On Sun 11 Sep 2016 at 06:47:23 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > When Squeeze was the latest I was able to install without any desktop. > I would then do > apt-get install gnome-session gdm3 gedit gnome-terminal gparted > The result was a nice uncluttered desktop to which I could add what *I* > needed rather than what the proverbial "everybody" should have ;)
gnome-session pulls in xserver-org-video-all and installs it on the *same* machine. Graphical programs like gnome-terminal and gedit run on the *same* machine as the X server runs on and will display an output there. This is a very common situation but it does not have to be like that. An X server runs and produces an output on the machine you are sitting in front of. Programs like gedit could be on a *different* machine. This is just as valid a setup as the "common" one. It implies that such things as, for example, window manager packages do not depend on an X server being installed. > According to http://wiki.mate-desktop.org/download#debian I should be able > to do > apt-get install mate-desktop-environment-core > > That is not enough, it leaves me with only a command line. You got what was promised - a minimal mate install. You need an X server on that machine or another one if you want other than the command line. > I have the full Mate desktop on one machine. Using Synaptic on that machine > and using apt-get install **** on the other I was able too identify some > missing pieces. > > "apt-get install mate-desktop-environment-core" does not install marco, > xorg, xterm, nor lightdm. My brute force diagnostic procedure was to install > each of them in the order listed with a reboot in between to see if > everything worked. It did not. After installing each of the 1st three I was > left at the command line. After installing lightdm I was presented with a > blank screen. mate-desktop-environment-core depends on marco. There is something seriously wrong if it was not installed. xorg isn't required to be on the same machine as mate; that is why it was not installed. mate-terminal does the same job as xterm. The mate maintainers might have decided not have a DM as a depended on or recommended package. -- Brian.
