Installing xfce after netinstall

[layr]

Few newcomer Qs:
1. If the "install desktop environment" gets unchecked in netinstall option, what has to be installed after base installation?
I understand login relies on gdm, so would simply installing gdm and xfce4 suffice?
2. Are there any packages that mosdefly have to be installed after clean netinstall?
3. What's included in the "Laptop" software option (also in netinst)?

[Gerowen]

1) There are usually meta packages in synaptic that point to a collection of other packages. For example installing the "gnome" package will install all of the normal gnome applications. There appears to be a meta package named "xfce4" just for the purpose of installing XFCE and all of its normal apps.

2) Personally, after a clean netinstall, I usually enable the non-free repos so I can get access to Oracle Java, Adobe Flash, and a few other bits of software. You can also stop by mozilla.debian.net and add those repositories so you can always have the latest version of Iceweasel(Firefox). Also, after installing the backports repository listed on that website, you'll have the option to install LibreOffice in lieu of OpenOffice from Synaptic.

3) You can use the "tasksel" command to re-invoke that checklist you're presented with on install. To view what packages are installed in an option, just do:

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tasksel --task-packages packagename


That command can be ran as a normal user too, so you can list options without accidentally affecting your software installations.

The command "tasksel --help" will provide you with more options. For the "laptop" option you asked about, mine says the following packages are installed:
wireless-tools
acpi-support
cpufrequtils
acpi
wpasupplicant
powertop
acpid
apmd
pcmciautils
pm-utils
anacron
avahi-autoipd
bluetooth

[nadir]

If you only install xfce4 you don't get that much.
If you need a display-manager, you can install gdm, like you said.
I think installing "xfce4" will neither install a web-browser nor a gui-editor nor a good terminal and barely multimedia stuff (if at all)
.
You got the choice to install another metapackage, called "xfce4-goodies", and will get a lot of tools, or you install one after the other (which is what i do, cause the xfce4-goodies install a lot of apps i don't use, say mousepad). You might want to have a look here:
http://wiki.xfce.org/recommendedapps
or just search the forum for the usual things that you do (or just ask here, but say what kind of apps you need).

[salome]

Squeeze:

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# aptitude install xorg xfce4 gdm

Wheezy:

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# aptitude install xorg xfce4 gdm3

Why use gdm3 instead of lighter display managers like slim, xdm or lightdm? Because Wheezy's policykit bugs (e.g. USB device mounting, suspend/hibernate) affect these light DMs. Even though gdm3 pulls in some Gnome dependencies, it doesn't have any such bugs--a good compromise if you ask me. I would still use gdm for Squeeze.

Instead of installing xfce4-goodies, you may want to install packages individually.

[layr]

Thank you guys, especially for the xfce4-goodies link and xorg reminder. Btw, why isn't xorg included in the base installation?

Also an offtopic question - is installing xfce AND Compiz reasonable as in will it perform better than Gnome2 and Compiz?

[Aris Veresie]

Thank you guys, especially for the xfce4-goodies link and xorg reminder. Btw, why isn't xorg included in the base installation?

Base installation is a basic text only installation.
Adding X Windows is a complex installation.
This way things are kept simpler.

[vbrummond]

Very good advice here, all things I have done myself and would recommend. I would like to add you can get Debian's slightly fleshed out xfce desktop by booting the installer with:

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desktop=xfce

Just leave desktop environment checked if you do that. Once the system is installed you can add/remove whatever you want. I do not think it installs synaptic though, so if you want that, get it with:

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apt-get --no-install-recommends install synaptic

[el_koraco]

Squeeze:

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# aptitude install xorg xfce4 gdm

Wheezy:

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# aptitude install xorg xfce4 gdm3

Why use gdm3 instead of lighter display managers like slim, xdm or lightdm? Because Wheezy's policykit bugs (e.g. USB device mounting, suspend/hibernate) affect these light DMs.

You need

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..somestuff...
eval 'dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session'
exec ck-launch-session WM/DE

in .xinitrc in order to get the permissions working correctly. Those are not bugs per se, they pretain to how upstream packages software - the standard Gnome session expects GDM, the standard KDE session KDM, and so on. It's impossible to predict all the configurations or desires users might want to have (some users don't want automounting via hal, or don't want it at all), which is why smaller DMs or xinit don't come with the permissions predefined.

[ivanovnegro]

Man, if just GDM3 would not look such bad on my Xfce Wheezy.

[sunflower]

hi, i've downloaded debian testing (weekly cd) but it doesn't come with DE (gnome-core). Could anyone confirm if the xfce/lxde version of wheezy come with DE? i have a slow internet connections if i have to manually download DE/the dvd version. thanks

[layr]

How come i still get loads of apps after netinstall? I only selected Laptop and desktop environment from the software selection. (Wheezy netinst)

PS. the installation lets user choose the desktop environment (advanced options -> desktop environment or something similar)
PS2 I performed the advanced graphical install.

[ivanovnegro]

How come i still get loads of apps after netinstall?

Simply because you selected desktop environment and with that it pulls everything what Debian thinks is good for you. A real minimal install should be without installing the desktop environment from the installer.

[Aris Veresie]

This thread might help you.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=70396&p=394660&hilit=xfce+minimal+install#p394660

[layr]

Simply because you selected desktop environment and with that it pulls everything what Debian thinks is good for you. A real minimal install should be without installing the desktop environment from the installer.

Goddamnit. Reinstall it is. Thanks!

Edit: more noob questions concerning installation:
1. Drivers included - generic vs targeted. I've gone with targeted so far. Is this reasonable? How much disk space does this option save compared to generic?
2. "Standard system utilities" - in the software selection dialog. Tried to identify it with the tasksel command, as was recommended earlier, but this time it doesn't seem to be working. Can anyone tell what's included in this package?
3. What's the deal with xfce offering to create new session at startup - how can this get rid of?
A: Settings->Settings Manager->Session and Startup->uncheck session chooser.
4. pm-utils and upower are installed, but suspend is still not listed in the exit menu?! (having installed gdm3)

[nadir]

2-> standard:

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adduser
apt
apt-listchanges
apt-utils
aptitude
at
base-files
base-passwd
bash
bash-completion
bc
bind9-host
bsd-mailx
bsdmainutils
bsdutils
coreutils
cpio
cron
dash
dc
debconf
debconf-i18n
debian-archive-keyring
debian-faq
debianutils
diffutils
dmidecode
dnsutils
doc-debian
doc-linux-text
dpkg
e2fslibs
e2fsprogs
exim4
exim4-base
exim4-config
exim4-daemon-light
file
findutils
ftp
gcc-4.4-base
gettext-base
gnupg
gpgv
grep
groff-base
gzip
host
hostname
ifupdown
info
initscripts
install-info
iproute
iptables
iputils-ping
isc-dhcp-client
isc-dhcp-common
less
libacl1
libattr1
libbind9-60
libblkid1
libboost-iostreams1.42.0
libbz2-1.0
libc-bin
libc6
libc6-i386
libcap2
libcomerr2
libcwidget3
libdb4.6
libdb4.7
libdb4.8
libdns69
libedit2
libept1
libevent-1.4-2
libgc1c2
libgcc1
libgcrypt11
libgdbm3
libgnutls26
libgpg-error0
libgpm2
libgssapi-krb5-2
libgssglue1
libgssrpc4
libidn11
libisc62
libk5crypto3
libkadm5clnt-mit7
libkadm5srv-mit7
libkdb5-4
libkeyutils1
libkrb5-3
libkrb5support0
libldap-2.4-2
liblocale-gettext-perl
liblockfile1
liblwres60
liblzma2
libmagic1
libncurses5
libncursesw5
libnewt0.52
libnfsidmap2
libpam-modules
libpam-runtime
libpam0g
libpci3
libpcre3
libpopt0
libreadline6
librpcsecgss3
libsasl2-2
libselinux1
libsepol1
libsigc++-2.0-0c2a
libslang2
libsqlite3-0
libss2
libssl0.9.8
libstdc++6
libtasn1-3
libtext-charwidth-perl
libtext-iconv-perl
libtext-wrapi18n-perl
libtokyocabinet8
libudev0
libusb-0.1-4
libuuid1
libxapian22
libxml2
locales
login
logrotate
lsb-base
lsof
m4
man-db
manpages
mawk
mime-support
mlocate
module-init-tools
mount
mutt
nano
ncurses-base
ncurses-bin
ncurses-term
net-tools
netbase
netcat-traditional
nfs-common
openssh-client
passwd
patch
pciutils
perl
perl-base
perl-modules
portmap
procmail
procps
python
python-apt
python-central
python-minimal
python-reportbug
python-support
python2.6
python2.6-minimal
readline-common
reportbug
rsyslog
sed
sensible-utils
sysv-rc
sysvinit
sysvinit-utils
tar
tasksel
tasksel-data
tcpd
telnet
texinfo
time
traceroute
tzdata
ucf
udev
util-linux
vim-common
vim-tiny
w3m
wamerican
wget
whiptail
whois
xz-utils
zlib1g

from the debian wiki, where you will find a lot of info of that kind (and a lot not )
http://wiki.debian.org/tasksel