GUIDE: Raspbian Lite with RPD/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/i3/Openbox/X11 GUI

[blogmywiki]

Just trying this on a freshly updated Stretch Lite installation, but I get an error when trying to install xorg:
Some packages could not be installed...
The following packages have unmet dependencies: x-server-xorg-input-mtrack... Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages,

[GhostRaider]

Just trying this on a freshly updated Stretch Lite installation, but I get an error when trying to install xorg:
Some packages could not be installed...
The following packages have unmet dependencies: x-server-xorg-input-mtrack... Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages,

Are you installing Xorg with only the essential components? Otherwise it could just be a connection problem with the server or someone has messed up the repository. Normally that kind of message shouldn’t appear.

[katjav]

Thanks for the enlightening guide. Installing Xfce over Raspbian Lite went in a breeze. Getting WiFi to work took me a few days puzzling though. My first bet was network-manager, network-manager-gnome, plus the Xfce4 indicator-plugin to show nm-applet in the panel. It didn't show any WiFi channels, instead it said 'device not ready' although command iwconfig showed wlan0 to be present. Second attempt was with wicd-gtk (after purging network-manager) and it displayed the WiFi networks all right, yet failed to connect. This Pi forum topic came to the rescue:

viewtopic.php?t=150124

Quoting from that topic:

Sometime within the last year, Raspbian started including dhcpcd.
You cannot run multiple network managers at the same time.

And the fix in two commands:

Code: Select all

$ sudo systemctl disable dhcpcd

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$ sudo /etc/init.d/dhcpcd stop

Thereafter wicd could connect to my WiFi router. I guess that network-manager would have worked as well but I kept wicd because it gives nice infos like signal strength for every access point.

[GhostRaider]

Thanks for the enlightening guide. Installing Xfce over Raspbian Lite went in a breeze. Getting WiFi to work took me a few days puzzling though. My first bet was network-manager, network-manager-gnome, plus the Xfce4 indicator-plugin to show nm-applet in the panel. It didn't show any WiFi channels, instead it said 'device not ready' although command iwconfig showed wlan0 to be present. Second attempt was with wicd-gtk (after purging network-manager) and it displayed the WiFi networks all right, yet failed to connect. This Pi forum topic came to the rescue:

viewtopic.php?t=150124

Quoting from that topic:

Sometime within the last year, Raspbian started including dhcpcd.
You cannot run multiple network managers at the same time.

And the fix in two commands:

Code: Select all

$ sudo systemctl disable dhcpcd

Code: Select all

$ sudo /etc/init.d/dhcpcd stop

Thereafter wicd could connect to my WiFi router. I guess that network-manager would have worked as well but I kept wicd because it gives nice infos like signal strength for every access point.

I mostly cover GUI related things in the original thread instead of hardware. But yes, I've had the exact same problem that you have when you use NetworkManager with XFCE. The way I fix this issue is to edit "/etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf" and set managed=true so that NetworkManager takes over WiFi and Ethernet. Then I just run the command "sudo iwlist wlan0 scan" so that WiFi goes into the UP state. Finally I edit "/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf" and delete everything inside it. After a restart, NetworkManager now shows the WiFi networks in the system tray.

[OMID-313]

Thank you very much for this useful post.

One question:
I have setup the OpenBox guide.
I want omxplayer to run immediately after running startx.

Here is the content of ~/.xinitrc :

Code: Select all

omxplayer /home/pi/myvideo.mp4

But after typing startx in command line, omxplayer doesn't run.
I have also tried the following:

Code: Select all

exec openbox-session
sleep 5
omxplayer /home/pi/myvideo.mp4

But after typing startx in command line, it launches openbox, but omxplayer doesn't start.

I have tried this method with the following code:

Code: Select all

feh /home/pi/mypicture.jpg

This works really perfectly.
However, again the following code only launches openbox, and feh does not start:

Code: Select all

exec openbox-session
sleep 5
feh /home/pi/mypicture.jpg

I know that systemd services can be useful to launch omxplayer after boot. But I want to start omxplayer automatically after launching X.

So, Here are two questions:

1. How can we automatically start omxplayer after X ?
2. How can we automatically start X after boot, and then start omxplayer right after it automatically?

[dcaccount]

Hello,
Thanks for this guide.

I am on Stretch lite.

I need a GUI just to debug a Python script and I would run the GUI via

Code: Select all

ssh -X 192.168....

from my Mac. Let’s assume, I want to install PIXEL or something lighter if there is.

What are the minimal packages I need to install to remotely run the GUI? For instance, I do not need any login manager.

Do these packages to be install always run in the background or only when I run the GUI? In other words, do they consume resources only when the GUI is in use or always?

Thanks for helping, daniele

I'm not understanding. If you use X11 Forwarding, you don't need a GUI. You just need to install the apps that you need on Raspbian Lite and just run them from your Mac terminal. If you want to run multiple windows, you just type in "nameofapp &" in terminal.

Thanks for clarifying.

If I wanted to browse the Internet from the Raspberry using X11 Forwarding from the Mac terminal (therefore without a GUI on the Raspbian lite), what application shall I install on the Raspberry?

Thanks for helping, daniele

[GhostRaider]

Thank you very much for this useful post.

One question:
I have setup the OpenBox guide.
I want omxplayer to run immediately after running startx.

Here is the content of ~/.xinitrc :

Code: Select all

omxplayer /home/pi/myvideo.mp4

But after typing startx in command line, omxplayer doesn't run.
I have also tried the following:

Code: Select all

exec openbox-session
sleep 5
omxplayer /home/pi/myvideo.mp4

But after typing startx in command line, it launches openbox, but omxplayer doesn't start.

I have tried this method with the following code:

Code: Select all

feh /home/pi/mypicture.jpg

This works really perfectly.
However, again the following code only launches openbox, and feh does not start:

Code: Select all

exec openbox-session
sleep 5
feh /home/pi/mypicture.jpg

I know that systemd services can be useful to launch omxplayer after boot. But I want to start omxplayer automatically after launching X.

So, Here are two questions:

1. How can we automatically start omxplayer after X ?
2. How can we automatically start X after boot, and then start omxplayer right after it automatically?

From what I'm understanding, once you execute startx, you want Openbox to launch first. Then you want omxplayer to start after that right? On the setup that I use, you have to let Openbox handle all startup commands, not xinitrc.

So what I mean is startx should only execute openbox-session (xinitrc should only have "exec openbox-session"). Then Openbox itself handles all other startup commands like feh or omxplayer. So do to this, you would make an autostart file in ~/.config/openbox directory:

Code: Select all

nano ~/.config/openbox/autostart

and inside this file you would type in the commands to execute at startup.

If you execute:

Code: Select all

omxplayer /directory/to/some/movie.mp4 &

then Openbox will launch omxplayer and play the requested video file at startup. However, this command will lock you from exiting the video until the video finishes playing. Not sure if that's what you want but that's one option.

There's another option. For this command you will need to use a Terminal app. If you execute, let's say LXTerminal with an Omxplayer command like this:

Code: Select all

lxterminal -e /directory/to/some/movie.mp4

then lxterminal will start in the background and will launch omxplayer with the video playing. Here, the commands for omxplayer will work. Of course, if you do quit omxplayer then you will see the Terminal window.

Sample of autostart file:


A bit more complicated would be to write a script so if you want to use all the commands of omxplayer, then you would have to launch Terminal and have some sort of loop that checks if omxplayer has finished executing to close the Terminal window automatically.

[GhostRaider]

Hello,
Thanks for this guide.

I am on Stretch lite.

I need a GUI just to debug a Python script and I would run the GUI via

Code: Select all

ssh -X 192.168....

from my Mac. Let’s assume, I want to install PIXEL or something lighter if there is.

What are the minimal packages I need to install to remotely run the GUI? For instance, I do not need any login manager.

Do these packages to be install always run in the background or only when I run the GUI? In other words, do they consume resources only when the GUI is in use or always?

Thanks for helping, daniele

I'm not understanding. If you use X11 Forwarding, you don't need a GUI. You just need to install the apps that you need on Raspbian Lite and just run them from your Mac terminal. If you want to run multiple windows, you just type in "nameofapp &" in terminal.

Thanks for clarifying.

If I wanted to browse the Internet from the Raspberry using X11 Forwarding from the Mac terminal (therefore without a GUI on the Raspbian lite), what application shall I install on the Raspberry?

Thanks for helping, daniele

The most popular web browser used on the Raspberry Pi would be Chromium.

[csmetz1986]

I was able to successfully install xfce following this guide. The only issue I have found is that when I install applications that require a password (ex. synaptic, gparted) they will not launch if I just click on them in the menu. The only way I can get them to launch is using the terminal using sudo command. Also if it matters, I am logged in as the default "pi" user." I 'am sure this is an easy fix, I am still kind of new to this. Also is there a way to have the lightdm login manager remember the username upon boot so I only have to type in password?

[GhostRaider]

I was able to successfully install xfce following this guide. The only issue I have found is that when I install applications that require a password (ex. synaptic, gparted) they will not launch if I just click on them in the menu. The only way I can get them to launch is using the terminal using sudo command. Also if it matters, I am logged in as the default "pi" user." I 'am sure this is an easy fix, I am still kind of new to this. Also is there a way to have the lightdm login manager remember the username upon boot so I only have to type in password?

So the problem you are having is that Gparted/Synaptic needs root privileges. The way this works is that you have a daemon process called "policykit-1" that monitors requests for GUI applications that need to have root privileges. What is happening in your installation is that Gparted/Synapic request "policykit-1" to tell the user to enter the root password via GUI. However, this cannot happen because "policykit-1" does not have a handler, or agent to pop up a message to you to enter this password. You need to install a policykit agent.



This popup window is displayed by "policykit-1-gnome" agent. So for this answer, lets install policykit-1-gnome. To install this agent, execute this command:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install policykit-1-gnome

Next, you have to start this agent at startup. For XFCE, I believe you go to the settings menu and open "Session and Startup". Then click on Application Autostart tab and at the bottom you should see a plus button. Click on that. You should see a window telling to enter the Name, Description, and Command. For Name, just name it as "policykit-1-gnome". For description, you can leave that blank. For Command, enter:

Code: Select all

/usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1

Then press the OK button to save it. Finally, you have to set a root password. By default, Raspbian and Raspbian Lite do not use root passwords. So to set the root password, execute the command:

Code: Select all

sudo passwd root

You will be asked to enter your username password. Then you will be asked to enter a new password for root. Then you will be asked again to confirm this new password. After that, restart your Raspberry Pi. Now everytime you run Synaptic or Gparted or any other application that requires root privileges, a popup will now appear asking you to enter the root password.

As for LightDM, you cannot display the last user that logged in or have the username already typed. You can however display all users and just click on your username and then type your password. To do that, you need to change LightDM settings. So in Terminal, type in:

Code: Select all

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

and press Enter.

Scroll down until you see this section:


You will need to change the line:

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#greeter-hide-users=false

so that it looks like this:

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greeter-hide-users=false

All your doing is removing the hashtag(or pound) symbol. Save the file by pressing CTRL + X and confirm changes. Restart and all usernames should appear at login.

[archestranaut]

Fantastic guide. Got any openbox design tips, you sold me on it but I have never used it before? I am willing to put the time in to grind it out but would appreciate any tips you are willing to give.

[GhostRaider]

Fantastic guide. Got any openbox design tips, you sold me on it but I have never used it before? I am willing to put the time in to grind it out but would appreciate any tips you are willing to give.

Honestly, it's really up to you to design your desktop. I chose my style because I'm used to working with Macs and having a similar UI makes me feel right at home working with my Raspberry Pi. Maybe an operating system that you use everyday could be a template for you to get some ideas. Of course to do all that customization, I had to research how to get it to look like that. One great resource I used was the Arch Linux Openbox wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/openbox. But you would have to find the names of the packages for debian as the guide was written for Arch Linux. Or maybe you could just search Google for Openbox desktop screenshots and maybe you can get some inspiration from there as well.

If you have used LXDE or the Raspberry Pi Desktop, then you have used Openbox, just with a theme on top of it.

[RDPUser]

Hallo GhostRaider,

thanks for your fantastical Guide, it worked flawlessly.
However I've spent hours to connect via RDP (I had no monitor installed)

Can you add to your Guide how to access via RDP? That would be great an help a lot of other users, saving them much time.

For accessing RDP you just need

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install xrdp

Then, thats really important because I only got a turquoise / blue screen.

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You have to edit /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config

allowed_users=console
change to allowed_users=anybody

Perhaps you also need (I did this, but didn't solve the problem, so I can't tell if you really need it)

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get remove xrdp vnc4server tightvncserver --yes
sudo apt-get install tightvncserver --yes
sudo apt-get install xrdp --yes

[MartinTheWanderer]

Very useful guide, thanks a lot!

Moving to Ururguay soon, so I had to get Mate desktop up and running on my RasPi 3B

One little thing: the default Raspian desktop has a nifty little applet to display CPU temp in the taskbar panel.

Any chance to get that in Mate or other desktops as well?

Other sensor applets (lm-sensors, psensor, etc.) all seem not to recognize the Pi temperature sensor and give no results...

[kdcarlso]

I tried doing this install on a system that started with no GUI but I cannot login to the graphical interface. I can SSH and the GUI seems to be taking the password but blanks out and returns to the login prompt. If I enter an invalid password I get a notice therefore it must be accepting the password. I did the following and tried a fresh install without the -no-install-recommends and it still doesn't work. Does anyone have any suggestions?

1. sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends xserver-xorg
2. sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends xinit
3. sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends raspberrypi-ui-mods lxterminal gvfs
4. sudo apt-get install lightdm (Already installed)

Thank you,

Dave

[kdcarlso]

As a follow-up I found that if I disable it via raspi-config I can start it and it works fine sudo startx but I cannot run it is user Pi. What's the best way to get this to autostart on boot or fix it so I can eneble the option in the raspi-config tool?

Thanks,

Dave

[HarryC]

I've been trying for a full day to get this to install on a Pi 3 B v1.2, and kept getting the same error as the gent at the top of this page,

Just trying this on a freshly updated Stretch Lite installation, but I get an error when trying to install xorg:
Some packages could not be installed...
The following packages have unmet dependencies: x-server-xorg-input-mtrack... Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages,

I'd been turning on ALL of the interfaces while I was in the raspi-config doing the localization, and apparently one (or more) of the enabled interfaces (camera, I2C, SPI, etc) was causing the xserver-xorg install to fail with that message (looks like two different touchpad multi-touch drivers trying to install and they crash).

So, if you're having grief, follow the directions EXACTLY, without any 'extras'. I'm finally up and running.

---------------------------------------------------------

To get rid of the Perl error messages during installation due to your localization choice, I found a post elsewhere that works:

After configuring your localized language, open up /etc/default/locale with nano:

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sudo nano /etc/default/locale

And update the contents to look like the following:

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LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8

(using your preferred language and encoding, of course!)

This insures that the locale settings for your Raspbian Stretch Lite persist through system reboots.

[simonkitch]

Hi
When I connect i'm presented with a login screen as expected but the default pi login doesn't work?

[thomas.niederberger]

I had the same issue by following the manual to install the "Raspberry Pi Desktop (RPD) GUI"

​When I only use the command

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install raspberrypi-ui-mods

instead of also

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sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends raspberrypi-ui-mods lxterminal gvfs

it works fine for me and I'm able to log in.

[Blackbeard25]

i have an issue. whenever i run startx it will flash a black screen then quit xorg server. i have fallowed the tutorial for lxde. also the lxde-core lxapperance is not working, it just returns unable to locate package

[z3roco0l85]

I tried to customize the appearance of raspbian by installing Flat Remix Gnome Shell theme but I have problems with gnome shell. When I try to start gnome-tweak-tool, I get an error: WARNING: Shell not installed or running.
Gnome shell is installed (version 3.22.3) and I'm not launching the tweak tool as root. Can you help me?

Thanks

[Chit]

Thanks for a fantastic, well-written and easy to follow guide. Your technical writing is really clear - have you published elsewhere?

[mak1991]

Hello
i have a problem to install and start IM3 WM for customizing my Desktop.
I can install it but get permission denied Error on the start when i write startx.

The Error Report:

FATAL Server Error
parse_vt_settings: cannot open /dev/tty0 Permission Denied

Can someone help me and explain what my mistake is.

and the other Question is about Openbox WM

I have Installed Openbox but dont know how to configure that.
Can someone have a good tutroial for this?

Or u know a good book for Desktop Envoirement or GUI Programming

[jonathanscottjames]

now i see sudo raspi-config

1 questions please.
why do people not make bash scripts with zenity to select things like desktops and other options

is pygame libraries module on "raspbian stretch lite" ?


i wish i was inspired to make a python desktop with no dependencies.
the script would be tiny. it took me 2 days to find the nano edits to connect the wifi to an open wifi. it took me a month to make pygame read keyboard key presses and re-size the window without erasing everything and print auto-wrapped text to it and i'm still working of font selector.. how to i make a ".py" script that i don't have to back-click and permit to execute?

summary:
incluse a script that uses zenity or something to select and install from a list of desktops

[Milliways]

I am using Raspbian updated to latest.

I installed GParted, but this appears in the Preferences Menu, which is hardly obvious.

Since then I have read all I can find on LXDE and inspected all the files in .config/openbox, menus etc, but can not find anything which menu an item should appear in.

Is it possible to move or duplicate an application?

I CAN make a new menu, and new items, and manually configure them but only with the automatically generated cryptic names.