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 Jessie

Install X-windows

Update your repository and system by running:

apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade

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

apt-get install xfce4 chromium lightdm

Start X-windows

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

# useradd newusername

Start the login manager:

systemctl start lightdm

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. Systemd is not up to date.

Install Proxmox ve 4.2 as described above.

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

Run the following one at a time

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

Install Mate Desktop

 apt-get update
 apt-get install mate-desktop-environment xorg lightdm

 # apt-get install mint-backgrounds-debian
 # apt-get install X11vnc
 # reboot