March 9, 2025

Set up a Minimum Viable Desktop (MVD) with GNU/Linux Trisquel netinstall

Motivation:

For a few years now, I’ve been rethinking how I use computers (or digital devices in general).¹

I started this process because I felt systems I used were underming agency I have on “my world”, and my imagination - or more precisely: my ability to imagine how to do things beyond the sphere purveyors of those applications shapes.

The world purveyors shaped, had become my world, and I was getting stuck in there.

Since I quit MacOS, my computing skills expanded; my ability to imagine how to use computers also.

I used to be stuck in my Mac and in the walled-gardens of Google and other glebes²; the more I used those services, the more I entrenched myself.

Quitting glebes and adopting tools following the UNIX philosophy³ enabled me to expand my field of possibilities.⁴

Still, as I further used GNU/Linux Trisquel default installation, I realised that:

1. I was using a fraction of the applications that came with the default installation

2. while I was now spending most of my time in the terminal; using apps in the terminal.

For a while I tried switching desktop environments (DE) in search for a lighter one, but they all came with too many applications as well as too many features.

That’s what a DE is: a bundle of applications so that most people can use a computer out of the box.

In my search for a lighter DE, I found that I did not have to use one.

I could install a bare system, and then install apps I wanted one by one. For a subset of users, this is no secret, but for most users, this is a foreign idea.

So that’s what I did.

I installed a bare release of the GNU/Linux distribution I use - called netinstall - and started to install programmes one by one, as the need came up.

To me, this approach suited me better than starting with a bundle of software.

Since this install, I’ve been taking notes about the steps I took.

In this post, I am introducing a table of contents others can follow to set up their own Minimum Viable Desktop (MVD). I am also introducing steps so people who have never used a terminal can become familiar with it - that’s why the second step is a game: a game to learn how to navigate a computer via the command-line interface (cli). Then, quickly, I introduce applications that will enable the user to chat with others, make calls, send and receive files. I try to show that your computer - even without DE - can become operational - for work, - with few apps..

1. install GNU/Linux Trisquel

2. games, let’s play

3. set up sound

4. instant messaging

5. checking the weather

6. listening to music and podcast

7. setting up the desktop

8. setting up wallpaper

9. download an e-reader

10. capture screen

11. Advanced

    1. mapping keys
    2. key binding

PS: the table of contents is meant to evolve.

Questions and feedback are welcome: https://yctct.com/contact

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1. See https://yctct.com/log and https://yctct.com/twtxt.txt↩︎

2. Digital tools that undermine users’ agency↩︎

3. one tool, one job↩︎

4. I am not saying it is proprietary software vs freely distributed software; the epistemic question goes beyond discussions about software licenses; I discuss this in my research work.↩︎

personal computing command-line interface (cli) gnu linux trisquel shell literacy wiki Minimum Viable Desktop (MVD)