Install Gnome Desktop Environment (Ubuntu/Fedora) on Armbian 🌱

  1. Log into Armbian
  2. Launch a terminal window and run the following commands:
    # update software repositories
    sudo apt update
    # install available software updates
    sudo apt upgrade
    # clean apt cache
    sudo apt clean
    # install lxdm and gnome
    sudo apt install lxdm gnome-desktop
  3. After the system reboots, you should be greeted with a different login screen
  4. There is now an option to log into the gnome desktop environment
    1. To set gnome as the default for all users, edit the /etc/lxdm/lxdm.conf file and add session=/usr/bin/gnome-session
      # edit lxdm config
      sudo nano /etc/lxdm/lxdm.conf

      session=/usr/bin/gnome-session

    2. To set gnome as the default just for the current user, edit the ~/.dmrc file setting Session=gnome
      # edit desktop config
      sudo nano ~/.dmrc

      [Desktop]
      Session=gnome