When I install a Linux server like Ubuntu Server, I occasionally do require a desktop but I don't want all the additional software that comes with the gui like LibreOffice, Thunderbird, etc. Don't get me wrong, this is all great software for a client desktop but it isn't something that one might want on a server. To achieve a small desktop footprint I do the following:
- Get and install updates
"sudo apt-get install update" - Get and install upgrades
"sudo apt-get install upgrades" - Install lightdm
"sudo apt-get install lightdm" - Install Unity
"sudo apt-get install unity" - Install ubuntu desktop
*** Important update ****
When I went to setup a new lite version of ubuntu server when I tried to use the latest version of Ubuntu Server 20.04.02 and ran
"sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-desktop"
I got the following error
"Command line option --no-install-recommends is not understood in combination with other options"
In previous versions of Ubuntu the command works fine such as in 16.04.07 but in Ubuntu 20.04.02 I had to use
"sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop-minimal"
So please note this important change if you are trying to create a minimal version of a linux desktop; this may also affect other distros.
Then continue with the other installs
"sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager"
"sudo apt-get install firefox"
"sudo apt-get install net-tools"
If you want to pin the terminal application to the launcher, but the launcher won't show up in your applications though the gui.
To add the terminal to the launcher is to right click on the desktop and open the terminal
