Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2024 11:45:41 -0500 From: Paul M Foster <paulf@quillandmouse.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Installing/running X11 Message-ID: <20240203164541.nibx4olun3jz66rn@yosemite.mars.lan> In-Reply-To: <b702f1f0-10ef-40b6-a0bd-b2ce413e4e73@alexburke.ca> References: <20240203144851.d47zguvjtisjdsz4@yosemite.mars.lan> <b702f1f0-10ef-40b6-a0bd-b2ce413e4e73@alexburke.ca>
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On Sat, Feb 03, 2024 at 05:01:43PM +0100, Alexander Burke wrote: > Hi Paul, > > Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but I'm starting to get the feeling that you > might not have paid as much attention to the wealth of documentation on > FreeBSD as perhaps you could have. There's nothing wrong with just diving > in, but a bit of guidance in unfamiliar waters is never a bad thing! > > The most general/basic advice is here; in this case, jump to step 9: > https://freebsdfoundation.org/setting-up-a-desktop-environment-from-scratch/ Step 9: pkg install xorg This is weak at *best*. Obviously, I did this. And according to almost *every* other advisor I've read, there are more packages which need to be installed, as I indicated in my original message. > > Going up a notch in detail is the excellent FreeBSD Handbook. The Desktop > section has separate subsections for the KDE, GNOME, XFCE, MATE, Cinnamon, > and LXQT desktop environments. Look around for reviews and screenshots and > pick one; they are listed here in approximate descending order of > popularity: > https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/desktop/ And of course, this was the first place I looked, since the handbook *should* be the definitive guide. Needless to say, despite following the advice there, X is not starting properly for me. > > I also cannot speak highly enough of vermaden's fabulous blog, which has > generally been my first or second port of call when I had questions before I > turned to the mailing lists. Here's his page collating all of his entries > regarding setting up a FreeBSD desktop: > https://vermaden.wordpress.com/freebsd-desktop/ (scroll down past the > screenshots) > Been there, too. Vermaden is the one who details hacking the X11 configs manually, unlike everyone else. And according to every other source, this really shouldn't be necessary. I don't want to go there unless I have to. > There's also the FreeBSD Forums, which are very searchable: > https://forums.freebsd.org/ This could take a while... > > Given your level of experience, I recommend sticking to packages, and not > touching the port system. You can explore the various packages which exist > at Freshports: > https://www.freshports.org/ > > Important to remember is that packages are simply precompiled ports. They're > a lot easier to deal with than ports. > Perhaps you underestimate my level of experience. I've been running Linux exclusively since 1996. And I'm aware of the difference between packages and ports. That's in the manual, early on. Paul -- Paul M. Foster Personal Blog: http://noferblatz.com Company Site: http://quillandmouse.com Software Projects: https://gitlab.com/paulmfoster
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