How to Install CDE (Common Desktop Environment) in Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04

This is a beginner’s tip shows how to install the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Mint 20.

Hewlett-Packard, IBM, SunSoft, and USL announced CDE in June 1993 as a joint development within the Common Open Software Environment (COSE) initiative. Each development group contributed its own technology to CDE.

CDE has been ported to Linux and BSD derivatives. And it has now been released under an Open Source licence by The Open Group. The latest version so far is v2.3.2 released 10 months ago.

Install CDE via Sparky Linux Repository:

Thanks to this thread, CDE is available to install via Sparky Linux repository.

1. Add Sparky Linux repository

• First open terminal and run command to create a new repository file and open it with gedit text editor:

  sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sparky.list

  For Linux Mint, you may replace gedit in the command with xed text editor

  When the file opens, add following two lines and save it.

  deb https://repo.sparkylinux.org/ potolo main
  deb https://repo.sparkylinux.org/ core main

  

• Then run command to install the keyring:

  wget -O - https://repo.sparkylinux.org/sparky.gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -

  

2. Install missing dependencies.

Some old libraries has been removed from Ubuntu repository. It is however easy and safe to install them back by manually downloading & installing the .deb package.

Download and install the 3 packages one by one via Gdebi package installer (available to install in Ubuntu Software). The multiarch-support package need to be installed first to avoid dependency issue.

3. Finally install CDE via apt command.

First check updates by running command:

sudo apt update

Then install the Common Desktop Environment via command:

sudo apt install cde-desktop

Once installed, log out and select log back with “CDE” session and enjoy!

Uninstall CDE Desktop:

To remove the desktop environment, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove cde-desktop

And remove the Sparky Linux repository by going to Software & Updates > Other Software tab.