How to Install Ubuntu Minimal Desktop Tutorial (Step by Step)

How to Install Ubuntu Minimal Desktop. Ubuntu is a complete Linux operating system. Ubuntu is a free and open source framework with numerous existing users as it is utilized all over countless PCs, servers, cell phones and containers.

Minimal Ubuntu is a set of Ubuntu images designed for automated deployment at scale and made available across a range of cloud substrates that allow the combination of functionality and access.

These images have reduced the size of the default package set, without many convenient tools for interactive usage. Being much smaller in size allows it to boot faster and will require fewer security updates over time as there are fewer packages installed.

Normal vs Minimal Install of Ubuntu

Minimal Ubuntu has similar brilliant security upkeep, as the regular server images having full support for installation from Ubuntu archives. You can do anything with Ubuntu minimal as you can with the normal Ubuntu.

You might notice that the minimal instances are to not as user friendly in terms of use via command line, but the procedure for installation of other features and packages remains the same in comparison with the default server.

The ‘unminimize’ command will reintroduce the standard Ubuntu Server bundles and packages assuming you wish to change a Minimal install over to a standard Server environment for more intuitive use.

 

  •       The normal installation provides the following applications:
    •    Web Browser, utilities, office software, plus additional internet applications and media players
  •      The minimal installation provides:
    •   Web browser plus basic utilities and applications.
  •        Neither of the selections has any impact on the installation of third-party software.

Pros of Minimal Ubuntu

In this section of our guide of How to Install Ubuntu Minimal Desktop we will understand why to use Ubuntu Minimal. 

1. Powerful for its size.

Minimal Ubuntu is by far the smallest Ubuntu picture for Cloud tasks. It is 50% the size of the standard Ubuntu server picture.

Likewise, Minimal Ubuntu boots up 40% quicker than the standard image. This definitely further developed boot time on Minimal Ubuntu, an amazing decision for building applications on Cloud seller stages like Google Cloud Platform. You can introduce any Ubuntu package on Minimal Ubuntu as you could on the standard version.

2. Automated Operations

Minimal Ubuntu is intended for completely mechanized activities. In this way, it doesn’t have any of the user interactive utilities for intuitive use. The user favoring aspects like locales, editors, and documentation are discarded from the minimal leaving just the parts essential for the booting sequence.

3. Security

As the number of installed packages and bundles is lesser, Minimal Ubuntu pictures will more often than not stay away from a lot of security related grey areas and vulnerabilities. Additionally, it will require fewer updates. The use of Minimal Ubuntu will limit the overall bandwidth use, ultimately diminishing the prerequisite for storage.

4. In built Kernel

Hypervisors, as a rule are used to make and run virtual machines. The downloadable Minimal Ubuntu accompanies a Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) enhanced portion that is tuned for size and boot speed.

Ubuntu Minimal Installation Guide

New Functionality

How to Install Ubuntu Minimal Desktop next section explains the installation guide. The default installation is quite heavy on resources and is an expensive choice in terms of requiring a large amount of RAM space. With the new minimal feature coming along, we can install a basic GNOME 3 Desktop as well as a variety of basic utilities. The minimal version has fewer packages installed by default. Although the comparison of the first few boots is not significantly different, Minimal Ubuntu functions at a more efficient speed.

We can see why as the minimal option discards around 80 packages in contrast to the default install.

Some of these are:

  • LibreOffice
  •  Cheese
  • Shotwell
  • Thunderbird
  • Transmission
  •  Rhythmbox

 

If you want to be installing this version keep an eye out for the ‘minimal install’ checkbox on Ubiquity, the Ubuntu Installer. The new semi skim version of Ubuntu installation choice shows up in the segment of the installer that finds out if you need to install limited codecs to empower media playback next to the main desktop.

After you install Ubuntu you could either uninstall a stack of pre installed software or you can directly opt for minimal that will directly strip away any unnecessary packages providing you with a standard basic core to get started on.

Getting Started with Ubuntu Minimal

If you wish to be installing this feature, it’s best to familiarize yourself with some of the system requirements for your desktop or workstation.

Basic Requirements

  • GHz Dual Core Processor
  • 20GB hard drive space
  • 1GB RAM

 

The option of doing a minimal install of Ubuntu requires a minimum of 300MHz to run.

Installation Guide

Part 1: Attaining ISO File

Detail for attaining ISO file to get started. You can do so from Ubuntu and select the appropriate image.

Part 2: Create Live Media

Step to create live Media via 2 options: burning the image to a CD on a variety of systems and also creating USB media.

Part 3: Instal Minimal Ubuntu

  1. Insert your CD or USB stick into the PC and switch it on. You may need to make use of the F12 or F10 or F2 to access your computer’s BIOS menu. This will allow you to enable booting from your newly created media.
  2.  Once the booting completes, the installer boot menu screen will be displayed and so Press Enter to start the install.

3. Configure the Language:

4. Configure Keyboard:

5. Configure Hostname:

6. Configure Mirror  and Location as Ubuntu guides you through the setup as per your preference.

7.  With the download completed, you’ll be asked to set your username and password. Select a strong and safe password for your system, if Ubuntu deems it unsatisfactory it will ask you to retry.

8. The system will then ask you to select how you want to partition your disk. If you want to use encryption, select the third option to allow guided setup. The encryption option should be opted for if you wish to keep your data maximum secure, but the choice is yours. The installer will then run through some additional options, such as setting up passphrases for your encrypted disk

9. The next screen will ask you to select what packages you want to install. Most people will want to select “Ubuntu desktop,” as this will give you the base desktop for you to fully boot into Ubuntu. In this case, Ubuntu desktop refers to GNOME 3 Desktop Manager, which is similar to the desktop in the full version.

10. Finally, the system will ask to set up GRUB, which is the bootloader. GRUB stands for Grand Unified Bootloader. It is the small program that enables the kernel to load, which in turn starts the system loading.

11. Congratulations, your Ubuntu system is installed and ready to boot.

How to Install Ubuntu Minimal Desktop Conclusion

Great you have followed the steps and learned how to Install Ubuntu Minimal Desktop. Ubuntu server is the most famous OS for OpenStack and is similarly well known on other cloud platforms also. This makes it apparent that the Ubuntu server is fundamental to overseeing cloud foundation.

This update of Minimal Ubuntu would be perfect balance for some Ubuntu supporters who are hoping to additionally accelerate their tasks and try another distribution system other than Linux distro. Ubuntu Minimal presently seems lighter and quicker than at any other time. 

Avatar for Emad Bin Abid
Emad Bin Abid

I'm a software engineer who has a bright vision and a strong interest in designing and engineering software solutions. I readily understand that in today's agile world the development process has to be rapid, reusable, and scalable; hence it is extremely important to develop solutions that are well-designed and embody a well-thought-of architecture as the baseline. Apart from designing and developing business solutions, I'm a content writer who loves to document technical learnings and experiences so that peers in the same industry can also benefit from them.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x