New EOS LXQt Install

larrys4227 · April 10, 2026, 1:02pm

I was having trouble with another non-EOS Arch install because I decided to install another desktop alongside Plasma. Theres something to be said about not doing this. I was going to Timeshift the distro back, but decided to try LXQt, the EOS version. I already have EOS XFCE, which I thoroughly enjoy.

I’ve heard a bunch of how far along LXQt has come. I’ve gotta say, the EOS version is excellent! Configuring hasn’t been that hard, just finding ‘how-to-do’ things has been timely, but I’ve been getting there. I’ve got some experience with FluxBox and Openbox so understanding how its working wasn’t too bad. I like a dark theme, and I’ve got it mostly there. Some apps I open are still opening in light mode … some have options to change to dark in their preferences. Those others that don’t, I’ll pick off one by one by finding a way to change settings in config files.

One I didn’t like right off was Brave wanted to use KWallet every time I opened it. Lots of resources said to just uninstall Kwallet, but ran into dependency problems so pacman wouldn’t let me. Finally found a snippet on how to disable it.

Terminal transparency I can’t get to work, but I ran into this before on another Openbox install. It comes in handy at times, but certainly not a deal breaker.

So far, I’m pleased with LXQt! Lightweight and really fast! The initial install was nice and small …no bloat with programs I don’t need! Glad to see pipewire! I listen to alot of music and it sounds great!

Nice job on this …

anon26608633 · April 10, 2026, 1:16pm

anon26608633 · April 10, 2026, 1:21pm

Am I reading the RAM usage correctly: It only takes 1.88 GB for the system?

made-lief · April 10, 2026, 1:33pm

Why not use something like Quickemu to test LXQT.
Personaly I am not a fan of Timeshift, specially not just for testing a DE and you facing intervering KDE stuff on the LXQT session at the moment.

Quick workflow to test EOS in quickemu

quickemu + quickget: EndeavourOS

Install

sudo pacman -S quickemu

Download & Run VM

mkdir -p ~/emu
cd ~/emu
quickget endeavouros titan-2026.03.06
quickemu --vm endeavouros-titan-2026.03.06.conf

Thats it for a quick test of any iso.

To see all possible distro’s do:

quickget --list

larrys4227 · April 10, 2026, 2:01pm

Yes, and thats with Brave, Kitty, Tmux, Btop and Quod Libet all running. On first boot, the RAM is well under 1G

larrys4227 · April 10, 2026, 2:08pm

Thanks the Quickemu tip. I’m not a big fan of Plasma and wanted a fresh start with something different. Not a big loss in overwriting that partition. Plus, I like all the different options in EOS Calimari … things I want (HP Print tools, etc), don’t want (Firefox, etc). I appreciate the ability to not install Grub too … EOS XFCE handles that duty for my 6-7 installs and when a distro doesn’t give me that option … my Grub is messed up.

I have had great luck with Timeshift … we each have choices. At least I’m backing up, which alot of folks don’t do. LOL

anon26608633 · April 10, 2026, 3:02pm

Stunning.

thefrog · April 11, 2026, 1:41pm

not sure what terminal your using but with kitty you get transparency.

chroot · April 11, 2026, 2:30pm

May need a compositor (picom, xcompmgr, etc) in X11

larrys4227 · April 11, 2026, 2:37pm

I am using kitty as well. Could you show me your kitty config? Mine is here and works correctly in most of my installs :
background_opacity 0.7

larrys4227 · April 11, 2026, 2:46pm

Its a brand new install and I haven’t changed any of that. Did I not see that it came with picom by default? Certainly could be mistaken …

thefrog · April 11, 2026, 11:50pm

Make sure to go into LXQT Configuration Settings and then go to Autostart and make sure Picom is checked

You’ll also need to create/edit the picom config file (./config/picom.conf)
here is a copy of myne

#backend
vsync=true
backend = "xrender";
#backend = "glx";
#################################
#           Animations          #
#################################

transition-length = 300
transition-pow-x = 0.1
transition-pow-y = 0.1
transition-pow-w = 0.1
transition-pow-h = 0.1
size-transition = true

#################################
#             Shadows           #
#################################

shadow = true
shadow-radius = 10
shadow-opacity = 0.65
shadow-offset-x = -10
shadow-offset-y = -10

shadow-exclude = [
    "name = 'Notification'",
    "class_g ?= 'Notify-osd'",
    "class_g = 'Conky'",
    "class_g = 'Cairo-dock'",
    "_GTK_FRAME_EXTENTS@:c",
    "window_type = 'dock'",
    "window_type = 'desktop'"
];

#################################
#           Fading              #
#################################

fading = true
fade-in-step = 0.03
fade-out-step = 0.03
fade-delta = 4

#################################
#   Transparency / Opacity      #
#################################

inactive-opacity = 0.88                  # inactive windows slightly transparent
active-opacity = 1.0
frame-opacity = 0.9
inactive-opacity-override = true

opacity-rule = [
    # Fullscreen windows stay opaque
    "100:_NET_WM_STATE@[0]:32a = '_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN'",
    "100:_NET_WM_STATE@[1]:32a = '_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN'",
    "100:_NET_WM_STATE@[2]:32a = '_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN'",
    "100:_NET_WM_STATE@[3]:32a = '_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN'",
    "100:_NET_WM_STATE@[4]:32a = '_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN'",

    # LXQt-specific transparency (the magic lines)
    "92:class_g = 'lxqt-panel'",                     # main panel
    "88:class_g = 'lxqt-panel' && focused",          # slightly less transparent when panel focused
    "90:class_g = 'Plasmoidviewer'",                 # some applets
    "85:class_g ~= 'dropdown_menu|popup_menu|menu|notification|tooltip'"
];

#################################
#       Background-Blurring     #
#################################

blur-method = "dual_kawase"

you can play with different backends to see what works for you. glx was recommended to me but it caused issues on my setup so I went with xrender

drunkenvicar · April 12, 2026, 12:53am

@larrys4227 WILL need a compositor in X11. A compositor is needed if you like opacity adjustments to various windows. I loved my time with EOS LXQT and I learned a lot about creating/maintaining .conf files for the support of opacity.

I did not consider EOS LXQT to be an ootb DD without grabbing a compositor and one other needed-app…(it’s possible I’m fussy). EDIT: LXQT is a gorgeous DE all the same and highly functional

larrys4227 · April 12, 2026, 2:45am

Well … that was easy. I thought picom was installed by default, but apparently not. I installed it … made sure it was checked in autostart and it worked. No adjustments to the picom.conf file. It must be picking up the background opacity I have set in kitty.conf. I’m gonna play around with this …

Thank you very much! Very helpful to get nudged in the right direction …

drunkenvicar · April 12, 2026, 2:50am

@thefrog Mr Frog has the exact settings (give or take .02) and file and advice I gave above there. I should have read all parts of thread before I replied.

Enjoy LXQT–it’s one of a kind.

larrys4227 · April 12, 2026, 3:38am

I made a .config/picom.conf file and used your config. I assume picom uses this config file first, instead of the one in /etc/xdg/picom.conf. If I open a window on top of another one, the one behind becomes transparent, which I see in your config. Very nice touch.

Pacman search only shows 3 choices for xrender, and libxrender shows installed. Seems to be running smoothly!

sudo pacman -Ss xrender  at 11:27:07 PM extra/haskell-x11-xft 0.3.4-182 Bindings to the Xft and some Xrender parts extra/libxrender 0.9.12-1 [installed] X Rendering Extension client library multilib/lib32-libxrender 0.9.11-2 X Rendering Extension client library (32-bit)

anon26608633 · April 12, 2026, 3:51pm

I’ve installed lxqt and managed to reduce the RAM consumption by 500 MB.

_	RAM (GB)	_
Plasma	1.7	ref.
LXQT (kwin_x11)	1.4
LXQT (openbox)	1.2

ringo · April 12, 2026, 3:54pm

Ram consumption is a dificult thing. You have also caching

Mellow · April 12, 2026, 4:27pm

“unused ram is wasted ram”

MichelN · April 12, 2026, 7:07pm

I wished my kde would use more ram. I have 64gb installed and only 1.8gb is in use (if i am not wrong).