Developer Workstations with Proxmox VE and X11

Introduction

Proxmox VE is primarily used as virtualization platform with NO additional software installed. In some case it makes sense to have a full desktop running on Proxmox VE, for example for developers using Proxmox VE as their primary workstation/desktop.

Installing additional packages could lead to a hardly upgradeable system and is not supported from the Proxmox support team and therefore only for expert use.

Install a standard Proxmox VE system

Just install the standard Proxmox VE, following this guide: Installation

Custom installations: Install Proxmox VE on Debian Wheezy

Install X-windows

Update your repository and system by running:

aptitude update && aptitude full-upgrade

I choose xfce4 desktop as this a lightweight desktop environment. If you prefer another one, just replace xfce4 with lxde, gnome, icewm, kde, ...

aptitude install xfce4 chromium lightdm

Start X-windows

Before starting the x-windows, create a normal user with:

# adduser newusername

Start the login manager:

service lightdm start

or just reboot.

Install Oracle Java Browser Plugin

To install Oracle Java, see Java_Console_(Ubuntu)

We recommend to install Google Chrome browser, as iceweasel on Squeeze is too outdated.

Optional: Linux Mint Mate Desktop

Install Proxmox VE on Debian Jessie did not work, 2015.12.17.

Install Proxmox ve 4.2 as described above.

I will reinstall and test the following section by 2015.12.18.

Update Apt Sources List

 echo "deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org jessie main non-free" >>/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mint.list
 echo "deb http://packages.linuxmint.com betsy main" >>/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mint.list
 echo "deb http://extra.linuxmint.com betsy main" >>/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mint.list

Add Keyring

 apt-get update 
 apt-get dist-upgrade
 apt-get install deb-multimedia-keyring
 apt-get install linuxmint-keyring

Install Mate Desktop

 apt-get install mate-desktop-environment
 apt-get install xorg
 apt-get install lightdm
 # apt-get install mint-backgrounds-debian
 # apt-get install X11vnc
 # reboot?