FreeBSD desktop?

[Michael Carlson]

Hello Ray,

I've been using FreeBSD 5.x as my primary desktop for almost a year now,
and I've used it as a secondary for years.

It can be a little difficult when compared to something like like Redhat
but once you get it going its wonderful.

First, you should update your ports, I use a cvsup script like this one:

        *default host=cvsup10.freebsd.org
        *default base=/usr
        *default prefix=/usr
        *default release=cvs tag=.
        *default delete use-rel-suffix
        *default compress
        ports-all

Then I usually run portupgrade -ra, this will sort out any dependencies
especially with libraries changing so often,
After that, install the xorg window system. This is sort of the back-end
to a nice GUI interface.

        $ cd /usr/ports/x11/xorg
        $ make clean install


Then, pick a Window Manager you would like, I constatnly switch between
Gnome, KDE and XFCE for no real reason, I just like the variety. But if
you dont want to wait a couple of days, XFCE is probably the lightest
Window Manager.

        $ cd /usr/ports/x11-wm/xfce-4
        $ make clean install


Do you want a session manager to come up automatically? You can use the
default xdm, but I prefer gdm or kdm.

        $ cd /usr/ports/x11/gdm
        $ make clean install
        $ chmod +x /usr/X11R6/etc/rc.d/gdm.sh


That should get you up and running. If you have a nVidia card, I
recommend installing the driver in /usr/ports/x11/nvidia-driver.

After all is said and done, run xorgcfg(1) to get a basic xorg.conf file
created.

Thats off the top of my head, be sure to check the handbook and
google :)

Mike C
On Mon, 2005-08-01 at 04:36 -0700, ray at redshift.com wrote:

>   Maybe someone on the hackers or x11 list can help me get going the right
> direction here.  I can setup FreeBSD servers like the wind - tweak the kernel,
> you name it.  So this weekend I tried to install FreeBSD 5.4 on my desktop -
> what a mess.  I never could get anything to run, other than startx or xstart or
> something.  I ended up once with a blank desktop (I think I typed X) and another
> time with the same desktop, but with 3 open windows.  Anyway, I finally gave up. 
> 
>   Anyone have any run down on loading FreeBSD as your desktop?  I am trying to
> go with FreeBSD because I use it for my servers, but I feel like I'm lacking a
> broad understanding of how Unix handles windows.  I get the impression there is
> a server that deals with windows called X windows and then there are different
> desktop managers (such as KDE, Gnome, etc) - but I don't understand the
> interplay between them and the Kernel as it relates to how I normally see FreeBSD.
> 
>   I'm wondering if someone can give me an overview?
> 
>   I'm also wondering if I'm barking up the wrong tree.  I know Mac uses Darwin,
> which is based on BSD.  And in the past, I have loaded up Redhat and SUSE and
> ended up with a nice desktop - but with FreeBSD I didn't have much luck, even
> though I installed just about everything on the install CD's.  From what I could
> see, there were a ton of things to configure, but I couldn't find any good
> documentation on setting up my monitor or what the heck was going on overall -
> even in my BSD books, not a lot of help.
> 
>   Anyway, I am wondering if maybe running SUSE or Fedora or something might be
> better.  I'm reading one article right now that says this thing called Xandros
> Desktop 3 is great - so far it looks nice in the article and I may give that a try.
> 
>   I've been using Windows XP for my desktop for so long and am so used to so
> many applications on it - I think it would be difficult (at this time) to change
> over completely.  Unless Wine really does work well enough to run some
> applications I can't live without (e.g. Eudora or Pagemaker, etc).  
> 
>   Anyway, any help anyone can provide would be great?  I just feel like I'm
> lacking a core understanding of how Windowing and desktop interfaces to the
> Kernel.  And like I say, as much as I would like to make this all happen on
> FreeBSD, it seems like Linux maybe is a better choice?
> 
>   Anyone?
> 
> Ray
> 
> 
> 
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