This is really a "check just to make sure" question. I just don't want to mess my system up by trying something out, without really knowing what it is going to do!

If I have a standard Ubuntu 11.04 install, I can choose when logging in whether I want the new Unity desktop, or Classic Gnome desktop. If I just wanted to try the Xubuntu desktop, without any of its associated applications, what is the correct line to type into the shell? I see on one site they recommend:

sudo apt-get install xfce4 gdm xubuntu-gdm-theme xubuntu-artwork

But there are also other sites that have reported problems getting the standard Gnome desktop back, once someone has tried the xcfe desktop. I wondered if it were possible, at login, to just select which one you wanted, and away you went.

Could anyone clarify a way to download & install just the xcfe desktop, but not the associated applications (Abiword etc), and also confirm that I just select this new desktop at login; and afterwards can just revert to the classic Gnome desktop at login and all will be back to normal?

Yours in trepidation,
Steve

This should work fine.

You can choose at the gdm login which DE to start and will not have any problems when you select the classic desktop.

I wonder if you might put:

xfce4 is the only package you need to install to get a basic Xfce desktop.

Okay, thanks for the advice.