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Ubuntu Minimal Desktop Installation Guide

install a very small, minimal, lightning fast ubuntu desktop

this guide help you install a minimal ubuntu desktop by yourself. wheter you want to breathe new live into your ancient pentium I with 64meg ram or you just want something different.

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debian minimal desktop installation

minimal install

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easy and fast

hell, this page is so very long. i'm bored already.
ok. this is linux. it's all up to you. you decide what you want.
you can have other easy and fast alternatives, like:

http://www.xubuntu.com/ surely hell lot faster than ubuntu/kubuntu/etc and it's just as easy as ubuntu/kubuntu
http://ubuntulite.tuxfamily.org/
http://cap.gediam.de/index-en.htm
http://pud-linux.sourceforge.net/index.en.html
http://tinymelinux.com

complete control

or you can continue this minimal desktop installation if you like
what make this installation different is that you have complete control what you want to install. you decide every single piece of your linux. you decide if you want opera over firefox or gnumeric over openoffice.org calc, etc and it's still 100% ubuntu.

this guide is tested on the field with a complete newbies who never see/use linux before and use 100% windows and the system installed fine with all required hardware and software working!

first note:

i assume you install to an empty harddrive. at least. nothing important in the harddrive so that everything can be safely wiped out. i will not responsible for any data lost.
everything started with a # meaning that is a comment line. that is for your eyes and you do not need to type it at all and you can safely ignore them.
if a command started with # meaning you choose not to execute that command
if you want to execute the command, remove the # sign
(almost) everything is optional. if you're in doubt in any part, you can safely skip it for later

ok let's get started

first, install using server/alternate cd
boot your cd, choose your language, press F4 and choose "Install a command-line system"
if you use ubuntu minimal cd, enter 'cli' at boot prompt
if/when asked what to install, choose nothing. nothing at all. not base system. not minimal. nothing. deselect everything.
after ubuntu installed and restarted to your new installed system. login as usual.
now we start installing the system. let's the fun begins.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennyhalim/sets/72157605842366704/

nb. it's most confusing for windows users that linux do not show any asterisk when you enter your password. the password line just blank whatever you type into it. and it's intentional. just key in your password and press enter.

update & upgrade

this step is optional but highly recommended.

as with everything in linux. all and everything is optional. you decide what you want.
do NOT install anything that you will not use/want.
if you want to install everything, you'd better go with the ubuntu livecd installer.

#first, make things easier...
#if you want these alias activated everytime you login, put it into bashrc with all other aliases
# with alias, you can shorten any command to save few keyboard strokes.
# nano -w .bashrc
alias nano='nano -w'
alias update='sudo aptitude update'
alias upgrade='sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude safe-upgrade'
alias iapt='sudo aptitude install'
alias suapt='sudo aptitude'
alias sudeb='sudo gdebi'

#now, do the update & upgrade
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude safe-upgrade
sudo aptitude full-upgrade

# then you can always use 'suapt install' in place of 'sudo aptitude install'
# this guide will keep the full syntax for clearity purpose.
quick start

this ONE SINGLE line is all you need to get your minimal desktop.

sudo aptitude -y install xserver-xorg-core xinit menu menu-xdg jwm fluxbox alsa-utils mrxvt-mini gdebi-core synaptic logrotate

if you got missing packages or any error, please check the repo section and make your your repo do not have this bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/116387

FINISH !

that's all it!
you got somewhat minimal desktop.

now you can get into your desktop with:

startx

this is what you got:

then, you can use synaptic to install any other apps:

sudo synaptic

or, you can continue for more fun

minimal X

if you do not like fluxbox above, you can choose to install any other wm. just replace the fluxbox above with any of these desktop/wm.

only choose ONE for small system. if you have enough resources, you might install more to try out any of them

# sudo aptitude install jwm
# sudo aptitude install fluxbox
# sudo aptitude install fvwm-crystal
# sudo aptitude install icewm icemc wmctrl
# sudo aptitude install --without-recommends lxde
# sudo aptitude install xfce4
# sudo aptitude install gnome-core
# sudo aptitude install kde-core
# sudo aptitude install kde4-core
#

generaly, i try to sort them with their memory usage. if you have absolute minimal ram (64meg) use the first (jwm/fluxbox only)

at most bottom, gnome-core, kde-core and kde4-core is the heaviest. avoid them if you have very small ram (

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