MX Linux Forum

MX-23.3 LXQt 1.3 Respin

I made a LXQt respin based on MX-23.3.

Based on MX-23.3 default Xfce x64 iso with standard 6.1 kernel.
Root password is root.
LXQt is the default session that appears on the live iso.
LXQt is version 1.3 from MX Test repo. LXQt Runner (keyboard application launcher) is not installed, because I had no need for it.
LXQt works well based on limited testing. Make sure to open LXQt Monitor Settings (not lxrandr Monitor settings which might come from original Xfce iso) and save your monitor settings otherwise you will get a pop-up notification next login.
LXQt uses the familiar Xfwm window manager.
Xscreensaver handles screensaver, lock screen and power settings.
LXQt Power Management provides additional features.
I set up Breeze theming which covers all toolkits and components. By using “Qt Palette” in settings dark theming can be achieved. I didn’t see Qt style for MX Comfort themes.
The Xfce session provides a lot of value so I kept it. Nothing has been uninstalled. Only the Xfwm theme has been changed to fit the LXQt session.
Xfce is slightly better than LXQt in my opinion, but I think a lightweight Qt desktop is an interesting option. There are no KDE components installed (except for libs).
It is possible to set Chromium browsers to use Qt front-ends and the same is true for LibreOffice, but I kept Firefox and gtk3 integration for LibreOffice.
I was inspired by Lubuntu, but MX is more fun.
Thanks to the MX devs for making sure MX Tools work in any DE. There is an install icon on the live desktop.
RAM usage should be similar or slightly lower than Xfce. It mostly depends on your kernel and/or proprietary drivers. Try it out live if you are curious.

Download links:
ISO image:
https://mega.nz/file/hRsyVRyC#EN0ZZoatb ... 9hxTOXsHRI
Md5:
https://mega.nz/file/cBt21ALB#rdaaij33o ... mXvonW4L1s
Screenshot:
https://i.postimg.cc/VsX2qXZB/MX-LXQt-S ... -05-25.png

Thanks, Dreamer. This really solves a big problem I was having with a weak older laptop. Even XFCE was too much for it. With your respin I have very decent performance plus the MX stable of helpful tools.

I decided to strip off some xfce components, and of course, I got into trouble. On reboot there was no window manager, but I was able to log in by pointing lxqt to compton. From there I reinstalled xfcewm.

Somewhere along the line, though, I think I lost the original compositor. Because in it I had set the windows to go partially transparent when moving. Now I'm trying to back that off, but the compton compositor doesn't allow for it. I suspect the stock compositor is not compton.

Do you have any guidance on that? Thanks much.

paul1149 wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 9:49 pm Thanks, Dreamer. This really solves a big problem I was having with a weak older laptop. Even XFCE was too much for it. With your respin I have very decent performance plus the MX stable of helpful tools.

I decided to strip off some xfce components, and of course, I got into trouble.

Hi,
Uninstalling XFCE components won't save any CPU cycles or decrease RAM consumption in LXQt. I checked that no XFCE processes are running in LXQt except those needed for example Xfwm and Thunar if you start it. You might save 300 MiB worth of disk space if you uninstall XFCE, but that's about it.

paul1149 wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 9:49 pm On reboot there was no window manager, but I was able to log in by pointing lxqt to compton. From there I reinstalled xfcewm.

Somewhere along the line, though, I think I lost the original compositor. Because in it I had set the windows to go partially transparent when moving. Now I'm trying to back that off, but the compton compositor doesn't allow for it. I suspect the stock compositor is not compton.

Do you have any guidance on that? Thanks much.

Advanced options for Xfwm can be accessed from MX Tweak, but only from the XFCE session. MX Tweak doesn't display XFCE related tabs in other environments.

If you just want the common options found in XFCE like transparency etc. you can reach them from LXQt. I guess the problem is you uninstalled Xfwm and these Xfwm configuration utilities disappeared.
Here is how you can get them back. First make sure Xfwm is installed then copy these files to your home directory. Replace USERNAME with you real username.
Then you must open these 3 files located in /home/USERNAME/.local/share/applications. Use for example Featherpad and add LXQt; to the OnlyShowIn line like this:

OnlyShowIn=XFCE;LXQt;

For ultra lightweight Linux experience you can install Openbox window manager if you want access to a minimal Openbox session from the login screen. Then if you still want to use LXQt you can set either openbox or xfwm as window manager in LXQt Configuration Center → Session Settings.

Restart and log in again and LXQt will use your preferred window manager.

Hope this helps.

@dreamer , thanks very much. That is a big help. I was trying to save resources and avoid any potential conflicts, but it doesn't seem necessary. Next time I will leave it alone! Thanks again, and for a great respin.