How to install minimal lxde on ubuntu core ?

For embedded development and testing, lxde is proved to be lightweight and configurable desktop environment. Let’s see how to install a minimal lxde desktop on an ARM emulator setup.

Steps to perform

  1. Download ubuntu 12.04 core image from link

  2. Now extract the core file system to some directory by issuing following command

    sudo tar -xvpzhf /tmp/ubuntu-core-12.04.1-core-armhf.tar.gz

  3. chroot into the directory with the help of qemu-arm-static and update /etc/apt/sources.list
    with universe & multiverse repositories, a sample content is as follows

    deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ precise main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ precise main universe multiverse restricted

  4. Now do apt-get update and followed by installation of following packages

    apt-get install vim.tiny sudo ssh net-tools ethtool wireless-tools lxde xinit xorg \
                network-manager iputils-ping rsyslog alsa-utils

That’s it. You have successfully installed core minimal lxde without any overheads of lubuntu.
The entire setup should not take more than 400MB.

 

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