[ubuntu-uk] Desktop or Server?

[Chris Ray]

Thanks for all the comments guys. As I see it then; in answer to the 
specific question, the majority opinion is to add the GUI to the server 
install  rather than the other way around..

In answer to the more general question "why do I want to do that", my 
experience is this:
I agree with apparently nearly everybody that any serious work has to be 
via a shell, but GUIs do have their uses, like when watching resource 
graphs in System Monitor. Repeating lines in a shell just don't carry 
the same information content as a graph (a picture worth a thousand 
words and all that). Just my personal preference.
So I think the issue is not so much "why do you need a GUI at all",  but 
rather "how do I stop the GUI taking server resources when I don't need it?"
In openSuse there is a sysconfig setting that puts  a "--no-console" 
argument behind gdm  in its rc script, so when the server starts up 
there is no GUI sitting on Term 7 of the console, but an incoming VNC 
session starts it all up for as long as you need it, than shuts it down 
again.  So, a GUI for the 20 minutes a month I need it and no resource 
hogging for the rest of the time.
Is there an equivalent to sysconfig in Ubuntu, or do I have to edit the 
gdm rc script directly?  I'm reluctant to do that as I'd have to redo 
the setting every time an update overwrites the script.

Chris Ray


Chris Ray wrote:
> As a Ubuntu newbie I'm thinking of migrating a couple of servers I have 
> from openSuse to Ubuntu.  They need updating anyway, (running Open Suse 
> 10.2) but I could spend the time moving distros.
> What I need are server functions; DNS, DHCP, Postfix, Samba, etc. But, 
> as the servers are remote, I also want to get to an X desktop via VNC.
> I have no concerns about command lines, grep and awk do not scare me, 
> well maybe awk just a bit;  but a GUI is so much easier browsing for 
> updates or moving files around.
> I was impressed that Ubuntu has separate Desktop and Server editions but 
> worried that the Server edition appears not to load X or Gnome. (unless 
> I missed an option somewhere?)
> I can understand dropping Open Office, Gimp, Media players, etc., from a 
> server edition, but why a GUI desktop?
>
> So, as I see it, either I missed something in the Server setup, or I 
> have to choose between adding server stuff to a Desktop install, or 
> adding GUI stuff to a server install.
> I cannot be the first here.  Any advice greatly appreciated.
>
> Chris
>
>