Setting up GUI on your PixieBoard

If you prefer to use a GUI on your PixieBoard you can do it very easily by setting up LXDE. As mentioned in the ArchLinuxWiki, LXDE stands for “Lightweight X11 Desktop Enviornment”. All PixieBoards are capable of having a 1080p@60Hz video out put through the micro HDMI connector. In this tutorial you will learn how to set LXDE to have a Desktop Environment on your PixieBoard.

This tutorial asumes that you have followed the Getting Started with PixieBoard tutorial and that you are connected to a WiFi network.

Let’s get started

The first and most important step is to syncronize and upgrade your system packages, with:

sudo pacman -Syu

After that we can continue. Given that we maintian our packages, we have done all the heavy lifting on providing a package that will facilitate the installation of LXDE. Lets start by installing xorg-PixiePro group of packages. (When prompt to select a package, hit enter key to install all, then press y to download all packages):

sudo pacman -S --force xorg-PixiePro

Now it is time to install the rest of the packages. In the first step we will install the desktop environment and the corresponding display manager. We chose LXDE because we like that it’s lightweight and fast, but you are free to try whichever you like, including XFCE and others.

sudo pacman -S lxde

Hit enter to select default=all option.

We also need some dependencies, including LibBSD and fonts for Xorg. Copy and paste these three lines (make sure to copy all the text in the second block):

sudo pacman -S libbsd 

Afterwards we need to install al font packages:

sudo pacman -S xorg-fonts xorg-fonts-75dpi xorg-fonts-100dpi xorg-fonts-cyrillic xorg-fonts-type1 xorg-xfontsel xorg-xlsfonts xorg-xlsfonts xorg-fonts-misc ttf-dejavu

Install lxdm:

sudo pacman -S lxdm

We need to enable the lxdm service to start the GUI at start up. This is done by using systemctl.

sudo systemctl enable lxdm.service

You are all set. Now you only need to reboot the PixieBoard:

sudo reboot

Make sure your PixieBoard is connected to an HDMI monitor and that you have a keyboard and mouse connected. You should see the following displayed in your monitor:

Done! You know have a fully functional graphical environment installed in your PixieBoard!

Use a USB mouse and keyboard to interact with your system (most of the shelf USB-HDI devices will work with no issues).

Once you login you have common Desktop Enviornment options such as a File Manager, a Terminal Window, Task Manager, Multiple Desktops, etc. You can access this options through the lower right icon on the screen as shown in the following image:

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Note: If you experience a weird resolution or aspect ration on your display, try changing the settings directly on your screen to “Direct” or “Normal”. If this doesn’t seem to fix the problem, try unplugging and plugging in again the HDMI cable with the board already running.

Installing Applets

One advantage of having GUI environment is that you can install applets to easily configure your PixieBoard. Lets install the network manager applet to enable the PixieBoards Cellular Modem.

Before you begin make sure that you have inserted a valid nano-SIM Card and that you have a 4G/3G Antenna. For more information on how to setup before you enable the modem. You can look at Enabling the Cellular Modem on the PixieBoard.

Open a terminal on your GUI environment

Lets install the Network Manager Applet with:

sudo pacman -S network-manager-applet

Press y and then the enter key to install the packages

Once installed restart your PixieBoard

sudo reboot

Once the PixieBoard has rebooted and you have logged in through the GUI. You will find a new icon with signal bars at the lower right hand of the window. Or if you are not connected to the internet 2 computers with a red cross will appear:

Connected

Not Connected

Now that you have the network manager applet you can connect easily to a wireless network.

1. Click on the network manager status logo and select the WiFi you want to connect to.
2. Write the password of the WiFi network and hit enter or press the Connect button.
3. You should now be connected to the internet.

Enable the Modem

To enable Quectel's Celular modem you have to open a terminal window and type:

sudo enablePixieModem

Once executed, the enablePixieModem package will enable the modem and set up a network interface called wwan0. It will take approx. 30 to 80 seconds to bring up the wwan0 interface.

Once you the modem has been enabled you will find a new option on the network manager applet.

Press on the New Mobile Broadband connection option and follow the wizard. At this point you should have a nano SIM inserted in the PixieBoard, a 4G/3G antenna and you should know the APN from you SIM provider. Eg. For AT&T it is phone and for T-Mobile it is fast.t-mobile.com.

1. Select New Mobile Broadband connection.
2. Press the Next button.
3. Select your SIM provider Country.
4. If your provider appears on the list you can select it from there. Or if you have a global SIM you can enter the name of your provider by selecting I can’t find my provider radio button.
5. Enter the APN (eg. phone for AT&T).
6. Press Apply button.

In a few seconds your PixieBoard will connect to you provider and assign you an IP. You can check this by typing in your termial window

sudo ip link addr

If you have not installed a GUI and want to enable the celular modem on your PixieBoard you can follow this guide: Enabling the Cellular Modem on the PixieBoard