Simple Fix For Raspberry Pi2 Running Gnome: Missing Wireless Tray Icon

In my last post, i gave you a simple tutorial on adding a minimal install of Gnome, i forgot to mention that if your using a Raspberry Pi 2 on a wireless network rather than a wired network you won't be able to connect to your router as the system tray icon will say device not ready when using a wireless adapter.

The easy way to fix this is by installing Wicd and this is simply done by opening the terminal and using the following command:

Wicd: sudo apt-get install wicd

Follow the onscreen prompt to install and reboot, remember the command for reboot is:

Reboot: sudo reboot.

Once your all rebooted and logged back in you will notice a new tray icon, similar the windows network icon, if you enlarge the picture above you can see it. Right click on the icon and connect to your wireless network, alternatively you access wicd through it's GUI through the Applications - Internet menu.

A Quick & Easy Tutorial for Installing A Minimal Desktop On Your Raspberry PI

Gnome Desktop

This brief tutorial assumes that you have a Raspberry PI with Noobs pre-installed on your SD-Card. Before you do anything make sure that you have Raspian-Lite installed which can easily be chosen from the menu on boot up by holding down shift on your keyboard which brings up the OS selection screen.

To install Raspian-Lite on your SD-Card simply check the abox next to Raspian-Lite in the Noobs menu and click install.

Once installed you will be asked to login with your Raspberry PI username and password, straight out of the box, your username is "PI" and Password is "Raspberry".

Once logged in your will see the command line, enter the following commands:

Get Update: sudo apt-get update

Get Upgrade: sudo apt-get upgrade

Get Distro Upgrade: sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

The first 3 updates are merely a formality but are essential, if there is any updates to install you will be prompted to install and you can safely enter the yes answer.

Next we move to adding the desktop environment, in this case we're going to use Gnome, but not all of Gnome, we're going to do a minimal installation, to add Gnome, we're going to add it's panel and terminal, in the command line enter the following commands:

Gnome Panel: sudo apt-get install gnome-panel

Once the panel has finished installing enter the following commands after each item has installed:

Gnome Terminal: sudo apt-get install gnome-terminal

Synaptic Package Manager: sudo apt-get install synaptic

Package Manager: sudo apt-get install gnome-packagekit

You've now installed a base desktop, you know need to install one more thing, a graphical login manager, to do this enter the following command:

Light DM: sudo apt-get install light dm

You now have everything you need to run a minimal Gnome desktop installation, you can now reboot.
To reboot your Raspberry PI use the following command:

Reboot: sudo reboot

After rebooting you will be presented with a graphical login, enter your username and password and that is it really, it will take a moment to load gnome, not too long and you have a minimal gnome desktop.

Some points to think about, you don't have to install the package kit, it's the same as the synaptic package manager, although to use synaptic only you will need to set a root password which can be done by entering the following command in the terminal:

Root Password: sudo passwd root

you will be prompted to enter a root password which is the administrators password. if you forget the password at anytime, simply enter the command again into the terminal.

Another point to remember is to issue commands with sudo first.

You should have a Gnome Desktop like the picture at the start of the post.

Happy Computing!!