Install Raspbian Pixel Desktop on Dietpi

General Discussion
1

Hi everyone.

My Google-Fu has failed me.

I use a Pi4 as a Citrix Thin Client. Being the beginner Linux noob that I am, I’ve found that Rasbian’s Pixel desktop was the most user friendly GUI to get up and running and use. After some certificate challenges, I was able to install the Citrix Workspace App and connect to my Work Desktop just fine. Bluetooth keyboard and mouse was easy to setup as was installing some other GUI tools like Password & Package Managers was a breeze.

However, having Dietpi on my other Pis really makes me miss the ease of management. Is it possible to install Pixel Desktop on a DietPi install? If so, any tutorials as to how?

Many thanks.

2

Hi,

you can run the following, but this will provide an empty desktop only. Because by design, DiePi did not contain packages, not needed for base functions. Therefore you would need to install everything yourself. Or you are going to use one of the desktop systems offered by dietpi-software

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install raspberrypi-ui-mods
3

Thanks for the advice. No, I’m not going to install any of the Desktops offered as part of Dietpi-software. All I really want is the Raspbian Pixel Desktop with all the clever automation Dietpi offers like Drive Manager, log to RAM, no swap file etc…and possibly some other optimized software in the future. I just really get on well with the Pixel Desktop but love all the DietPi magic too.

Is it possible to do things in reverse?..like install the Raspbian Pixel Desktop using their image and and then install Dietpi retrospectively?

4

nope you can’t install/setup DietPi on top of Raspbian Pixel Desktop. Becasue DietPi setup script will remove every package that is not part of the base installation. Means you will get an empty system afterwards.

5

OK, understood. Feeling like I should get to know and love the desktops in the Optimised Software list and I’ll just have to go through the pain of finding all the packages that make up the nice bells and whistles that make up the default features in Pixel.

Thanks for your help.