How to Build Linux Server to Full Desktop

This makes the fastest, minimal desktop with only the packages you choose! Learn how to make your own Linux Distribution and make your system exactly the way you want!

Timestamps:
00:00 What this does
01:00 Initial Server Setup
03:45 First Steps on Fresh Install
05:20 Setting up Graphical Login
06:10 Picking your base packages
12:33 Config Autologin
13:55 Fonts and Theming
19:42 Display Script on Startup
20:22 How fast is this startup .

[msabyss_]

Lets take a moment to appreciate the effort this man does to make understanding Linux easier for everyone, I respect you sir, Thank you so much for the content, I learned a lot from it !

[turtlewax]

This is a great way to install linux on any laptop. Thanks for sharing this Mr. Titus!

[YannMetalhead]

This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you!!! I would love to see a in-depth guide about the subject.

[WPGinfo]

Hi Titus, Your videos help to slowly develop an understanding for linux. It gives me a rough idea of 'what is what' and the fact that I can shape things the way I want them, which is great. The image in my head is that of 'Linux is a Lego-set' you can build / shape it any way you want / need. So now I know it 'CAN do'; However I am often still stumbling along 'HOWToDo' / making it work just the way I want it. Never afraid to try 'something new' it's just a matter of 'one more step' over and over again... Thanks for your help. Willem

[jason-budney]

Nice video Chris, I'll be watching yesterday's live stream that I missed later on today. I am loving Fedora, and can't wait for 36 to officially drop. My jaw dropped when I saw the package count and RAM usage of standard Fedora when I first installed.

[prashanthb]

Chris, A thousand thankyous for this video !
I installed Debian netinst recently with only 50MB of RAM usage. With Postgresql it came to about 130MB RAM.
I hope all Linux distros start making it easier for more minimalist installs or less bloatware.

[PS_Tube]

Amazing video Titus. This has encouraged me to blow up some packages from my Linux install. Currently I've got about 1100 packages.

[karahitto]

What an amazing video. Totally fun project to follow along with.

[romeo-sierra]

I like this. It's pretty good. I often take a similar aproach for my personal usage. I like watching your videos. I always pick up something new to me.

[cyborganizer]

One of the best Linux tech channels, keep up the good work mate, love your content :)

[gwgux]

I use a very similar method when I'm setting up Linux VMs that need a graphical environment. Starting from a base system install is the best way to go for sure. I've also done this on bare metal for a PC/workstation setup as well, but I get lazy and still use the distro's standard desktop install as well. Both methods have their merits. Manjaro's desktop install is clean enough IMO, but I avoid Ubuntu's desktop install like the plague thanks to all the snaps it puts on the system.

[linuxtuxfriend]

It would be interesting to do something like that with a really small distro like Tiny Core Linux, Puppy Linux or Porteus, make an ISO out of it, and getting it to work on an old machine. ;-)

[koskos]

Enable auto completion in your shell and then when you do: dnf ins<tab, tab> part_of_package_name<tab, tab> it will help you with the name. At least that works in Debian.

[yellinga]

Chris, tyvm I stare at your stuff like I stare at Ancient Greek or algebra. If I do it long enough I will get it by osmosis...

You really do make some sense even to the Linux Luddites out there like me

Cheers and big thanks again,
Mikw

[nathan]

maybe you could go into making the custom built thing a installable desktop iso as well

[bondjovi]

Really great write up. I solve dependencies by hand. I've been very lost since the removal of Xorg.

[alx]

Great video in terms of understanding how different desktop components (x server, desktop manager, windows manager) are tied together and can be configured. Really appreciate it.

The only question remains is: in nowadays when the memory is cheap, does it really make any sense to save few hundred of megs by not going into full-weights desktop environments? I have a similar setup "from scratch" of KDE/plasma and it's only by 200Mb of RAM "heavier" than the setup you've made. A single tab in Chromium / Firefox can occupy much more than that. Does it really worth it?

[CrustyAbsconder]

Mr. Titus, This is just an idea for a future video. I would like to see someone deep-dive into the new LXQt 1.1 vs LXDE. What would be the reasons to continue to use LXDE ? Where does each excel in 2022 ? What are some of the major problems with either ? Is there any reason to use either on a new computer ?

What would be the difference between using LXQt, and just configuring a KDE Plasma session to use less
resources ?

What are you giving up in LXQt vs. KDE ?

[vaughnsolari]

i would suggest using the 'Fedora Everything' alternative installer instead of the server installer. 'Everything' defaults to btrfs while 'Server' defaults to LVM. there may be some other subtle differences but that's what i found when trying both in VMs

[raddinox]

This is exactly what I do, but for Debian SID. I have made scripts to install everything I want after I have installed "Server" version of Debian stable, including upgrading to SID. Currently I'm in the process of choosing between Gnome42 and KDE, have been using Mate before. But Gnome42 looks good (except for the in-your-face app launcher). KDE is great too, but it feels a bit bloated because there are so much settings everywhere, even though I like to customize stuff. Anyway, keep up the good work on the videos.