Running a window manager other than the default in gnuroot debian for android

First off, I'm not a unix expert...I get by.... and actually prefer microsoft windows (Please dont flame) !  All the linux desktop environments (other than Apple's) feel like they are from the 1970s.  That said, my whole motivation for running gnuroot on android is to use octave on android and be able to see the octave main window, the editor, and some plot windows all at the same time.  Now on to make it work:

I installed gnuroot debian off of the google playstore onto my android machine:

Select the app and run it.  This is what you should get:

Notice something:

1) There is a little xterm icon in the upper right that starts a vnc X windows session - we will use this later.

update the package by typing in the window:

apt-get update


Then, in the terminal window install xterm, synaptic by typing:

apt-get install xterm synaptic

then install:

apt-get install lxde

Back to the little icon: In the teradyne gnuroot window there is a little icon that shows "xterm" click this it will start a vnc session. Once you click it, it will tell you what port number the vnc X session is active on.  This is important because you will need to set the DISPLAY environment variable to this port number in order to see the new X Desktop (instead of the default).


Then set the DISPLAY environment variable ( It was important to get the 51 number correct! I got it from the main teradyne terminal window that came up..it showed 51):


export DISPLAY:51 PULSE_SERVER=tcp:127.0.0.1:4712
startlxde &

This should start the lxde window manager in the vnc window
(Most of the information is a variation on the information here:
https://www.xda-developers.com/guide-installing-and-running-a-gnulinux-environment-on-any-android-device/ )

By the way, you can also see that I have installed octave, emacs using apt-get install octave