How to install desktop environments like xfce under almalinux

General Discussion & Chat
1

Hi I am Rupesh from India and I have brought a new system with AMD Ryzen zen3 5500 GT processor and Asus prime b 450 motherboard. I have installed Alma linux with gnome desktop environment but can’t go further.

I am using other Linux Operating Systems like Fedora, Debian, Arch etc , but I am new to Redhat enterprise Linux operating systems and its derivatives.

After installation of Alma Linux I have installed epel repository and even rpm fusion repository. Unfortunately total packages available are just 6500.

I have even enabled crb but no use.

I have installed Alma Linux through image Alma_Linux_10_X86_64_v2_dvd

I think that repositories are not loaded fully.

Kindly try to suggest how to install desktop environments like plasma cinnamon mate xfce under Alma Linux.

Regards,
Rupesh.

2

Alma 10 only has Wayland, not Xorg. It’s a little difficult to install anything besides the official desktops. I’ve managed to install labwc and dwl, two relatively small window managers similar to openbox and dwl, but haven’t tried with xfce… You might be able to do it with some Fedora 40 srpms, (one can find some of them at rpmfind.net or pkgs.org) but a full desktop like xfce is going to be a lot of work. You might try requesting it from epel, see Requesting a new package in EPEL :: Fedora Docs but otherwise, you might be out of luck.

3

A number of popular packages are not available like.

Plasma KDE desktop environment
Variety wallpaper changer

One month back I have installed CentOS stream and that time I have installed plasma desktop environment but now it is not available.

I have followed the instructions specified in alma linux documentation how to enable epel rpm fusion.

I think that those repositories are not configured properly.

If you want any diagnostic information I am ready to provide.

Kindly try to suggest how to use extra repositories.

4

I am expecting packages like

Lame MP3 encoder
Opusenc or libopus encoding tools
fdkaac or libfdkaac

I think that even these are not available because repositories are not configured properly.

5

I don’t think rpmfusion is set up yet for RHEL10. Those would probably have to be built. You could try Making sure you're not a bot! for some of them.

6

There are two images for the x86_64 architecture: x86_64 and x86_64_v2.

  • The x86_64 is the primary image. It matches RHEL 10. The EPEL has packages for these images. They are all built to require x86_64_v3 CPU instructions, like AVX2
  • The x86_64_v2 is built only by AlmaLinux. It is built to run on CPU’s that have x86_64_v2, but not all x86_64_v3 CPU instructions. EPEL does not build for x86_64_v2, but AlmaLinux rebuilds EPEL packages for Alma 10 x86_64_v2 (when feasible)

Even in the “real” EPEL there are now “EPEL10” and “EPEL 10.0”. The EPEL10 is more populated and (currently) targets CentOS Stream 10 / EL 10.1 (which will be released ~six months from now). The “EPEL 10.0” is specifically for the current EL 10, the “10.0”.

One can check what CPU supports with ld.so --help
The 5500 GT might support v3.

  • Porting & building for 10 takes extra effort. That is main reason why EPEL does not have all applications yet (if ever)
  • Alma’s v2 copy of EPEL naturally has to wait for (source) packages to get into (v3) EPEL first
1 Like
7

Thanks for your suggestions.

Which is the correct iso image to install Alma Linux.