This article introduces the display manager LightDM and the desktop environment Xfce4 to Arch Linux. Our policy is to start the desktop environment with the simplest procedure possible.
I would like to touch on the general story of display managers and desktop environments, as well as LightDM and Xfce4.
Display Manager is an application that provides a graphical login screen. You can log in to the GUI environment without using it, but the user and desktop environment choices will be intuitive. See below for display managers (also with a list of other display manager candidates): https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Display_manager
In this article, we will install LightDM as a display manager. https://wiki.archlinux.jp/index.php/LightDM
Arch Linux supports several desktop environments, and you can deploy your favorite desktop environment such as gnome, KDE plasma, or xfce4. Also, with some display managers, if you install multiple desktop environments, you can select the installed desktop environment from the login screen, and you can try various desktop environments. See below for supported desktop environments (also desktop environment comparisons): https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Desktop_environment
In this article, we will install Xfce4 as a desktop environment. https://wiki.archlinux.jp/index.php/Xfce
It is assumed that Arch Linux is installed and the network connection is set up.
In addition, the notation is based on the assumption that a general user has been added and sudo has already been set.
You can set it as the root user, but it is not recommended.
You can think of it as a continuation of the previous article Arch Linux Installation Guide (UEFI Desktop Edition) --Qiita.
Install the required packages.
It can only be built with the official packages provided by Arch Linux (ie, using only pacman).
Update your system before installing the individual packages.
$ sudo pacman -Syu
Install X11:
$ sudo pacman -S xorg-server
Without xorg-server, you can't even start LightDM, let alone Xfce4.
Even if the desktop environment is not installed, you can install and start LightDM, but you cannot log in.
LightDM installation:
$ sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
You will need a greeter to start LightDM.
There are several options for greeter, but by default lightdm-gtk-greeter is set.
If you have lightdm-gtk-greeter installed, LightDM will start without any special settings.
Install Xfce4.
In addition to xfce4, officially supported desktop environments include gnome, kde-plasma, mate, and lxqt.
If you want to install another desktop environment, change xfce4 to your favorite desktop environment and install.
$ sudo pacman -S xfce4
Enable the LightDM service using systemctl:
$ sudo systemctl enable lightdm.service
.service is optional.
Reboot after activation. After rebooting, LightDM will launch and you will see a graphical login screen. If you log in as a suitable user, the installed Xfce4 should start.
If you use lightdm-gtk-greeter, the desktop environment selection menu will appear in the upper right corner of LightDM.
If you have installed multiple desktop environments, you can select the desktop environment here.
Using LightDM, we introduced a graphical login screen and desktop environment Xfce4 to Arch Linux. Basically, you can install the GUI environment just by installing the required packages and activating the LightDM service.
Not only LightDM, but also the display managers provided by each desktop environment such as gdm, sddm, lxdm can be started by the same procedure. Enable the service after installing the appropriate display manager. This will allow you to launch a graphical login screen when you restart.
I'll talk more about LightDM's advanced settings (greeter and theme settings, virtual console login, etc.) at another time.
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