LXQt is a free and open source desktop environment for Linux.
The release of the new version of the desktop environment "LXQt 1.3" was recently announced . This version is still based on the latest LTS version of the QT framework, namely Qt 5.15 , and although the jump to QT 6 was expected, it is not yet ready, but far from that, this new version comes with important improvements.
LXQt positions itself as a lightweight, modular, fast, and convenient continuation of the development of Razor-qt and LXDE desktop computers, having absorbed the best features of both.
For those unfamiliar with LXQt, it 's a desktop environment resulting from the merger of the LXDE and Razor-qt projects. It's positioned as an excellent option for low-resource computers or those who prefer to conserve resources , as LXQt's main improvement is its lightweight desktop and significantly greater control compared to LXDE.
Main new features of LXQt 1.3
The new version of LXQt 1.3 includes improvements to the file manager (PCManFM-Qt) in all display modes. It also implements the ability to disable smooth scrolling and improves the handling of zero-size files, which are no longer treated as text files. An issue with the display of items on the desktop after a configuration change has been resolved, and the default name for newly created files is now "New File".
Another notable change in the new version is in the QTerminal terminal emulator, which has improved support for working in Wayland -based environments (ensuring the correct selection of the context menu position), as well as fixing problems when switching between dark and light themes.
In addition, the lxqt-sudo utility adds the ability to use doas, an analogue of the OpenBSD project's sudo utility, and the detection of the window manager and system tray in the session manager has been improved.
In the panel, by default, the plugin build to display the DOM tree is enabled and in the LXImage image viewer, the app icon has been replaced with a vector image in SVG format.
Like previous releases, LXQt 1.3 continues to be based on the Qt 5.15 branch, for which official updates are released only under a commercial license, while the KDE project generates unofficial updates.
It should be mentioned that work on the migration to Qt 6 is ongoing, so its implementation is not yet available, as the developers have decided that it cannot be offered to users until the stabilization of the KDE Frameworks 6 libraries is complete.
Other notable changes include :
- Qt6 support was started (and can be used in WIP builds) but could not be released due to the lack of a stable KF6.
- Other changes can be found in the changelogs of the LibFM-Qt/PCManFM-Qt components
- Prevented desktop items from shaking on setting changes.
- Fixed opening non-executable files that have executable types.
"New file" is used as the default name for new files (especially after GLib 2.75.1, which no longer handles empty text/plain files)
For more details about the release of this new version, you can consult the following link.
If you are interested in downloading the source code and compiling it yourself, you should know that it is hosted on GitHub and comes under the GPL 2.0+ and LGPL 2.1+ licenses.
As for the builds of this environment, these are already found within most Linux distributions, for example for Ubuntu (LXQt is offered by default in Lubuntu), Arch Linux, Fedora, openSUSE, Mageia, Debian, FreeBSD, ROSA and ALT Linux.