Optional: Install Graphical User Desktop Environment

If you are not comfortable with command line interface, you can download your favorite desktop environment such as Gnome or KDE from the Debian repository. Following are some commands to install them.

Gnome Desktop Environment (GDM)

The GNOME Desktop Enviroment is an fantastic-looking, modern, and useful desktop environment. GNOME is both free and one of the most widely used desktop environments on the GNU/Linux operating system.

To install it, first make sure that tasksel and aptitude are installed:

$ sudo apt-get install aptitude tasksel

Then, install the GNOME task:

$ sudo tasksel install gnome-desktop --new-install

Screenshot:

LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment)

LXDE is a free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. It is recommanded if you only need basic operation with graphical interface. To install a complete Debian LXDE desktop environment, execute commands below:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install task-lxde-desktop

Screenshot:

Start X-session

After the installation, you can simply enter the desktop environment by execute the command:

$ startx

NOTE: Click here for more desktop environment installation guide.