"I want my xfce...."

Sorry, Mr. Knopfler, it doesn't scan--but it is the truth.

I am now the proud owner of two Raspberry Pi 2s, computers we would have killed for back in the 80s. I have "Raspbian" running on them. (It's a version that apparently will run on the 1 (an ARMv6) and on the 2 (a four-core ARMv7); I definitely want to build it targeting the ARMv7.)

Anyway--it comes up with LXDE for a windowing environment if you use X. Very stripped down, and unfortunately with minimal control over font size, which my wife and I really kind of need. So off we go to install it. It's in the repository, so that's no problem. Then you run

sudo update-alternatives --config x-window-manager

and tell it you want xfce4. Then you get out of X if you're already in it, and then get [back] in...

...and you see LXDE again. (Cheesy descending horn sting here.)

At least that's what happens on my wife's computer. I managed to get mine to come up in xfce4, and I am kicking myself for not having written down exactly what I did, because it's well out of short-term memory now. (I can tell you what it's not; I did NOT uninstall all the LXDE packages, as some people will say you have to do.)

Any ideas? I'd love to hear them.