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What Gui would be suitable for my home Ubuntu Server?

What Gui would be suitable for my home Ubuntu Server?

"I'm a noob on Ubuntu Server and after installing it I found that it works only in command line mode.
From this page I found that there are security risks to installing a GUI on servers.
It also recommends some lightweight GUI's such as Openbox and Fluxbox and gives various other tips on GUI's.
From your experience and of course considering my lack of it what light weight GUI would you recommend for Ubuntu Server 9.04?"

Asked by: Guest | Views: 320
Total answers/comments: 4
Guest [Entry]

"OpenBox and Fluxbox are not server management GUIs, they are Window Managers (WMs for short), they will give you some ways to enjoy the use of your mouse, but they won't provide any tool to administer a server.

You will soon realize that a Gnu/Linux server is administered through text files, a graphical text editor might help, but it's easier to use the one on your desktop (connecting on the server to administer it) than having to install a WM on the server.

There are some tools aimed at server management, but they are web-based and don't require a WM (they only require to be accessed with a browser - the one on your desktop for example). You may want to try webmin or ebox (both have some packages ready in ubuntu repositories).

However i prefer direct interaction over web-tools, but that is a personal choice, those might be useful when you need to administer a park of server, but if you're in that position you should be able to write your own tools that match your specific needs.

My advice would be to read a nice guide about server configuration on ubuntu, while learning a little about bash (you might even consider to go a little further).

And remember: With a GUI, simple tasks are even more simple, but complex tasks are impossible."
Guest [Entry]

Enlightenment is a great lightweight window manager, one of my favourites next to the *box variants. Although installing a GUI on a server you want to remain secure is not the way to learn how to use it. I'd recommend installing a regular copy of Ubuntu on another machine or even dual boot, just to get the feel of things. Get comfortable enough with the command-line so that you can configure the server without the use of a GUI.
Guest [Entry]

Usually a GUI is not needed on a server. If you have tools with GUI interfaces, you can use X11 forwarding with ssh to display them on your workstation.
Guest [Entry]

"Just use SSH; in my opinion a server should be headless and networked.

Learn how to get around on the command line, and I advise that you learn how to edit using vi; it's extremely useful when you're a server admin (considering some servers come with only vi installed as an $EDITOR)"