How To: Install and Run a Linux Desktop Environment with a Web Browser (Edge Computer)

As of today (20-May-2022) our 752-9400/752-9401 and our 752-9800 edge computers come pre-installed with Debian 10.12.0.

If you are looking for a desktop environment with a web browser you have a few options:

1. GNOME UI - Comes standard with GNOME Web browser

Requirements:
• Internet connectivity. About 1-2GB of package files will be downloaded from the internet.
• 10GB of free disk space.

Upgrading the Debian 10 package management tool:

Before you go through the GNOME 3 and GNOME classic desktop environment installation, it’s a good idea to upgrade all the existing packages to their latest version.

To do this, first update APT with the following command:

$ sudo apt update

If all the packages are already up to date, you will see the message “All packages are up to date.”
If you have updates available, use the following command to update them:

$ sudo apt upgrade

After this point, all updates should be installed.

Now, reboot your edge computer with the following command:

$ sudo reboot

Once your system restarts, you can install the desktop environments with the following command:

$ sudo apt install gnome

2. Re-Installing Debian 10 with the “Graphical Install” - Comes standard with Firefox

Requirements:
• 10 GB free hard drive space
• Bootable USB
• Internet connectivity (Optional)

See the post for installing Linux distributions on our edge devices here:

Note that when the device boots off the USB and the installer starts, choose the Graphical Debian Installer option.

If you are interested in connecting this device to the internet in the future, ensure you select “yes” to the question “use a network mirror” when you get to the screen titled “Configure the package manager”. If you select no here you will run into issues with your apt update and apt upgrade in the future.

1 Like

Hello Tyrone,
Here we have installed Gnome by just using:
sudo apt install gnome
after the reboot step and there is no need to do the systemctl set-default command.