This is supposed to run from a local salt-minion install, using salt-call in a masterless setup. Based on a clean Debian Bookworm netinst installation, I'm using this to get to my minimal laptop setup on a Dell XPS13. I am currently running this on a 9310 model.

Among other things, this config will install:

• Gnome
• Most important apps:
  • Firefox
  • Thunderbird
  • Spotify
  • Slack
  • Albert (my favorite launcher),
  • Enpass
• Most important Firefox extensions:
  • uBlock,
  • Enpass,
  • German dictionary,
  • Multi-account containers
• Enforces Firefox sanitization on closing the browser and other settings.
• Some other available applications include:
  • nordvpn
  • Discord
  • OBS
  • Airtame
  • Starship prompt

Download the Debian Netinst ISO. Then install the minimal system. I like using the text mode installer and I partition like this:

• 512MB EFI
• 512MB EXT4 /boot
• Remainder is dm-crypt encrypted volume with LVM (start by configuring the encrypted partition in the text mode installer, then add LVM and a volume group vg0)
  • 90GB EXT4 vg0-root /root
  • 16GB SWAP vg0-swap ---
  • 256GB EXT4 vg0-home /home

After booting into the minimal system under bookwork, wifi will have been configured in /etc/network/interfaces. Gnome will later use NetworkManager, which will not manage network adapters listed in /etc/network/interfaces. So after the first run of salt-call, you'll have to remove the static configuration.

cd
cat >/etc/apt/sources.list.d/saltstack.list
deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/salt-archive-keyring-2023.gpg arch=amd64] https://repo.saltproject.io/salt/py3/debian/12/amd64/latest bookworm main
apt install --no-install-recommends ca-certificates wget
wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/salt-archive-keyring-2023.gpg https://repo.saltproject.io/salt/py3/debian/12/amd64/SALT-PROJECT-GPG-PUBKEY-2023.gpg
apt install --no-install-recommends git salt-minion
systemctl disable --now salt-minion
git clone https://github.com/jdelic/saltshaker-laptop
mkdir -p /etc/salt/minion.d
cp ~/saltshaker-laptop/etc/salt-minion/minion.d/saltshaker.conf /etc/salt/minion.d/
sudo ln -sv ~/saltshaker-laptop/srv/salt /etc/salt/salt
sudo ln -sv ~/saltshaker-laptop/srv/pillar /etc/salt/pillar
salt-call --local state.highstate | less

These aren't installed automatically by this salt config, but I find them useful and you can install them from Extension Manager:

• Frippery Move Clock (moves the clock to the right where it belongs)
• Vertical overview (because vertically stacked virtual desktops are much more sensible)
• Tray Icons: Reloaded (no idea why Gnome tries to remove them... so much software still uses them)
  • Make sure to change the settings to allow like 10 or so icons
• No Overview At Start-up (with Albert as launcher the default is just annoying)

1. To get Albert to launch on META+X use Gnome settings and set a Keyboard shortcut for albert toggle.
2. In the keyboard settings also change "Navigation"->"Switch Applications" to "disabled" and "Switch Windows" to "Alt+Tab"
3. On Gnome Tweaks set the clock to show calendar weeks and the date

I commonly use

• Applications
• Calculator
• Python
• System
  • I rename "Poweroff" to "Shutdown"
• Terminal