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Tips & Tricks for Certified Ubuntu AMD-Xilinx Devices

Tips & Tricks for Certified Ubuntu AMD-Xilinx Devices

Owned by Tony McDowell (Unlicensed), created
Last updated: May 08, 2024 by McDowell, Tony
11 min read

This page collects various tips & tricks for getting the most out of the Certified Ubuntu on Xilinx Devices release.

Unless otherwise noted, the information on this page applies to both 20.04 and 22.04 images.

Table of Contents

Installing a Graphical Package Manager

The core of the Ubuntu ecosystem is 3rd-party packages. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS provides some packages as tradition Debian .deb packages in apt repositories. Sandboxed modern applications are provided as Snaps (such as xlnx-config). By default, the Certified Ubuntu on Xilinx Devices image does not provide a graphical package manager. If you would like to add one, there are several available in the existing Ubuntu package repository ecosystem.

A common lightweight package manager for apt packages is called synaptic. It can be installed with the following command:

$ sudo apt install synaptic

The Ubuntu snap ecosystem provides a separate GUI for managing and installing snaps. The Ubuntu Snap Store application is called snap-store. It can be installed with the following command:

$ sudo snap install snap-store

Stopping the Ubuntu Graphical Desktop Environment

If you wish to stop the Ubuntu graphical desktop environment and return to a strictly command line environment, you can do so by using the systemd interfaces. The systemd “multi-user” target is equivalent to runlevels 3, 4, or 5 in traditional systems based on SysVInit. This can be used to save system memory which would otherwise be used for running the rich desktop experience.

To switch to the “multi-user” target temporarily:

$ sudo systemctl isolate multi-user.target

To return to the graphical desktop environment:

To make this change permanent (eg, the graphical desktop environment will no longer start automatically):

Switching Desktop Environments

The default graphical environment in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and 22.04 LTS is based on GNOME3. Other desktop environments are available and can be installed to suit personal preference.

Replacement desktop environments can be installed from the command line. You can connect to the system via direct USB UART connection, SSH, or by switching the monitor output from graphical multi-user mode to terminal-only multi-user mode. For details on switching the monitor output to terminal multi-user mode, see the Stopping the Ubuntu Graphical Desktop Environment section.

From the terminal first, make sure that the apt package cache is up-to-date:

Next, install the new desktop environment using the apt-get tools:

For a list of desktop environment packages, see the table below.

Desktop Environment Name

Package Name

Notes

Desktop Environment Name

Package Name

Notes

Ubuntu Desktop

ubuntu-desktop

This is the default Ubuntu desktop environment. This can be installed on Ubuntu Server images to provide the standard Ubuntu Desktop GUI experience on server images.

Mate (from ubuntu-mate remix distribution)

ubuntu-mate-desktop

Tested and works. May take a long time to install depending on the speed of your SD card.

Unity (traditional Ubuntu desktop environment)

ubuntu-unity-desktop

 

KDE (from kubuntu remix distribution)

kubuntu-desktop

 

Xfce (from xubuntu remix distribution)

xubuntu-desktop

Tested and works.

LXDE (from lubuntu remix distribution)

lubuntu-desktop

Tested and works.

Cinnamon (from ubuntu-cinnamon remix distribution)

cinnamon-desktop-environment

 

NOTE: The default Ubuntu display manager is gdm. Some desktop environments require the lightdm display manager. You may need to switch the default display manager when switching desktop environments

NOTE: To configure Ubuntu to start the in different modes, issue the following commands:

For terminal-based multi-user mode (default)
$ sudo systemctl set-default multi-user

For graphical multi-user mode (GUI desktop)

$ sudo systemctl set-default graphical

Screen Sharing and VNC

You can share the desktop by enabling Screen Sharing in the GNOME desktop settings. You first need to install the Vino package. More details can be found at the following page: