Bunsenlabs on non-systemd Debian (antiX19)

If you want to work with, or play around with, BunsenLabs (BL) on a non-systemd Debian platform, here is a method by which you can install BL on antiX19. With slight modifications you can do the same with MXLinux 19.4. Sadly, you’ll have to discover the deltas because, I forgot to write them down… sorry. But then what do you want for free? Ehh?

Here we go!

First install antix19 (full up version 19.3) on your machine. I used bare metal for my install, really old bare metal… Once you have installed antiX 19.3, login in and perform the following activities:

In terminal enter:

sudo geany /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 

Next, in geany add the following:

# BunsenLabs
deb https://pkg.bunsenlabs.org/debian lithium main

Once you save the repo update…open your terminal again. This time enter the following commands:

wget -q https://ddl.bunsenlabs.org/ddl/BunsenLabs-RELEASE.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
wget https://ddl.bunsenlabs.org/ddl/BunsenLabs-RELEASE.asc
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Once I completed the above, I encountered an error.  BL wanted to install an ancient version of Libreoffice (gtk2).  That was not too surprising given Openbox is an ancient gtk2 piece of software.  To make the fix in antiX 19.3, I had to remove libreoffice due to missing libreoffice-gtk2.

  • Opening synaptic, I first fixed broken packages using the ‘magic’ fix broken packages function. (I assume you know where to find that.)
  • Next I removed all of libreoffice (antiX’s standard gtk3 version)

Once any errors are cleared up, open up a terminal and enter:

sudo apt-get install bunsen-meta-all

During the lengthy install, you will be asked which display manager (DM) you want, select LightDM.

After your install is complete, restart your system.

Once you arrive at the LightDM Login, choose BunsenLabs (BL) session from the lightdm desktop selection drop-down (BL may be pre-selected but, it is best to check though.).  Run bl-welcome to set up your user configs.

Note: Do NOT allow the BL PAE kernel to be installed (during the BL startup). This kernel will NOT run. At least it did not for me. If you mistakenly install it (like I did), use the original default antiX kernel (You can select other kernels at the grub screen.).

A few notes:

  • Clean off (remove) any unwanted antiX application(s) or window manager(s). I removed every native antiX19 window manager except vanilla jwm. I kept jwm for use with those antiX applications that only work within an antiX window manager build (meaning they don’t appear in BL.)
  • I, also, removed all antiX file managers (in favor of leaving the default BL thunar).
  • I did upgrade my setup to use the antiX 5.10 kernel; it works nicely.
  • FWIW the BL install idles at about 350MB of RAM on my machine…. the image here shows geany and FF running.  Firefox is something of a hog.

Enjoy…

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