1. Fvwm3 is partnered on a single MX Linux 19.3 installation along side of dwm (from Suckless).
2. Both window managers (Fvwm3 & dwm) operate from within the same user account.
3. The two wms share about 90% of my total keyboard, desktop, and application infrastructure.
4. My hardware platform’s description may be found at the end of this tutorial (a ways down below).

Now for the obligatory desktop screenshot:

To begin with you will need to install Fvwm3. Depending upon your Distro this will vary. In my case, I installed Fvwm3 via the TestRepos from MX Linux version 19.3 (a Debian non-systemd base). If you are an arch fan, I am pretty certain that any arch distro offers Fvwm3 from within either their repos or AUR. As for other Buster Debian distros, you most probably will need to compile your install. I don’t know of any beyond MX that provide repo access to Fvwm3.

Note: If you are installing Fvwm3 on a clean base, I recommend you start with a simple xfce installation and install Fvwm in the same user area. I know I’m not supposed to recommend that. But… I am going to recommend later that you clean off everything you don’t need from the xfce4 tools because our objective is to build a clean Fvwm3 desktop.

Remember window managers like Fvwm3 & dwm don’t do everything for you (or as much for you) as Desktop Environments. Having those niceties like a power-manager, screenshooter, etc. is helpful. Certainly you can change whatever you like over time.

Here are the major building blocks I use (you may wish to use what I do or perhaps roll your own.). Here are my heavy hitters:

• sxhkd: I use this to share keybindings across window managers. I use it ‘mostly for application keybindings
• .xsessionrc: This is used to autostart (load) system infrastructure functions. If you run arch you can simply rename my .xsessionrc to .xprofile and place it in your home directory.
• .Xdefaults / .Xresources: I never can remember which is needed for which apps so I make these both the same. They will load magically when you start your system. Their real purpose, in my use, is to add pretty colors to windows and terminals.
• yad & zenity: These are used to provide a common set of popup help functions across my sundry window managers. Most generally they provide quick access to scripts that either perform system functions or to gain access to help information. I’m old and my remembery needs help…
• conky: This is used to provide both system information and a degree of eye-candy. Adn, I just like it.
• rofi: I use rofi for two major functions.
  1. To run my menus that way I don’t have to have weird and different menus on each of my desktops.
  2. To obtain a list of all active workspaces and tasks as well as getting me directly to the one I want.
• xcompmgr: I am a big fan of this old school compositor because it “just works”!
• dunst: I use it for notifications.
• xautolock, i3lock-fancy: As the tools used to perform screenlocking functions.
• feh: That old time favorite to manage and regularly change my desktop wallpapers.
• st (LukeSmithxyz’s version with mods by me): Quite simply is my favorite terminal.

Dependencies

As of this writing the core dependencies are (according to the Fvwm3 Github account):

• libbson-dev (>= 1.16.2)
• libevent-dev (>= 2.0)
• libx11-dev
• libxrandr-dev (>= 1.5)
• libxrender-dev
• libxt-dev

Optional dependencies are (according to the Fvwm3 Github account):

• asciidoctor
• libfontconfig-dev
• libfreetype6-dev
• libfribidi-dev
• libncurses5-dev
• libpng-dev
• libreadline-dev
• librsvg-dev
• libsm-dev
• libx11-dev
• libxcursor-dev
• libxext-dev
• libxft-dev
• libxi-dev
• libxpm-dev
• sharutils

Shared application & software infrastructure

A shared infrastructure, to me, means running many or all of the same applications and software tools across all my different desktops. In my case, I run exactly the same apps in both Fvwm3 and dwm. In the past, I have done that with all manner of window managers including bspwm, hlwm, openbox, jwm, iceWM…. I mix and match them to my heart’s content. (Yes, I’m fickle.)

Getting the base infrastructure built (installed) is not a big problem. Install what you like. I have a nice little script I run in MX (Debian), with small modifications I take this script and use it on arch based distros as well.

Here’s an example of my install script; yours may look different:

sudo apt install apt-notifier caffeine celluloid conky Conky-manager cron djview djview-plugin djview4 dunst  feh ffmpegthumbnailer ffmpegthumbs file-roller filezilla firefox gcc gdebi geany gimp git grub-customizer gucharmap i3lock-fancy keepassxc libharfbuzz-dev libreoffice libx11-dev libxft-dev libxinerama-dev luckybackup lxpolkit lxsession make moc mousepad neofetch nnn powertop python-pip python3-pip python3-venv qpdfview ranger rofi sl stacer sxhkd sxiv thefuck thermald thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunderbird timeshift tlp transmission udiskie xarchiver xautolock xcompmgr xdo xdotool xfce4-power-manager xorg yad zathura zenity zim 

Shared application keybindings

The tool I use to store and manage my common application keybindings is sxhkd. The way I remember what the keybindings are is via zenity. Here’s an image of my App Keybinding pop-up:

Here’s the sxhkd base.conf file I use to manage application keybindings. If you look closely at the code you’ll notice that there are a few other tricks and short-cuts I ‘perform’ listed within the same base.conf file.

#               
#	 		sxhkdrc ~ common functions              
#            dwm - and most other wms                   
#
#########################
# SUPER + FUNCTION KEYS #
#########################
# if you want to assign applications to specific tags or workspaces
# add a command behind the application to focus on that workspace if required
# index 0 corresponds to tag or HLWM workspace 1
# index 1 corresponds to tag or HLWM workspace 2
# example 
#  firefox & herbstclient use_index 1

# Open Terminal
super + Return
	st -g=93x31+100+300

# VirtualBox
super + v
	virtualbox & herbstclient use_index 0
	
# rofi menu   (alt+left-mouse-click)
alt + @button1
	 rofi -modi drun,window,run -show drun -show-icons -sidebar-mode -location 0  -width 360
	
# Show Keybinding Index
super + F1
	zenity --text-info --width=640 --height=640  --html --filename=/home/mark/.local/share/help-files/app-keybindings.html --ok-label="Quit"

# mount dismount (Bashmount)
super + F2 
	st -g=93x31+100+300 -e ~/.local/bin/bashmount.sh

# system maintenance links
super + F3
	~/.local/share/scripts/system-links.sh
	
# BpyTop
super + F4
	~/.local/share/scripts/bpytop.sh

# Linux Links
super + F11 
	zenity --text-info --width=640 --height=640  --html --filename=/home/mark/.local/share/help-files/linux-links.html --ok-label="Quit"

# rofi Active Tasks 
super + F12
	rofi -modi window -show window -show-icons -sidebar-mode

# pamac-manager
alt + p
	/usr/bin/pamac-manager  & herbstclient use_index 0

# gsimplecal
alt + c
	gsimplecal
	
# mousepad
super + a
	mousepad

# calibre (books)
super + c
	calibre

# Music (DeadBeef)
super + d
	deadbeef
	
# file managers
super + f
	thunar & herbstclient use_index 2

# file manager (ROOT)
super + alt + f
	mx-pkexec pcmanfm 
		
# nnn- file manager
super + n
	st -g=93x31+100+300 -e nnn
	
# ranger- file manager
super + r
	st -g=93x31+100+300 -e ranger

# geany
super + g
	geany  & herbstclient use_index 7

# eMail
super + e
	thunderbird
	
# Office
super + o
	libreOffice

# dmenu
super + p
    dmenu_run

# System Quit Options
super + q
	/home/mark/.local/share/scripts/logout.sh

# skype
super + s
	skype
	
# topgrade
super + t
	st -e /home/mark/.local/bin/topgrade/topgrade.sh
	
# web browser        
super + w
	firefox

#Lock screen
super + x
	dm-tool lock

# zim wiki
super + z
	zim & herbstclient use_index 3

# Reboot
ctrl + alt + Delete
	 reboot

X-windows and OS infrastructure

The common autostart file I use, across all my active window managers, is contained in .xsessionrc (Debian) or .xprofile when using arch. My common autostart performs ‘a lot’ of functions. It does this for every window manager I run. No redundancy, I think that’s good. Here is a copy for you to review:

#!/bin/sh
#
#Shared window manager functions & applications on Debian
#	
#####################

# set network manager
nm-applet &

# set sound functions
volumeicon &
start-pulseaudio-11 &

# power related functions
xfce4-power-manager &
thermald &
tlp start &
powertop --auto-tune &
xautolock -time 8 -locker i3lock-fancy &

# Light shift
xflux -z 80116 &
#redshift &

# xsettings
xsettingsd &
xset fp+ ~/.local/share/fonts &
xset r rate 350 60
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr &
udiskie &

# keyboard settings
setxkbmap -option compose:ralt &
ksuperkey -e 'Super_L=Alt_L|F1' &
ksuperkey -e 'Super_R=Alt_L|F1' &
	
# gnome settings
gnome-keyring-daemon --start --components=pkcs11 &

# Polkit (I prefer lxpolkit for lightness.)
lxpolkit &
#/usr/lib/polkit-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 &

# shared common keybindings (applications)
sxhkd -c ~/.config/sxhkd/base.conf &

# applications
# Dunst
dunst -conf  ~/.config/dunst/dunstrc &
# Dropbox
sleep 30 && dropbox start -i &
# Google Drive
#sleep 30 && vgrive &

# touchpad toggle
touchpad-indicator &

# wallpaper changer 
~/.local/share/scripts/wallpaper.sh &
#feh --randomize --bg-fill $HOME/.wallpapers/Desert/* && sleep 5m &

# Caffeine
caffeine &
/usr/bin/caffeine-indicator &

###  Turn on Compositing...
# task performed in primary window manager start/autostart function

# MXLinux apt-notifier
apt-notifier &

Any unique autostart functions, of which there are a few, are performed per specific window manager requirements. For example dwm and Fvwm both use their own Conky (in my setup); they are started uniquely.

As I mentioned earlier, I use .Xresources and .Xdefaults for my pretty window and terminal colors. Since both files are identical I’ll provide my .Xresources file for you to review and/or use. The color palette contained within is the Nord Palette.

Xft.autohint: 1
Xft.antialias: 1
Xft.hinting: true
Xft.hintstyle: hintslight
Xft.dpi: 96
Xft.rgba: rgb
Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault

! Copyright (c) 2016-present Arctic Ice Studio <development@arcticicestudio.com>
! Copyright (c) 2016-present Sven Greb <code@svengreb.de>

! Project:    Nord XResources
! Version:    0.1.0
! Repository: https://github.com/arcticicestudio/nord-xresources
! License:    MIT

#define nord0 #2E3440
#define nord1 #3B4252
#define nord2 #434C5E
#define nord3 #4C566A
#define nord4 #D8DEE9
#define nord5 #E5E9F0
#define nord6 #ECEFF4
#define nord7 #8FBCBB
#define nord8 #88C0D0
#define nord9 #81A1C1
#define nord10 #5E81AC
#define nord11 #BF616A
#define nord12 #D08770
#define nord13 #EBCB8B
#define nord14 #A3BE8C
#define nord15 #B48EAD

*.foreground:   nord4
*.background:   nord0
*.cursorColor:  nord4
*fading: 35
*fadeColor: nord3
*.shading: 30
*.tintColor: nord15
*.active: nord11
*.inactive: nord14

*.color0: nord1
*.color1: nord11
*.color2: nord14
*.color3: nord13
*.color4: nord9
*.color5: nord15
*.color6: nord8
*.color7: nord5
*.color8: nord3
*.color9: nord11
*.color10: nord14
*.color11: nord13
*.color12: nord9
*.color13: nord15
*.color14: nord7
*.color15: nord6

Cleanup

Once you have things running reasonably well, I recommend you go back and tweak your installed toolset. In my case, I ‘carefully’ removed those pieces of xfce4 I no longer wanted. I kept those items I like from xfce4 such as the power manager, screenshooter, thunar, and a few others. Your situation will obviously be driven by your preferences not mine.

If you are interested in discussing this more, I recommend you check out this thread on the MX Linux Forums.

Yes, Linux is all about choice and freedom.

My Hardware Setup

In the event you wish to check out more of the hardware, software details for my environment they follow below:

System:
  Host: <filter> Kernel: 5.8.0-3-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-3-amd64 
  root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet hush 
  Desktop: dwm 6.2 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
  Distro: MX-19.3_x64 patito feo November 11  2020 
  base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E5470 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 9 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: N/A serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 1.21.6 
  date: 10/02/2019 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 39.7 Wh condition: 39.7/62.0 Wh (64%) volts: 8.3/7.6 
  model: LGC-LGC4.20 DELL HK6DV type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M510 
  serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes 
  status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-6300U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Skylake family: 6 model-id: 4E (78) stepping: 3 microcode: D6 
  L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 19999 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 400/3000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
  3: 800 4: 800 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
  Type: l1tf 
  mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable 
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, 
  IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds status: Vulnerable: No microcode 
  Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 520 vendor: Dell Skylake GT2 driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:1916 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  compositor: xcompmgr resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 520 (SKL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.1.8 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:9d70 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.8.0-3-amd64 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k 
  port: f040 bus ID: 00:1f.6 chip ID: 8086:156f 
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Dell driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: f040 bus ID: 01:00.0 
  chip ID: 168c:003e 
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb bus ID: 1-8:5 
  chip ID: 0cf3:e007 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.90 TiB used: 1.08 TiB (57.0%) 
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: SD32G size: 30.09 GiB block size: 
  physical: 512 B logical: 512 B serial: <filter> scheme: MBR 
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT1050MX300SSD4 size: 978.09 GiB 
  block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
  serial: <filter> rev: R031 scheme: GPT 
  ID-3: /dev/sdb type: USB model: Kindle Internal Storage size: 6.22 GiB 
  block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B serial: <filter> rev: 0401 
  ID-4: /dev/sdc type: USB vendor: Western Digital 
  model: WD My Passport 07A8 size: 931.48 GiB block size: physical: 512 B 
  logical: 512 B serial: <filter> rev: 1033 scheme: MBR 
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci 
  v: 3.0 port: f060 bus ID: 00:17.0 chip ID: 8086.282a rev: 21 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw size: 975.81 GiB size: 959.49 GiB (98.33%) 
  used: 558.48 GiB (58.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
  ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.00 GiB used: 1024 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap 
  swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache pressure: 100 (default) dev: /dev/sda3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 41.5 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
  1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
  1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main contrib non-free
  2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security/ buster/updates main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
  1: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ buster ahs
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb/ stable main
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:
  Processes: 319 Uptime: 2d 2h 13m Memory: 23.39 GiB used: 4.38 GiB (18.7%) 
  Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 
  Shell: quick-system-in running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36 

Below are images of what I have installed and implemented- a basic version of the BunsenLabs Lithium materials (per BL guidance) on MX19. Click on the images to get a bigger view:

If you want to try this (please don’t do it on your daily platform just yet) you may begin the install by installing a copy of MXLinux19 on your test platform. Once you have installed MX19, to create a version on your BL-Lithium on your new MX19 installation, add the following line to your apt sources (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list) :

##BunsenLabs Experimental
deb https://asia.pkg.bunsenlabs.org/~johnraff/debian lithium main

Next, to build a version of BunsenLabs (Lithium- experimental) on MX19 you simply need to enter the following commands in terminal mode:

wget https://kelaino.bunsenlabs.org/~johnraff/helium-dev.asc
sudo cp helium-dev.asc /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends bunsen-meta-all

Some necessary post-install tweaks, courtesy of @hhh and @johnraff BunsenLabs developers

network ***This does not appear to be required on MX. ****

Since iwconfig sets up the internet connection during the installation, editing of /etc/network/interfaces is necessary after the BL desktop is installed to allow Network Manager to handle connections.

Comment out anything except for the first eight lines as so…

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
#allow-hotplug enp9s0
#iface enp9s0 inet dhcp

wireless ** You may find this necessary if you have the misfortune of using Broadcom WiFi **

Since b43 drivers for Broadcom WiFi are not available in buster, you can download the packages from sid and install them with dpkg -i:

• https://packages.debian.org/sid/all/fir … r/download
  and
• amd64: https://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/b … r/download
• i386: https://packages.debian.org/sid/i386/b4 … r/download

volume icon **Note, this is very likely a temporary item**

pnmixer has a GUI update that hasn’t been configured yet in our [BL] repo.
Fix the panel volume icon via right-click>Preferences>View>Icon Theme, select Use System Theme and click Apply.

— end of @johnraff notes —

Once BunsenLabs is installed, reboot (restart) your system. When you arrive at the LightDM login screen, login to BunsenLabs (not xfce).

After you enter the BunsenLabs desktop, respond to the BL questionnaire.

Notes on the BL questionnaire:

• I have found adding PAE kernel to be problematic (especially in VirtualBox installs.) You are on your own with that choice.
• I recommend you avoid the addition of all Backports.

Next, open a terminal window to remove xfce4 (which should cleanup any potential conflicts between BL & MX xfce4 installs). To do that enter

sudo apt remove xfce4*

Caution!! Do not omit, leave off, or quit at the above step. Once it is complete enter the following into your terminal in order to establish a re-baseline (fresh baseline) of BunsenLabs Lithium:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends bunsen-meta-all

Once BL is updated/ reinstalled install the following in terminal by entering:

sudo apt install compton compton-conf xfce4-terminal

Note: leave xfce4-terminal in the above install items if you like transparent background terminal screens. lxterminal won’t do that.

The next activity will repair your Logout functions. (Remember you can always use Ctl-Alt-Bckspc to Logout if you need to.)

First download the following little file and place it in .config/yad (you’ll need to create that directory manually).

Here’s the file to download: logout.sh

(This file will need to be extracted once it is safely nestled in your nice, new, fresh yad directory.)

Next for tint2 (the menu bar at the top, button on the far right) open your terminal and edit the following file from terminal with the following command:

geany .config/tint2/tintrc

Once open, search tintrc for bl-exit and replace bl-exit with .config/yad/logout.sh. Save & Close tint2rc.

You need to do the same sort of thing to repair the Exit function in jgmenu (the little flame menu and desktop menu). Edit the following file from terminal with the following command:

geany .config/jgmenu/prepend.csv

Once open, search prepend.csv for bl-exit and replace bl-exit with .config/yad/logout.sh. Save & Close prepend.csv

Lastly, I recommend that you download and install obmenu-generator. To get the latest copy, go here and download the copy for Debian 10 (Buster).

Once you have installed obmenu-generator open your terminal and enter:

obmenu-generator -s -c

Then remember to do this after every additional or removal of software to keep your menu ‘current’.

Do you hear the trumpets? See the fire works? You are done. You now have MXLinux19 with the very cool BunsenLabs Lithium Desktop,

Here is an image of Lithium on running on mx19, with yad logout and new background.

antiX19 with Lithium Experimental:

(this section will be updated when antiX19 reaches RC phase).

The following fairly simple process accomplishes the transition of antiX from a standard setup to one using BunsenLabs (Lithium experimental release- Openbox):

1. Install the current beta version of antiX19b3
2. Add the following line to your apt sources (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list) :

    ##BunsenLabs Experimental 
   deb https://kelaino.bunsenlabs.org/~johnraff/debian lithium main 

3. To build a version of BunsenLabs (Lithium- experimental) on antiX19b3 you simply need to enter the following commands in terminal mode:

   1.  
      wget https://kelaino.bunsenlabs.org/~johnraff/helium-dev.asc 
      sudo cp helium-dev.asc /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/
      sudo apt-get update
      sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends bunsen-meta-all
       

4. Next remove the following standard antiX components, if you desire a more standard Bunsenlabs-like OpenBox installation (you may do this using the antiX Control Centre or via terminal mode):
   1. SLIM
   2. fluxbox
   3. icewm
   4. jwm
   5. herbstluftwm
5. Because Display Managers are crucial and sometimes disappear (on me anyway), I recommend you use terminal mode to install lightdm. BunsenLabs does not seem to work well otherwise.
6. That should do it. Reboot and enjoy.

Slightly modified from the original MakeTechEasier article: How to fix Kali’s sound issue

Getting audio output is a simple enough process with a little bit of effort. The first thing to do is kill all existing sound services to prevent any conflicts for the later stages of this guide. This can be done via the Terminal by entering the following command:

• sudo killall pulseaudio

This will enable the next step which is to remove Pulseaudio completely:

• sudo apt-get purge pulseaudio pulseaudio-utils gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio paman pavumeter pavucontrol

We will be returning to Pulseaudio later on. However, it is wise to use apt-purge as opposed to apt-remove because this ensures that the configuration files are removed to prevent conflicts.

Next, we need an alternative to the absent Pulseaudio. This is where Alsa and its drivers can be used. Alsa-base is a set of configuration files that allow the driver to be used by the Kernel. Linux 2.6 was shipped with the drivers needed for the majority of sound cards.

Install Alsa with the following:

• sudo apt-get install alsa-base alsa-tools alsa-tools-gui alsa-utils alsa-oss alsamixergui libalsaplayer0 gvfs-backends

Now that Alsa is installed, we need some way to control it. KMix is a good way to do this.

• sudo apt-get install kmix

At this point, it is wise to reboot so that KMix and Alsa will load. Once the small volume control, KMix, is installed, we can return to Pulseaudio.

• sudo apt-get install pulseaudio

The final step is to install Gnome-Core. This gives several vital packages and components for desktop environments. You can install it by typing this into the Terminal:

• sudo apt-get install gnome-core

Note: Sound patch has the following dependency for sound (gvfs-backends)

#################################
#!/bin/bash
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get remove –purge aisleriot asunder chromium-bsu chromium-bsu-data clementine clipit dconf-editor dict fbreader featherpad feh firefox galculator geany geany-common gimp gimp-data gmtp gnome-hearts gnome-mahjongg gnome-ppp gnome-schedule gscan2pdf gsmartcontrol gtkhash gtkhash-common guvcview* hexchat htop lbreakout2 lbreakout2-data libreoffice* lightning luckybackup luckybackup-data mc mc-data nomacs nomacs-l10n onboard onboard-common onboard-data orage pdfshuffler peg-e pppoeconf qpdfview* samba samba-common samba-common-bin samba-libs simple-scan smtube swell-foop thunar-gtkhash thunderbird vlc xfce4-notes xfce4-notes-plugin xfce4-sensors-plugin xfce4-taskmanager xfce4-dict
#

The following terminal commands will clean things up after the previous deletion(s).
sudo apt autoclean && sudo apt autoremove –purge
#################################
If you wish to remove xfce : 

cut & paste the following into a terminal:
sudo apt remove xfdesktop4 xfce4-* libxfce4-*

…and then clean up with the following:

• sudo apt autoclean
• sudo apt autoremove –purge

Applications I add and build into my install (due largely to personal preference):

sudo apt-get install plank synapse mousepad keepassx four-in-a-row grsync gnome-disk-utility gcolor2 agave viewnior fonts-roboto-hinted filezilla clamav clamtk clamassassin chromium gramps zim baobab ristretto thunar-dropbox-plugin fonts-roboto-hinted djview4 djvulibre-plugin Touchpad-Indicator

Items added via MXPI include:

• dropbox
• virtualbox
• tlpui
• safeeyes

appimages I typically add include:

• Libreoffice-Fresh
• avidemux (for podcasting)
• OpenShot (for video podcasting)
• Raw Therapee (for podcasting)
• Scrivener (for writing, be advised this baby is old and crusty)
• Shotcut (for video podcasting)

#set -x
ACTION=”$1″

TEMP_SOURCES_BASE=”/tmp/mx-testrepo-apt-sources.list.d-temp.$USER”
TEMP_SOURCES_LIST_D=”${TEMP_SOURCES_BASE}.$$.$RANDOM$RANDOM”
TEMP_SOURCES_LIST=$TEMP_SOURCES_LIST_D/temp_source.list

rm -fr ${TEMP_SOURCES_BASE}.*
mkdir $TEMP_SOURCES_LIST_D

echo -e “\n## /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list” | tee $TEMP_SOURCES_LIST
echo -e “## mx-testrepo” | tee -a $TEMP_SOURCES_LIST
cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list | grep -m1 -E “^#[[:space:]]+(deb https?.mx/testrepo.)” | grep -o -E “(deb https?.mx/testrepo.)” | tee -a $TEMP_SOURCES_LIST

APT_OPTION=”-o Dir::Etc::sourcelist=$TEMP_SOURCES_LIST”
[ “$ACTION” = “update” ] && APT_OPTION=”-o Dir::Etc::sourceparts=- -o APT::Get::List-Cleanup=0 $APT_OPTION”

echo sudo apt $APT_OPTION “${@}”
sudo apt $APT_OPTION “${@}”

################################################
exit
################################################