Installing VNC into Ubuntu Server Raspberry Pi breaks ssh pipe and prevents rebo

[kalpana]

First time setting up a Pi. Only have basic familiarity with linux and operating systems. Right now I am doing the setup entirely with an ssd card and SSH. So if something prevents me from SSHing into the device I consider it "bricked" and start over.What I am doing right now I thought is quite simple. I am trying to use Ubuntu Server with my Raspberry Pi 4 because I thought that would lead to wider compatibility with libraries/programs that exist in the linux community. I figured since I am familiar with bash it would be fine.I realize the Raspberry Pi OS already has VNC built in but I really want to learn what is going on with Linux so I am purposefully making my life a bit difficult. Please when you answer feel free to explain in as much detail what I might want to know, would love to know more than just how to fix this.So what I do is the following 1 Install Ubuntu Server 64 bit onto my micro SD card configured with SSH via the Raspberry Pi Imager 2 Run the command I got from here sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies in hopes of installing VNC. 3 This command runs for a long time (hour or two) but eventually finishes. 4 If I am connected over SSH and leave the computer alone the ssh pipe will break. I can't ssh back in even after power cycling. 5 If I keep with the computer SSH does something I have never seen before and somehow gives a full screen GUI warning me about Needsrestart.And that's about where I'm at. A few observations I guess: 1 If I connect the sd to my computer and try to open etc/bin/bash in a text editor it is un-intelligable. Same with zsh. Many tutorials mention I might be able to edit these files to boot into safe mode, get out diagnostic info etc. 2 I have never before seen a full screen GUI pop up in vnc (except for like text editors and gdb). It's a purple screen with like an alert. And it will list like 2 things and say ok. I think it's something about Needsrestart or Daemons using outdated libraries. This pops up after the installation. I believe it just asks me to restart certain things. 3 Is there no way I can get to the logs/ssh history for the device from looking at the micro SD card on Ubuntu? See what went wrong? Is this only a RaspberryPI OS thing? 4 Part of me is wondering if it's an issue with the cheap but recommended AEGO Micro SD Card 32GB Mini sd Card UHS-1 Class 10 microsd 32gb I am using. I know SD cards aren't reliable. The first time this happened I had issues mounting it onto my Mac to wipe it. Couldn't first aid or anything. Had to use a different reader. However successive attempts have had the sd mount just fine. I don't really know how to tell if the SD failed. 5 Is there any way to convince my Mac to keep the SSH pipe open so I don't have to baby sit it and can step away while it does this long install and still observe the state after? (ssh breaks after the install) 6 This install seemed to create wider system issues. I remember ignoring the popup or just saying ok then having issues with other system things like when I tried to mess with ufw I got ERROR: '/etc/ufw/user.rules' is not writable could be unrelated. I may have messed up my users. I also couldn't install the script for my fan due to this error 'sudo apt-get install' is showing "Not using locking for read only file /var/lib/dpkg/lock" warning on Ubuntu Touch 7 Is it possible that VNC is fundamentally incompatible with Ubuntu Server? I am using that because the Raspberry Pi Imager only allows me to set up the SSH login+wifi if I install server. I don't have a keyboard/monitor for using Desktop to connect it to wifi+setup log in and can't find instructions how to modify its boot to do that. I always figured I could "install" a GUI into ubuntu server. But perhaps it is just fundamentally incompatible to tAny thoughts or tips would be greatly appreciated.Edit: I was able to reproduce this issue on a DigitalOcean Ubuntu server. Or at least the purple screen. It looked just like this It looked just like this. A giant purple screen with Daemons Using Outdated Librarysmultipathd.servicepackagekit.serviceunatte nded-upgrades.serviceOk | Cancel