Cinnamon – How to Install on Minimal CLI Installation

aptcinnamoncommand lineguiubuntu-core

I've come across similar, already answered questions on this website; however none of them deals with starting from the scratch – the Ubuntu core.

The normal release of 12.04 was not responding well on my old PC.
Thus, I decided to install "Non-PAE Ubuntu core using" mini.iso.

Now, I am having the Ubuntu core installed which swiftly boots into the terminal CLI.
However I want to install a GUI onto this.

I don't want to do apt-get install ubuntu-desktop since that comes with Unity, which I hate like anything.

There are ways to install Mate and Cinnamon available here, however they are valid only if some other GUI is already present. But, I want to install them when no GUI is initially present - right from the core.

In a nutshell: I am looking how to install "Cinnamon" right from the scratch
(Ubuntu Core CLI), so that the system directly boots into cinnamon login screen.

On my other system I would also like to do the same but use Mate instead of Cinnamon.

Best Answer

I am looking how to install "Cinnamon" right from the scratch

One answer at a time :)

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties -y
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable -y
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon

Install McMojave theme in 18.04 and later

Download the McMojave theme package from McMojave - Gnome.look.org to your ~/Downloads directory. Click the download button and choose one of the following four McMojave theme packages.
- Mojave-light: light version
- Mojave-light-solid: light version without transparence
- Mojave-dark: dark version
- Mojave-dark-solid: dark version without transparence

Run the following commands

sudo apt update
sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool gtk2-engines-murrine gtk2-engines-pixbuf plank  
cd ~/Downloads/
tar xf Mojave-light.tar.xz # replace Mojave-light.tar.xz with the theme that you downloaded
mkdir ~/.themes
mv Mojave-light ~/.themes/

Launch Tweaks from the Dash and change to Applications theme appearance to Mojave-light.
Download the macOS Mojave CT icons. Once again pick any icon style and save the package into your ~/Downloads directory.

Run these commands to install the macOS Mojave CT icons:

tar xf Mojave-CT-light.tar.xz
mkdir ~/.icons
mv Mojave-CT-light ~/.icons/

Change the icons to macOS Mojave theme in the Tweaks application.
Download the macOS cursor set package. Pick any cursor style and save the package into your ~/Downloads directory.

Run these commands to install it:

unzip -qq macOS\ Cursor\ Set.zip
mv macOS\ Cursor\ Set ~/.icons/

Change the cursor to macOS Cursor Set in the Tweaks application.
Download the Mojave wallpaper. Change the wallpaper from Settings → Background → Picture tab → select a picture → press Select button (in 18.04) or Settings → Background → Add Picture (in 20.04).
Open Plank from the Dash. At this point you should see the macOS panel at the bottom of your desktop. Press the left Ctrlkey, and right-click the bottom macOS panel to open up Preferences. Customize the macOS panel to fit your desired look and feel. If you wish to take yet another step further install the optional macOS Plank theme.

Remove the default GNOME dock panel.

sudo apt remove gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock

Configure the Plank application to start automatically after reboot.

_{Source: revised from How to install macOS theme on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal}

MacBuntu has been discontinued, and it has been replaced by the MBuntu Transformation Pack for Ubuntu 14.04-17.04. The MBuntu Transformation Pack transforms the default Unity or GNOME desktop environment into a desktop environment theme which resembles Mac OS X Yosemite.

The Themes Collection by NoobsLab PPA has an interesting selection of themes for Ubuntu, including MBuntu. The same PPA has a selection of theme packages resembling MAC OS X Lion for Ubuntu 12.04-18.04. To add this PPA to your software sources, open the terminal and run the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/themes
sudo apt-get update

Then you can install any of five different MBuntu packages or any of nine different Mac OS X theme packages for Ubuntu 12.04 from the Ubuntu Software Center.

Features

Themes are shiny, smooth, fast, and look like the latest Mac
Mac Boot Splash auto configuration
Mac theme for LightDM-webkit auto configuration
Separate GTK themes for each desktop (Unity, Gnome Classic, Linux Mint)
Latest icon set
Auto set themes and icons script

Ubuntu GUI – How to Revert to GUI from CLI as Default Interface

Found the solution! So I'm posting it here myself...

To revert back to a graphical login and session (X session), GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text" in the /etc/default/grub file should be replaced by GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash reboot=bios" (or GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash reboot=api" for some Dell laptops). After having done this editing, save the file and run the update-grub command, and then reboot to see if the graphical login greeter appears. If it does, that's it... you can then log-in...

But if you still remain stuck with the problem (like I was..), you can try using gdm as your display-manager (DM) or you could also try reinstalling lightgdm. I uninstalled lightgdm and set gdm as the new manager with the command that follows:

sudo stop lightdm
sudo start gdm
sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

and choose the DM you want so that it is set as the default option.

If your choice of DM was gdm, now you may uninstall lightdm, sudo apt-get remove lightdm, and sudo reboot. And there you are with our old gdm graphical display-manager.

But if you choose lightdm which if which crashed earlier like mine did, you'd like to do a reinstall of lightdm instead like described below:

Log-in to a new tty (press Ctrl + Alt + F1) and enter the commands;

sudo stop lightdm
sudo apt-get purge lightdm
sudo apt-get install lightdm

and then set lightdm as the default manager and reboot to see it in effect.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

How to Install MacBuntu on Ubuntu Minimal Install

Install McMojave theme in 18.04 and later

Ubuntu GUI – How to Revert to GUI from CLI as Default Interface

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