The gdm3, lightdm, and sddm are some popular display manager programs. gdm3 is the default for Gnome desktops, and sddm is the default used by KDE desktops. The lightdm is the lightweight cross-desktop display manager.

This tutorial will help you to change the default display manager in your Ubuntu desktop system.

Changing Default Display Manager in Ubuntu

Before doing changes, this will be good to enable the ssh server on your system. So in case, the new display manager failed to load you still have system access over an ssh connection.

Use the following steps to install lightdm display manager and change the default display manager in the Ubuntu system.

1. Check Current Display Manager – To begin, you need to check the current default display manager.

   cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager 
   
   /usr/sbin/gdm3
   

2. Installing Required Display Manager – LightDM is a cross-desktop display manager that supports different desktop technologies. It is a more lightweight, and faster display manager than gdm3.

   Use the following command to install LightDM display manager:

   sudo apt update 
   sudo apt install lightdm
   

3. Change Default Display Manager – You can change the default display manager any time by running the following command:

   sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3 
   

   You will see a screen as shown below. This will list all the display managers installed on your system.

   

   Use the keyboard UP+DOWN arrow keys to select the required display manager. Then press the Tab key to select Ok and hit Enter.

4. Verify Changes – You have successfully changed the default display manager on your Ubuntu system. To verify the changes, run the following command.

   cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager 
   
   /usr/sbin/lightdm
   

5. All done. Reboot your system to load Desktop with newly configured display manager.

Revert All Changes

You can revert the above change by using the command:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3 

Select the previously configured display manager and hit the Ok button.

Conclusion

In this guide, you have learned to change the default display manager on a Ubuntu desktop system. It also included steps to install a lightweight and faster lightdm display manager.

A default display manager is always installed during the installation of the Desktop Environment. Also the desktop managers allows you to select desktop environment at login screen.

The post How to Change Display Manager in Ubuntu Desktop appeared first on TecAdmin.

In this article, we list the top 10 best Linux desktop environments for the ease of users.

Top 10 Linux Desktop Environments

There are numerous Linux desktop environments that give a consistent user experience and can be easily accessible in the market. This article will provide a thorough analysis of the top 10 best Linux desktop environments, containing both open source and commercially available.

Recommend – Installation of Desktop Environment on Ubuntu

1. GNOME

The most standard Linux desktop environment is GNOME. GNOME is the default environment of various platforms like Fedora etc. Whether it is touch-based devices or traditional PCs, GNOME design suits both at the same time. A single board similar to the mobile device is fixed on top of the screen. Functioning over the Activities Overview rather than a dock or window list, these overviews display different apps, open the software, and numerous desktops.

Main Features:

• User-friendly user interface
• Has the ability to modify their functionalities using shell extension of GNOME
• Extremely customizable

2. KDE Plasma

KDE is another foremost prevalent Linux desktop environment. The standard applications feature comes with every desktop interface. Under the KDE applications list, KDE maintains a set of applications, this can be accessed over “apps.kde.org”. The set comprises applications of all categories, from development tools and games to graphics and firewalls/security.

Main Features:

• It is lightweight and extremely customizable.
• Easy to use
• Contains useful built-in tools

3. Unity

Unity is known as “Graphical User Interface” and is used for the GNOME environment. The project of Unity was begun by “Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical”, as these are the producers of the most popular Linux distribution i.e. Ubuntu. The aim of Unity is to offer desktop or netbook clients a steady, rich experience of computing.

Main Features:

• It has a file manager as well as a window manager named Nautilus, Compiz respectively.
• It has a lens in order to send search queries to scope.
• It also gives information on various settings of the system i.e. power, sound, brightness, active session, etc.

4. MATE

The extension of GNOME 2 is MATE, which is quite an instinctive and likable desktop interface. MATE is not only operating on Linux but it also entertains many different Unix-like systems. Caja file manager, Mate terminal, and others are the default applications in MATE. Developers of MATE created applications from scratch for the environment of MATE. However, like Linux Mint, developers of MATE have additionally forked numerous main applications of GNOME in order to coordinate with MATE appropriately. X-Apps is also one of the applications used in MATE.

Main Features:

• User-friendly
• It is a lightweight and fast environment

5. Cinnamon

The most commonly used variant of Linux and Linux Mint is Cinnamon. While the interface was suffering from drastic changes, Cinnamon began as a fork of GNOME. The appealing feature of Cinnamon is the traditional touch which helps long-time Windows users at ease. The attraction for users is the familiarity and friendly user interface. This makes Cinnamon a mixture of innovative ideas with a traditional touch in setups making it smooth for users yet carrying modern facilities.

Main Features:

• Easy to use and customizable
• Polished UI
• Snappy and fast

6. Budgie

Next, we are talking about budgie which is another desktop environment created through the project Solus. Solus utilizes package manager i.e “eopkg”. GNOME can also be used to execute a Budgie desktop environment on old as well as modern machines.

Main Features:

• It has a modern and elegant user interface
• Organizes windows easily
• Efficient performance in general tasks
• Use less memory

7. LXQT

LXQT is the new version of LXDE used for cloud servers and old hardware due to minimum consumption of RAM and CPU. It is the replacement of LXDE. LXQT is the default environment on various distros such as Lubuntu and a few more.

Main Features:

• It has the ability to support various languages
• It is an open-source, most simple desktop environment.
• Fast and lightweight.
• Supports components of saving integrated energy and also supports numerous shortcuts of the keyboard.

8. XFCE

Xfce supports considerable Linux distributions. It is a lightweight desktop environment but gives full-featured UX. Xfce does not support advanced customizations but it is the best desktop environment in terms of performance-centric.

Main Features:

• Most simpler open-source desktop environment
• Easily adaptable in old machines/hardware.
• It has a file manager as well as a window manager named Thunar, Xfwm respectively.
• It also has a desktop manager in order to put background images, icons, etc.
• Fast, lightweight, and efficient on resources.

9. Deepin

A modest, yet elegant desktop environment for Linux is Deepin. The good thing is, that it works with other numerous Linux in-line distributions like Arch Linux, Manjaro, and much more. Moreover, it is equipped with a carefully designed and easy-to-use interface making it most productive. Besides, the standard system makes with fewer configurations the ultimate user-friendly system. Major configurations are created from a pop-up panel from the outside. However, like the Pantheon desktop environment, users can also execute their applications from the dock which is at the bottom of the screen.

Main Features:

• It contains polished animations and eye candy UI.
• User-friendly
• Reliable and safe

10. LXDE

LXDE is another lightweight desktop environment. As it keeps low usage of resources, it utilizes minimal memory as compared to other desktop environments. However, LXDE is best suited for cloud computers that have old specifications like MIDs, netbooks, or old hardware. LXDE saves energy, and also supports keyboard shortcuts and multi-language.

Main Features:

• Faster in performance and lightweight
• Energy-efficient environment
• Customizable for old hardware

Conclusion

To wrap up, we have discussed the list of the top 10 best Linux Desktop environments. There are hundreds of desktop environments that have different features and function differently. All of these environments are the best and ranked higher according to users. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a newbie or a superuser, you can find a suitable desktop environment for you from the list given above. You can choose any desktop environment that is suitable according to your needs.

The post 10 Best Linux Desktop Environments of 2022 appeared first on TecAdmin.

Cinnamon desktop is supported by most of the modern Linux distributions including Ubuntu. It is fast to load and works smoothly on older hardware. Similar to other desktops Cinnamon also offers multiple desktops called “workspaces.”

This article will help you for installing the Cinnamon desktop environment in Ubuntu systems. You can also follow these steps on the latest Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS, and 18.04 LTS systems.

Installing Cinnamon Desktop on Ubuntu 20.04 and Above

Cinnamon stable packages for the latest Ubuntu distributions are available under universe PPA. First, add the PPA to your system with the following command.

1. Enable the Universe PPA on the Ubuntu Bionic system.

   sudo add-apt-repository universe 
   

2. Next, update the apt cache on your system. The above command will already do it but in case it is not updated, execute the below command.

   sudo apt update 
   

3. Finally, install the Cinnamon desktop on your Ubuntu system. This will also add multiple dependencies to your system.

   sudo apt install cinnamon-desktop-environment 
   

   Press ‘y’ for any confirmation prompted by the installer.

That’s it. The above steps will complete the Cinnamon desktop installation on Ubuntu systems.

Installing Cinnamon on Ubuntu 18.04

On Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, the Cinnamon desktop packages are also available under the universe repository, but it contains an older version of the desktop. So we recommended using ppa:embrosyn/cinnamon PPA, which contains Cinnamon 4.2.4 package and higher version than universe repo.

Open a terminal on your Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system and follow:

1. Enable the PPA on your system

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:embrosyn/cinnamon  
   

2. Next, update the apt cache on your system.

   sudo apt update 
   

3. Finally, install the Cinnamon desktop on your Ubuntu system.

   sudo apt install cinnamon-desktop 
   

Press ‘y’ for any confirmation asked by the installer.

Using the Cinnamon Desktop on Ubuntu

After successful installation of the Cinnamon desktop, we recommend rebooting your system. On the login screen select the Cinnamon desktop as default. See the below screenshot.

Then enter your account password to log in to the desktop. You will find the awesome Cinnamon as the desktop manager.

Congratulations, You are running the most popular Linux Desktop environment on your Ubuntu system. Share your experience with Cinnamon in the comments.

Remove Cinnamon Desktop on Ubuntu

Cinnamon is a beautiful desktop manager but it’s completely your choice to use. The users who want to switch to some other desktop manager can remote cinnamon desktop from their system. This will free the disk used by it.

Use the following command to remote Cinnamon desktop on Ubuntu 20.04 system.

sudo apt purge cinnamon-desktop-environment 

The above command can be used on systems that have installed the Cinnamon from the universe repository.

A large number of packages installed as dependencies will s will still remains on system. Which is no more in use. You can also uninstall them by running command:

sudo apt autoremove 

You have successfully removed the Cinnamon desktop and its dependency packages from your system.

Conclusion

This tutorial helped you to install the Cinemmon Desktop environment on a Ubuntu system. Also provides you with steps to remove the Desktop manager from your system.

The post How To Install Cinnamon Desktop on Ubuntu appeared first on TecAdmin.

Desktop environments are super user-friendly and intuitive; they help the user access, manage and manipulate files easily. But they do not provide full control over the functionality/capabilities of the OS. To get the most out of an operating system CLI (command line interface) is still preferred.

How to Choose the Right Desktop Environment

Every Linux distribution comes with its own default desktop environment but you have the option to switch to the environment of your choice. Installing a desktop environment on Linux is very easy and can be done within a few minutes. However, choosing the right desktop environment can be confusing.

There are many desktop environments out there that are compatible with Ubuntu. Every desktop environment has its own pros and cons and is optimized for a certain task. Gnome is made with the intention to make it easier to use for common users while KDE Plasma aims to be fast and efficient, and tries to utilize as few resources as possible.

So the decision of choosing the right desktop environment comes down to the needs and personal preferences of the user.

How to Install a Desktop Environment

We can use the terminal to install any desktop environment on Linux. You can install desktop environments on Linux just like any other package.

In Ubuntu, we can use the “apt” command followed by the environment name to install any desktop environment available in its official repository. In this example, we will install the Vanilla Gnome desktop environment in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS operating system:

sudo apt install vanilla-gnome-desktop 

The terminal will ask you for confirmation; press “Y/y” and hit Enter:

That’s it; the Gnome desktop environment has been successfully installed on your system.

How to Switch Desktop Environments

After successful installation of the desktop environment, log out of your account from the top right corner of your desktop:

Now look for a button similar to the one shown in the below-given screenshot. The location of this button is different in different desktop environments. On the default desktop environment of Ubuntu 20.04 you can find it in the bottom right corner of the screen:

Click on the button and choose the environment you want to use:

Next login to your account and you’ll see the environment you picked:

You will have the option to change the desktop environment every time you log in.

How to Remove a Desktop Environment

Some desktop environments are not compatible with each other and you might run into problems while running multiple desktop environments. These issues can generally be fixed by troubleshooting but sometimes you might even have to uninstall one of the desktop environments. Simply use the apt remove or apt purge along with apt autoremove command to get rid of the desktop environment.

sudo apt remove vanilla-gnome-desktop 

Now, run the autoremove command to remove the dependencies that are no longer required. These dependencies were automatically installed along with the desktop environment.

sudo apt autoremove 

Conclusion

Every graphic you see after your system boots up is a part of the desktop environment. It dictates how everything from icons to mouse pointers looks and feels on your system.

In this post, we focused on how to install and switch between desktop environments on Ubuntu. Moreover, we also learned how to make the right decision when choosing a desktop environment.

The post How to Install and Switch Desktop Environments in Ubuntu appeared first on TecAdmin.

This tutorial helps you to Install XRDP Server (Remote Desktop) on a Fedora Linux system. Also provides the instructions to install a Desktop environment on your system.

Step 1 – Install Desktop Environment

Fedora workstation comes with a default desktop environment. In case you have installed Fedora minimal version or server edition will not have desktop installed. The XRDP server is designed to controls only desktop systems. So you will need to add a desktop environment to your system.

Open a terminal and upgrade all installed packages with the following command:

sudo dnf upgrade 

Once your system is updated, install search for the available Desktop environment for your system.

sudo dnf grouplist -v 

Choose a desktop environment to be installed on your system. The below command will install KDE Plasma desktop on your Fedora system.

sudo dnf install @kde-desktop-environment 

Make sure to use “@” before the package name as you are going to install a group of packages.

Once the installation finished, restart your system to apply the changes.

Step 2 – Install Xrdp (Remote Desktop) on Fedora

The Xrdp packages are available under the default system repositories. You can install the remote desktop service (xrdp) on your Fedora system by executing the following command.

sudo dnf install xrdp -y 

Once the packages installed successfully, start the xrdp service and enable it to auto-start with system boots.

sudo systemctl enable xrdp 
sudo systemctl start xrdp 

Verify the service is started successfully.

sudo systemctl status xrdp 

The above output shows the Xrdp service is up and running.

Step 3 – Adjust Firewall

The XRDP service uses a standard remote desktop protocol port ie 3389. The fedora systems come with the active FireallD service. So you need to allow access on port 3389 in the firewall for the remote systems.

Execute the following command to open firewall access:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=3389/tcp 

Reload the new rules.

sudo firewall-cmd --reload 

All right, Your system is ready to access over RDP protocol.

Step 4 – Manage SELinux

The systems have SELinux enforcing required to apply SELinux context on xrdp binaries. The following commands will allow the XRDP service to be accessible for remote users.

sudo chcon --type=bin_t /usr/sbin/xrdp 
sudo chcon --type=bin_t /usr/sbin/xrdp-sesman 

At this stage, your system is ready with Remote desktop service. Now connect to your system using any RDP client.

Step 5 – Connect to Remote Desktop

The Xrdp service is successfully installed and ready to connect. On your Windows client, open the RDP client and enter the IP address of the Fedora system.

You can launch the RDP client by typing "mstsc" in the run window or command line.

The first time, it will prompt a warning message due to the remote system is unknown for your system. Check the box in front of “Don’t ask me again for connection to this computer” and click Yes to continue.

Once connected successfully, the remote system prompt for authentication. Enter the login credentials of the remote Fedora system to get remote desktop access.

On successful authentication, you’ll get remote desktop access.

Hurrey, Now you can manage your remote Fedora system using the graphical interface.

Conclusion

This tutorial helped you to set up a remote desktop service on Fedora Linux using the Xrdp server. The tutorial also includes steps to install Desktop Environment on your Fedora system.

The post How To Install XRDP (Remote Desktop) on Fedora appeared first on TecAdmin.

XRDP is an easy-to-install and configurable service for Ubuntu systems. But you can also use a VNC server to access the remote desktop of the Ubuntu systems. Find a tutorial to install a VNC server on Ubuntu 20.04 systems.

This tutorial helps you to Install Remote Desktop (XRDP) on Ubuntu 20.04 Linux system. Also provides the instructions to install a Desktop environment on your system.

Step 1 – Install Desktop Environment

By default, Ubuntu Server does not have an installed Desktop Environment. XRDP server is designed to control only desktop systems. So you will need to add a desktop environment to your system.

Open a terminal and upgrade all installed packages with the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade 

Once your system is updated, install the Tasksel utility to install a desktop environment:

apt install tasksel -y 

After installing Tasksel, launch the Tasksel utility with the following command:

tasksel 

You should see the following interface:

Use the arrow key to scroll down the list and find Ubuntu desktop. Next, press the Space key to select it then press the Tab key to select OK then hit Enter to install the Ubuntu desktop.

Once all the packages are installed, you will need to set your system boots into the graphical target. You can set it with the following command:

systemctl set-default graphical.target 

Next, restart your system to apply the changes.

Step 2 – Installing XRDP on Ubuntu

The Xrdp packages are available under the default system repositories. You can install a remote desktop on your Ubuntu system by executing the following command.

sudo apt install xrdp -y 

Once the xrdp installation finished successfully, its service will be started automatically. To verify the service status run the command:

sudo systemctl status xrdp 

The above output shows the Xrdp service is up and running.

Step 3 – Configuring Xrdp

During the installation, xrdp added a user in your system named “xrdp”. The xrdp session uses a certificate key file “/etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key”, which plays an important role with remote desktop.

In order to work it properly, add the xrdp user to the “ssl-cert” group with the following command.

 sudo usermod -a -G ssl-cert xrdp 

Sometimes user faces issue with black screen appears in background. So, that I ahave included steps to resolve black screen issue in background. Edit the xrdp file /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh in a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh 

Add these commands before the commands that test & execute Xsession as shown below:

unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
unset XDG_RUNTIME_DIR

Press CTRL+O to write out and then CTRL+X to exit from the editor.

Restart the Xrdp service by running the command given below:

sudo systemctl restart xrdp 

Step 4 – Adjust Firewall

The Xrdp listens on port 3389, which is the default port for the RDP protocol. You need to adjust the firewall to allow access to port 3389 for remote systems.

Systems running with UFW firewall, use the following command to open port 3389 for the LAN network.

sudo ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24 to any port 3389 

Reload the UFW to apply the new rules.

sudo ufw reload 

All right, Your system is ready to access over RDP protocol.

Step 5 – Connect to Remote Desktop

The Xrdp service is successfully installed and ready to connect. On your Windows client, open the RDP client and enter the IP address of the Ubuntu system.

You can launch the RDP client by typing "mstsc" in the run window or command line.

The first time, it will prompt a warning message due to the remote system being unknown to your system. Check the box in front of “Don’t ask me again for connection to this computer” and click Yes to continue.

Once connected successfully, the remote system prompt for authentication. Enter the login credentials of the remote Ubuntu system to get remote desktop access.

On successful authentication, you’ll get remote desktop access.

Now, you can manage your remote Ubuntu system graphically.

Conclusion

This tutorial helped you to set up a remote desktop service on Ubuntu 20.04 system with Xrdp. The tutorial also includes steps to install Desktop Environment on a Ubuntu system.

The post How To Install XRDP (Remote Desktop) on Ubuntu 20.04 appeared first on TecAdmin.

echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

In addition, you can also identify the Desktop by checking the currently running processes. Like the following command will show you the processes running for XFCE or KDE or GNOME desktops.

ps -e | grep -E -i "xfce|kde|gnome"

You will see the results like below. As per the below result, the GNOME desktop is being used on this system.

The post How to Detect the Desktop Environment in Linux Command Line appeared first on TecAdmin.

We will discuss 2 methods for configuring static IP addresses on Fedora using GUI and terminal.

Method 1: Configuring Static IPv4 Address on Fedora with GUI

The Fedora Desktop editions provide a graphical user interface for managing the system configuration. You can quickly configure the network interfaces using GUI. Follow the below steps to configure a static IP address on Fedora Desktop systems.

Open Settings:

• Log in to the Fedora desktop system with a privileged account.
• Search and open system Settings on your system

.



Open Network Settings:

• Select the Network tab in the left sidebar
• You will see the Wired section, Click the gear icon as shown below screenshot



IPv4 Settings:

• You will see the Details tab, here you can find the current system IP details
• Go to the IPv4 section



Set a new IP address:

• In the IPv4 Method select “Manual” option.
• In the Addresses section, set the new IP address, Netmask, and the Gateway.
• In the DNS section, set the IP address of your DNS server. In the below screenshot, I have used 8.8.8.8 (Google public DNS server) and 192.168.1.2 (local DNS server)
• Click the Apply button at top-right corner



Disable and Enable Networking:

Now, disable the networking and enable it again to apply the changes immediately.



All done

Congratulations you have successfully configured a static IP address on the Fedora desktop system.

Method 2: Configuring Static IPv4 Address on Fedora with CLI

The fedora provides nmcli command-line tool for managing NetworkManager. In this method, we will help you to configure the static IP address on Fedora system via command line.

1. First check the current network settings and identify the interface name:

   sudo nmcli 
   

   

2. Set the static IP address to ‘Wired connection 1’. The below command uses folloiwng settings. Here:
   • Connection Name: ‘Wired connection 1’
   • Interface Name: eth0
   • IP Address & Netmask: 192.168.1.210/24
   • Gateway Address: 192.168.1.2

   sudo nmcli con modify 'Wired connection 1' ifname eth0 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses 192.168.1.210/24 gw4 192.168.1.2 
   

3. If required, you can also update the DNS server settings.

   sudo nmcli con mod 'Wired connection 1' ipv4.dns 8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4 
   

4. Down and Up the network connection.

   sudo nmcli con down 'Wired connection 1' &&  sudo nmcli con up 'Wired connection 1' 
   

5. Again check the IP address of your system.

   ip a 
   

   

How to Check IP Address on Fedora

Press CTRL + ALT + T to launch the terminal on your Fedora system. Now type the following IP command to view all IP addresses configured on your system.

ip addr show 

Conclusion

This tutorial describes 2 methods for configuring static IP addresses on the Fedora system using a graphical user interface and a command line interface.

The post How to Configure Static IP Address on Fedora appeared first on TecAdmin.

Login to your Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Desktop system and follow the instructions given below. After that reboot your system to complete the steps.

Reset Gnome Desktop on Ubuntu 18.04

First, open the Tweaks settings on your system. To open tweak settings search for the string “Tweaks” or “GNOME Tweaks” on your system. You will see an option with the icon like below screenshot.

Click the icon to launch settings.

Open the drop-down of Tweaks menu at the top bar of your Desktop. You will get an option “Reset to defaults” and click on it.

This will prompt for the final confirmation to complete Gnome reset to its original settings. Click the OK button to complete your task. This will take a few seconds to complete.

After completion, this will show a message on the screen with a successful message and ask you to reboot the system to complete this operation. Just restart your system and login again.

All done!

The post How to Reset Gnome Desktop on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic appeared first on TecAdmin.

Any application added under startup application will automatically launch on user login. This is helpful and can be used with frequently used application to launch automatically. For example, a web browser or terminal window.

1. Launch GNOME Tweaks

Search for the GNOME Tweaks under applications in search and Launch.

You might not have installed the Tweaks tool on your system then it will show you an option to install. You can easily install it with GNOME installer options.

2. Adding Application to Startup

After launching the GNOME Tweaks toolbar, click on “Startup Application” in the left sidebar. You will see a button in Windows with plus (+) sign. Click on this button:

A dialog box will appear on the screen. Select your application to be added in the startup. Now click Add button on top-right corner of the dialog box.

Repeat the same for adding more applications

You will see a list of added application for the auto start on user login.

3. Remove Application from Startup

If you don’t need any application to start on login. You can remove it from the list by clicking the Remove button showing with application list.

The post How to Add or Remove Startup Application in Ubuntu appeared first on TecAdmin.