Presented desktop environment release LXQt 2.0.0 (Qt Lightweight Desktop Environment), which continues the development of the LXDE and Razor-qt projects. The LXQt interface follows the ideas of the classic desktop organization, but introduces modern design and techniques that increase ease of use. LXQt is positioned as a lightweight, modular, fast and convenient environment that incorporates the best features of LXDE and Razor-qt. Code posted on GitHub and is licensed under GPL 2.0+ and LGPL 2.1+. The appearance of ready-made assemblies is expected for Ubuntu (LXQt is offered by default in Lubuntu) Arch Linux, Fedora, openSUSE, Mageia, FreeBSD, ROSA And ALT Linux.
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During the development of the LXQt 2.0 branch, the main attention is paid to the transition of project components and applications from Qt 5 to the use of the Qt 6.6 library. To ensure the correct design style of applications using Qt5, and the implementation of the file opening dialog offered in LXQt, it is possible to install the old libraries libqtxdg-3.12.0, lxqt-qtplugin-1.4.1 and libfm-qt-1.4.0, in parallel with their new versions from LXQt 2.0.0 using Qt 6. The release of the terminal emulator QTerminal 2.0, translated to Qt6, will be published later. Until then, it is suggested to use QTerminal 1.4 based on Qt5.
The new version also adapts the environment to use the Wayland protocol. In its current form, not all LXQt components have been translated to Wayland and full support for this protocol is expected in version LXQt 2.1, scheduled for this fall. LXQt 2.0.0 has full support for Wayland provided in the PCManFM-Qt file manager, notification system, desktop, Runner, panel, logout interface, LXQt configuration interface and most applications. The translation of panel plugins to Wayland with the implementation of the taskbar, virtual desktop switcher and keyboard layout indicator, as well as a utility for creating screenshots, a system of keyboard shortcuts and configurators for input devices, monitor and screen lock has not yet been completed.
It was noted that instead of components not yet ported to Wayland, you can use the capabilities provided by composite servers based on Wayland, i.e. With the right skill, you can set up a fully working LXQt environment on top of Wayland. LXQt is not tied to individual composite managers and can be used with LabWC, WayFire, kwin_wayland,Sway, Hyprland and other Wayland-based composite managers based on the library wlroots and supporting the protocol “layer-shell“.
Among the others changes in LXQt 2.0.0:
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- To the file manager PCManFM-Qt added the ability to use the layer-shell-qt6 layer, which allows you to organize the functioning of the desktop in Wayland-based environments without additional hacks that implement compatibility with different composite managers. New icons have been added to the menu. The LibFM-Qt library has updated support for MIME types of LXQt Archiver and Arqiver applications.
- By default, a new application menu “Fancy Menu” is offered, which, in addition to distributing applications into categories, implements a summary display mode for all applications and adds a list of frequently used applications. In addition, the new menu has expanded the ability to search for programs. If desired, you can return the old menu in the settings.
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