How To Install desktop-autoloader on Debian 10
Introduction
In this tutorial we learn how to install desktop-autoloader on Debian 10.
What is desktop-autoloader
desktop-autoloader is:
This package is for diskless Linux clients as you often find them in school class rooms running an LTSP based fat client environment.
The logon into and the initial session startup on such diskless workstations can be considerably slow, because all applications need to be fetched from one server hosting the fat clients’ filesystem.
The situation gets worse, if 24 computers in the same class room get switched on simultaneously or the teacher tells the students to open the same application (e.g. Libreoffice) at the same time.
However, this issue only occurs to the first student using a diskless workstation that day. If the diskless machine is equipped with enough RAM, other students see all applications being launched within a couple of seconds.
Reason: once an application has been launched, it ends up in the diskless machine’s filesystem cache in RAM.
So, this package pre-loads a desktop session of the admin’s choice plus some extra popular applications. It does this before 7:30 in the morning, only. So, combine this package with Wake-On-LAN or an RTC Timer to make sure systems are booted before 7:30am. With such a setup in place, the diskless machines will have been prepared for work before the first students enter the class room.
There are three methods to install desktop-autoloader on Debian 10. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.
Install desktop-autoloader Using apt-get
Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.
sudo apt-get update
After updating apt database, We can install desktop-autoloader using apt-get by running the following command:
sudo apt-get -y install desktop-autoloader
Install desktop-autoloader Using apt
Update apt database with apt using the following command.
sudo apt update
After updating apt database, We can install desktop-autoloader using apt by running the following command:
sudo apt -y install desktop-autoloader
Install desktop-autoloader Using aptitude
If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.
sudo aptitude update
After updating apt database, We can install desktop-autoloader using aptitude by running the following command:
sudo aptitude -y install desktop-autoloader
How To Uninstall desktop-autoloader on Debian 10
To uninstall only the desktop-autoloader package we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get remove desktop-autoloader
Uninstall desktop-autoloader And Its Dependencies
To uninstall desktop-autoloader and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 10, we can use the command below:
sudo apt-get -y autoremove desktop-autoloader
Remove desktop-autoloader Configurations and Data
To remove desktop-autoloader configuration and data from Debian 10 we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get -y purge desktop-autoloader
Remove desktop-autoloader configuration, data, and all of its dependencies
We can use the following command to remove desktop-autoloader configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge desktop-autoloader
Dependencies
desktop-autoloader have the following dependencies:
References
Summary
In this tutorial we learn how to install desktop-autoloader package on Debian 10 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.