Hi all. I've done a lot of tests with different desktop environments on Armbian.
I wanted an as light as possible desktop environment so I'd have enough ram left to do video rendering with the NanoPi M4(2GB)
I had to try a lot of things to get things working fine. So I wanted to save others that hassle.
Setting up Display Manager
First we need a Display Manager. NODM is installed by default. I tried lightdm but couldn't get it to work. So I went for LXDM. With NODM installed I had problems, so I also removed NODM.
To be sure lxdm is configured right, I also manually configure it.
sudo apt install lxdm
sudo apt remove nodm
sudo dpkg-reconfigure lxdm
Install LXDE Desktop
Next step is to install the desktop environment you want. There is a problem with some Desktop Environments and LXDM what makes you can't login to some DE's out of the box. That we will resolve later. Easiest is to install lxdm first to be able to configure the others well. And reboot.
sudo apt install lxde
sudo reboot
Once booted you should be greeted by the Login screen. Here you can choose your different Desktop Environment. Choose LXDE and login.
If you'd try xfce4, then you'd see it doesn't work. To fix this we need to change the file /usr/share/xsessions/xfce.desktop. Use your favorite text editor. I use geany.
sudo geany /usr/share/xsessions/xfce.desktop
Somewhere at the top of the file you'll see "Name=Xfce Session". Replace that space with a hyphen to "Name=Xfce-Session" and save the file.
Now you can also login to the default XFCE4 Desktop.
With other desktops this can be the same. Go the the same directory and open the file with the desktop name that doesn't work. Again replace the space with a hyphen
Installing different Desktop Environments.
For the Mate desktop I also needed to install the applets, else I got errors at login because of these missing applets
sudo apt install mate-desktop-environment mate-applets
For KDE-Plasma
sudo apt install kde-full
For Gnome. Modify the file sudo geany /usr/share/xsessions/gnome...
sudo apt install gnome-session
sudo update-alternatives --config gdm3.css
I also tried LXQT. But this one didn't work. You can try others too.
Remove Desktop Environment
To remove a desktop environment you don't want anymore you do the remove instead of install.
sudo apt remove kde-full
sudo apt remove mate-desktop-environment
.
.
.
Please let me know if there's mistakes made, or if you've got advice.
Source for changing the name to make them work @IgorS :
Greetings, NicoD
Hi all. I've done a lot of tests with different desktop environments on Armbian. I wanted an as light as possible desktop environment so I'd have enough ram left to do video rendering with the NanoPi M4(2GB) I had to try a lot of things to get things working fine. So I wanted to save others that hassle. Setting up Display Manager First we need a Display Manager. NODM is installed by default. I tried lightdm but couldn't get it to work. So I went for LXDM. With NODM installed I had problems, so I also removed NODM. To be sure lxdm is configured right, I also manually configure it. sudo apt install lxdm sudo apt remove nodm sudo dpkg-reconfigure lxdm Install LXDE Desktop Next step is to install the desktop environment you want. There is a problem with some Desktop Environments and LXDM what makes you can't login to some DE's out of the box. That we will resolve later. Easiest is to install lxdm first to be able to configure the others well. And reboot. sudo apt install lxde sudo reboot Once booted you should be greeted by the Login screen. Here you can choose your different Desktop Environment. Choose LXDE and login. If you'd try xfce4, then you'd see it doesn't work. To fix this we need to change the file /usr/share/xsessions/xfce.desktop. Use your favorite text editor. I use geany. sudo geany /usr/share/xsessions/xfce.desktop Somewhere at the top of the file you'll see "Name=Xfce Session". Replace that space with a hyphen to "Name=Xfce-Session" and save the file. Now you can also login to the default XFCE4 Desktop. With other desktops this can be the same. Go the the same directory and open the file with the desktop name that doesn't work. Again replace the space with a hyphen Installing different Desktop Environments. For the Mate desktop I also needed to install the applets, else I got errors at login because of these missing applets sudo apt install mate-desktop-environment mate-applets For KDE-Plasma sudo apt install kde-full For Gnome. Modify the file sudo geany /usr/share/xsessions/gnome... sudo apt install gnome-session sudo update-alternatives --config gdm3.css I also tried LXQT. But this one didn't work. You can try others too. Remove Desktop Environment To remove a desktop environment you don't want anymore you do the remove instead of install. sudo apt remove kde-full sudo apt remove mate-desktop-environment . . . Please let me know if there's mistakes made, or if you've got advice. Source for changing the name to make them work @IgorS : Greetings, NicoD