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So me and another where looking around and just couldn't find this item. We are wanting a Minimal Ubuntu Server install with Unity. Problem is, there is no simple way to pick out a single PPA to which Unity is connected to. Originally, no source PPAs are listed. How does one find this info and what Terminal commands would be used to download and install just that?

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  • 1
    Assuming you're talking about Unity the shell, why would you need a PPA?
    – muru
    Dec 8, 2014 at 20:49
  • @karel Unfortunately the dependencies for ubuntu-desktop are not in the repositories (this is for 12.04, not 14.04)
    – No Time
    Dec 8, 2014 at 21:00
  • @NoTime Any specific dependency? Or do you mean something is not available in main?
    – muru
    Dec 8, 2014 at 21:02
  • ubuntu-desktop is a package in the Ubuntu 12.04 repos and so are its dependencies. By that I mean ubuntu-desktop and all of its dependencies are in the repos for both Ubuntu 12.04 and Ubuntu 14.04.
    – karel
    Dec 8, 2014 at 21:04
  • 1
    If ubuntu-desktop is not installable for you on 12.04, then there is a problem with the packages already installed on your system, or your packaging information is not up to date.
    – dobey
    Dec 8, 2014 at 21:05

3 Answers 3

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Steps taken to get correct items in repositories (with a lot of help from Muru)

  1. Edit DNS: sudo nano /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/base

    • put nameserver 8.8.8.8 (Sets to Google DNS, I was receiving hostname errors when trying to do update prior)
    • resolvconf -u (Resolves Name Conflict)
  2. Edit software sources

    • sed -i.bak 's/us.archive/ca.archive/' /etc/apt/sources.list (Search for 'us', replace with 'ca')
    • If that doesn't work, edit /etc/apt/sources.list and replace 'us' with 'ca'
    • I also uncommented all, but this shouldn't be necessary
  3. Update from new sources: sudo apt-get update

Note: Still was getting a GPG error with the extras, saying No Public Key.

I am able to install OpenBox, and other window managers now, instead of full ubuntu-desktop.

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  • Could you explain why changing your DNS is a necessary step?
    – amanthethy
    Dec 8, 2014 at 22:22
  • @amanthethy tried to add more on why I needed to do DNS
    – No Time
    Dec 8, 2014 at 22:25
  • Could the same not be achieved with sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends unity/openbox/i3/gnoome/kde/etc.? Or am I missing something here?
    – amanthethy
    Dec 8, 2014 at 22:25
  • @amanthethy there was a problem with the sources (fresh install on vm) where nothing could be grabbed from the repositories (almost nothing was downloading). What I was trying to do was to get a minimum GUI to work with Ubuntu without ubuntu-desktop, but things like xserver were not in repository.
    – No Time
    Dec 8, 2014 at 22:29
  • 1
    If you want to see the director's cut, the whole discussion was in the Ask Ubuntu General Room chat about a half hour ago.
    – karel
    Dec 8, 2014 at 22:34
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If you want a minimal Ubuntu with Unity, a PPA doesn't [necessarily] give you what you want.

Unity is just a package. Available from the main repos. You can take a minimal ubuntu-standard Server install and sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends unity and it'll install everything Unity needs to run. You can see a list from apt-rdepends unity (included below to highlight the magnitude). My point is using a Unity PPA won't lower the number of dependencies.

And a quick sidebar, if you are shooting for the smallest Unity-based system, you might need a few more X11 packages and you'll also need to install a desktop manager (like LightDM) or hack something in as I have in my kiosk computing tutorial.

adduser, bamfdaemon, base-passwd, busybox-initramfs, compiz, compiz-core, compiz-core-abiversion-20140123, compiz-gnome, compiz-plugins-default, coreutils, cpio, dbus, dbus-x11, dconf-cli, dconf-gsettings-backend, dconf-service, debconf, debconf-2.0, debianutils, dh-python, dpkg, file-rc, findutils, fontconfig, fontconfig-config, fonts-dejavu-core, fonts-freefont-ttf, gcc-4.8-base, gcc-4.9-base, gconf2, gconf2-common, gconf-service, gconf-service-backend, glib-networking, glib-networking-common, glib-networking-services, gnome-desktop3-data, gnome-icon-theme, gnome-icon-theme-full, gnome-settings-daemon-schemas, gsettings-backend, gsettings-desktop-schemas, gsfonts, gsfonts-x11, hicolor-icon-theme, humanity-icon-theme, ifupdown, initramfs-tools, initramfs-tools-bin, initscripts, insserv, install-info, iproute2, klibc-utils, kmod, libacl1, libapparmor1, libasn1-8-heimdal, libasound2, libasound2-data, libatk1.0-0, libatk1.0-data, libatk-bridge2.0-0, libatspi2.0-0, libattr1, libaudit1, libaudit-common, libavahi-client3, libavahi-common3, libavahi-common-data, libbamf3-2, libblkid1, libbz2-1.0, libc6, libcairo2, libcairo-gobject2, libcanberra0, libcgmanager0, libcolord1, libcomerr2, libcompizconfig0, libcroco3, libcups2, libdatrie1, libdb5.3, libdbus-1-3, libdbus-glib-1-2, libdbusmenu-glib4, libdconf1, libdebconfclient0, libdecoration0, libdee-1.0-4, libdrm2, libelfg0, libexpat1, libffi6, libfontconfig1, libfontenc1, libframe6, libfreetype6, libgcc1, libgconf-2-4, libgcrypt11, libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0, libgdk-pixbuf2.0-common, libgee2, libgeis1, libgl1, libgl1-mesa-glx, libglapi-mesa, libglew1.10, libglewmx1.10, libglib2.0-0, libglib2.0-bin, libglib2.0-data, libglibmm-2.4-1c2a, libglu1, libglu1-mesa, libgnome-desktop-3-7, libgnutls26, libgpg-error0, libgrail6, libgraphite2-3, libgssapi3-heimdal, libgssapi-krb5-2, libgtk2.0-0, libgtk2.0-common, libgtk-3-0, libgtk-3-bin, libgtk-3-common, libgtop2-7, libgtop2-common, libharfbuzz0b, libhcrypto4-heimdal, libheimbase1-heimdal, libheimntlm0-heimdal, libhx509-5-heimdal, libibus-1.0-5, libice6, libicu52, libido3-0.1-0, libindicator3-7, libjasper1, libjbig0, libjpeg8, libjpeg-turbo8, libjson0, libjson-c2, libjson-glib-1.0-0, libjson-glib-1.0-common, libk5crypto3, libkeyutils1, libklibc, libkmod2, libkrb5-26-heimdal, libkrb5-3, libkrb5support0, liblcms2-2, libldap-2.4-2, liblightdm-gobject-1-0, libltdl7, liblzma5, libmetacity-private0a, libmount1, libmpdec2, libncurses5, libncursesw5, libnih1, libnih-dbus1, libnotify4, libnux-4.0-0, libnux-4.0-common, libnux-abiversion-20140307.0, libogg0, libp11-kit0, libpam0g, libpam-modules, libpam-modules-bin, libpango-1.0-0, libpangocairo-1.0-0, libpangoft2-1.0-0, libpci3, libpcre3, libpixman-1-0, libplymouth2, libpng12-0, libprocps3, libprotobuf8, libproxy1, libpython3.4-minimal, libpython3.4-stdlib, libpython3-stdlib, libreadline6, libroken18-heimdal, librsvg2-2, librsvg2-common, libsasl2-2, libsasl2-modules-db, libselinux1, libsemanage1, libsemanage-common, libsepol1, libsigc++-2.0-0c2a, libslang2, libsm6, libsoup2.4-1, libsoup-gnome2.4-1, libsqlite3-0, libssl1.0.0, libstartup-notification0, libstdc++6, libsystemd-login0, libtasn1-6, libtdb1, libthai0, libthai-data, libtiff5, libtinfo5, libudev0, libudev1, libunity9, libunity-core-6.0-9, libunity-misc4, libunity-protocol-private0, libunity-scopes-json-def-desktop, libupstart1, libustr-1.0-1, libuuid1, libvorbis0a, libvorbisfile3, libwayland-client0, libwayland-cursor0, libwind0-heimdal, libwnck22, libwnck-3-0, libwnck-3-common, libwnck-common, libx11-6, libx11-data, libx11-xcb1, libxau6, libxaw7, libxcb1, libxcb-dri2-0, libxcb-dri3-0, libxcb-glx0, libxcb-present0, libxcb-render0, libxcb-shm0, libxcb-sync1, libxcb-util0, libxcomposite1, libxcursor1, libxdamage1, libxdmcp6, libxext6, libxfixes3, libxfont1, libxi6, libxinerama1, libxkbcommon0, libxkbfile1, libxklavier16, libxml2, libxmu6, libxpm4, libxrandr2, libxrender1, libxres1, libxshmfence1, libxt6, libxxf86vm1, libzeitgeist-2.0-0, lsb-base, lsb-release, makedev, metacity-common, mime-support, module-init-tools, mount, mountall, multiarch-support, netbase, nux-tools, passwd, perl-base, plymouth, procps, psmisc, python3, python3.4, python3.4-minimal, python3:any, python3-minimal, python:any, readline-common, sensible-utils, session-migration, sgml-base, shared-mime-info, sound-theme-freedesktop, sysvinit-utils, sysv-rc, tar, ttf-bitstream-vera, tzdata, ucf, udev, unity, unity-asset-pool, unity-greeter, unity-scope-home, unity-scopes-json-def, unity-scopes-master, unity-scopes-master-default, unity-services, upstart, util-linux, x11-common, x11-xkb-utils, xfonts-encodings, xfonts-utils, xkb-data, zlib1g.

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  • I read your kiosk article before, it was really cool how you set things up. After tweaking my server a bit in VM I have an ubuntu server (with no extra services) openbox, no unity or any ubuntu-desktop and terminator. Otherwise it is pretty sparse. I was having issues initially getting anything from repos. I might do a lite unity as well for fun. :)
    – No Time
    Dec 12, 2014 at 20:40
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PPA is a "Personal Package Archive" - they are mini-repositories, so users can offer packages.

The unity shell is integral part of the Ubuntu distribution and in the main repository. The "unity" package installs the Unity shell binary, and all the dependencies it needs.

With apt-cache show unity you can get some infos about the package. Not sure if installing it will suffice though. There is also ubuntu-desktop which is a meta-package for a desktop system, but that might be too much.

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    unity is not a meta-package, since it does provide the unity binary, along with a few other files.
    – muru
    Dec 8, 2014 at 20:56
  • I can do apt-cache show unity (cannot install, reads off a bunch of dependencies which cannot be installed). ubuntu-desktop is the same
    – No Time
    Dec 8, 2014 at 21:03
  • I don't understand your comment. So you CAN see the information? What is the problem? You can't install it? What is the error? But please note, that you are hijacking a thread here. We don't answer secondary questions in comments on StackExchange. Open up a question if it is a new one, or if you have the same issue as OP provide more info. Dec 8, 2014 at 21:06
  • @BenjaminMaurer Question reads "So me and another where". Presumably NoTime is the "another".
    – muru
    Dec 8, 2014 at 21:09

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