Rhino Linux developers are moving away from XFCE – and I’m all for it

Rhino Linux has been one of my favorite aesthetics on the open-source desktop for some time. From theme to layout, the developers had taken the Xfce desktop and made it special. From the first time I tested Rhino Linux to now, it has always impressed me.

But something different is on the horizon, something that started back in 2023, with what the developers called the Unicorn Beyond XFCE Initiative (UBXI). The goal of UBXI was to port the Unicorn workflow, theming, and other elements beyond the XFCE desktop. The results of that effort (ports) would then be rolled into pacscripts to look and feel exactly like the XFCE-based Unicorn desktop for use on Rhino Linux. The team even invited members of the community to contribute their own UBXI ports that could be officially provided.

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Guess what? Those efforts have started to bear fruit. 

The new desktop is based on KDE 6, which means it’s not a completely new environment but rather a migration from XFCE to KDE Plasma. Even still, it has very much the Unicorn look and layout, which is important (more on that in a bit).

Over the weekend, I installed Rhino Linux solely to check out the new UBXI desktop. Although it needs some polish, you can already sense that it’s going to take Rhino Linux to the next level.

The installation

First off, let’s talk about the installation of the new UBXI desktop. All you have to do is have a running, updated version of Rhino Linux. Log into that instance, open a terminal window, and issue the command:

rpk install ubxi-kde-desktop-git

The installer will go through the process and should take less than 5 minutes. When it’s finished, reboot the system and log in. However, before you do log in, you’ll want to change from the Xfce desktop to the KDE Plasma desktop, which can be done by clicking the four-line icon near the top right of the screen and selecting Plasma (Wayland). If you don’t do this, it’ll start the default Xfce desktop.

You don’t want to set Plasma (Wayland) as the default… at least not yet.

The new UBXI desktop

The new UBXI desktop is quite similar to the old one, but there are some differences. First off, it’s clear that this is a KDE Plasma desktop. From the top bar to the KDE Plasma menu icon, the new Rhino Desktop is, at least on the surface, a rethemed take on Plasma. One nice touch is that the floating panel option was used for the left-side dock, giving it a modern look. It’s subtle but effective.

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I’ve been a big fan of KDE Plasma for a long time, so this move is a smart one. Although both KDE Plasma and XFCE are highly configurable desktop environments, KDE Plasma offers a more refined look and is easier to customize for those who might not be as familiar with Linux. 

Digging a bit deeper into the desktop, I found that it really does feel like little more than a rethemed KDE Plasma desktop environment. I’m not saying that with disdain, because the developers have done a great job making KDE Plasma look very much like the Unicorn desktop we’ve all come to know and love, but I would have liked to see a bit more variation. 

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For example, I entered edit mode for the top panel and did two things: enabled the floating option and shrunk it to almost half the length of the default. With that simple change, I had an even more unique-looking desktop. I did this to set the Rhino Linux desktop apart from all the other KDE Plasma desktops.

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And why not?

This small change helped alleviate the one criticism I have about the new UBXI ports to KDE Plasma – it needs to be as unique as the Rhino Linux distribution is. Rhino Linux has been one of my favorite Linux desktops for a while because it’s so unique. Why not take it one small step further and customize it so it looks less like a traditional KDE Plasma desktop and more like the Unicorn it wants to be?

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Be different, be unique

When I first heard about the change, I mistakenly assumed the Rhino Linux team was building a new desktop environment unique to the distribution. I was a bit disappointed when I realized that the new desktop was simply a migration away from XFCE to KDE Plasma.

I know that a large portion of the Linux community thinks there are already too many desktop environments and distributions to choose from. But part of what makes Linux so great is the freedom and choice it offers. And because competition breeds innovation, I love the idea of a distribution creating its own desktop environment to set itself apart. That’s one of the reasons why I believe the Rhino Linux team needs to go just a bit further than it has with the UBXI desktop.

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I may be in the minority, but I love how different each Linux desktop environment is and how anything is possible with them. Rhino Linux has an opportunity here to show off that very thing (along with releasing a very unique and beautiful desktop distribution). Make this desktop something special, and it will attract users. Make it just another KDE Plasma-based desktop environment and it’ll get little more than a shrug. There are tons of Linux distributions that use the Plasma desktop, and many of them look quite similar. If the Rhino Linux developers are smart, they’ll bend and twist Plasma into something wholly unique that will capture the attention of all types of users.

I recommend trying the new Plasma 6-based UBXI desktop and seeing if you feel the same way I did. Or, maybe you’ll customize it a bit more to make it uniquely yours. After all, that’s one aspect of Linux that makes it special.

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