the 
screen, Unity style like, albeit I heavily disliked Unity, I grew to like the 
side-panel. Having the panel there was inconvenient in the beginning, but 
eventually after a few days I got so used to it I wouldn't have it any other 
way. Then I removed any application/program text on the window buttons (in the 
default XFCE4 window plugin settings). I expanded the panel wider in the panel 
settings, so albeit the button-sizes can't be adjusted (that I know of), they 
will automatically grow bigger if the menu is bigger, while no text is enabled. 
Then I found the "dusk" theme to make it bit more stylish/dark'ish, it's 
default in XFCE4 appearance settings. 
Then I moved the "Sound" button and "Logout/Lock-screen" buttons, etc. to a new 
panel, which is somewhere midscreen at the top, but has autodisappearenace. The 
reason is because that I cant resize the Sound button, so I gave it a new home 
instead of polluting the left-panel menu by its incredibly large unadjusted 
size. The second menu is smaller, therefore the sound icon is smaller too. 

Then I did 
sudo qubes-dom0-update xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin*
in Dom0 terminal to install the whispermenu plugin. 

Then I went to XFCE4 panel settings, found the whiskermenu plugin that was 
automatically installed by the above command, and started putting settings to 
my liking. I also changed the icon of the menu to a more stylish icon. 
Then right click on each icon in your sub-menu's to favorite them. Drag and 
drop in favorites to put them in the order you prefer. 
I like to have them in order so that all my "Files" of relevant VM's are after 
each others, and all my different Firefox VM's are clustered together, in their 
different colors, and so on.  

Then I just disabled the default menu's, since Whiskermenu provides everything.

At this point I do 
sudo qubes-dom0-update htop 

Careful not to install too much in dom0 for security and stability reasons, 
however htop is nice to keep track of resources with. 
Start htop in dom0 terminal by simply "htop".
Then make sure XFCE4 or any of its plugins isn't eating up a lot of resources, 
like CPU/Memory. XFCE4 is normally very fast and light, but a bad plugin can 
quickly change that, especially on weaker systems.

There are many other ways to put up your XFCE4, try experiment till you find 
something you like. Also if you feel unsure of a design, try it for a few days, 
you never know if it will grow on you.

~ ~ ~ 

A bit length post, but I hope you could use some of it (:

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