Desktop, light setup

Revision as of 23:11, 31 October 2015

After installing and configuring the base system, here are instructions on how to get a light desktop up and running quickly.

Install

The following input is sufficient to install the programs for a running Desktop system:

% pkg install xorg fluxbox

This example on the window manager fluxbox provides insight on how to install other window managers.

Desktop login

The instructions provided show how to get x11/xdm or x11/slim login managers working. KDM and GDM login manager installations are not covered here, because they are part of base windowmanagers with heavy dependencies. WDM login manager is also not included here.

To proceed with your choice of desktop login...

XDM

To configure xdm to start up on boot, edit /etc/ttys and change the option on line ttyv8 from off to on:

ttyv8   "/usr/local/bin/xdm -nodaemon"  xterm   on secure

The secure option allows logging in to the root console without a password from single user mode.

Then set up .xsession in each home folder, with owner permissions to read and execute, for example chmod 400 .xsession.

.xsession requires the minimum of:

#!/bin/sh
exec /usr/local/bin/<windowmanager>
exec $1

If problems occur, check /var/log/xdm.log

% less /var/log/xdm.log

Customization

Customization files for XDM are located in /usr/local/lib/X11/xdm/.

The background image can be changed by using a background setting command in Xsetup_0. xsetroot can change the background color, but for images it is limited in the file types it can display. To overcome this, use graphics/feh .

Example of addition to Xsetup_0:

feh --bg-scale /home/user1/bsd.jpg

To change the box logo, edit Xresources, comment out or reference another .xpm file in the lines xlogin*logoFileName.

The file Xsession is responsible for choosing the window manager, it points to .xsession in the home directory.

For more information, see XFree Local Multi-User HOWTO: Using xdm and FreeBSD Handbook: XDM Configuration Files.

Console

Without a properly set .xinitrc in each home folder, the window manager will fail to load from that user's command line. Add exec <window manager> to the .xinitrc file, without an &. Here is an example of the minimum needed .xinitrc:

#!/bin/sh
exec /usr/local/bin/fluxbox
exec $1

Make sure the owner file permissions of .xinitrc are at minimum set to read.

% chmod 400 .xinitrc

Finally, type startx.

Slim

x11/slim is a practical choice for a login manager, unless remote login access is needed. To enable slim, edit the line in /etc/ttys to :

ttyv8   "/usr/local/bin/slim -nodaemon"           xterm   on secure

Slim requires a *.desktop file, typically in /usr/local/share/xsessions/. This directory is specified in /usr/local/etc/slim.conf next to the sessiondir option. If the directory doesn't exist, create it with the mkdir -p command.

Example of a minimal /usr/local/share/xsessions/fluxbox.desktop file:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=FLUXBOX
Exec=fluxbox

.desktop files are in xdg-style, demonstrated at Desktop Entry Specification.

Customization

To change the background, look into /usr/local/share/slim/themes/default/ [optionally create a backup file of background.jpg] then copy your choice background image to /usr/local/share/slim/themes/default/background.jpg

% cd /usr/local/share/slim/themes/default
% mv background.jpg background.bk.jpg
% cp [pathname/your file] background.jpg

To create multiple themes, you may create a new directory under themes/ that is similar to the default/ directory, then specify this themes subdirectory from /usr/local/etc/slim.conf. If you do this, be sure each used folder ends off with three files named: slim.theme, background.jpg and panel.png.

Add or edit your themes to slim.conf:

#current theme, use comma separated list to specify a set to randomly choose from
current_theme       default,mytheme

To create themes directories:

% cd /usr/local/share/slim/themes
% cp -R default mytheme

Then edit the mytheme/ files to your liking. For more details of slim configuration, type either:

% man slim

% less /usr/local/etc/slim.conf.sample

Desktop programs

Use the window manager's configuration files, .xsession or .xinitrc, depending on which one is used, to start up desktop programs. The window manager's configuration files, and .xsession can be used in combination to start programs, but, for clarity, it is better to not redundantly start the window manager through both.

Example of .xsession or .xinitrc:

#!/bin/sh
xterm &
xclock &
exec fluxbox
exec $1

Programs are loaded with &, and the window manager is loaded last with exec. The first and last line ensure which shell to use and to exit the script cleanly. The user's permissions will have to be set to read and execute, for example chmod 500 .xinitrc .xsession. .xsession and .xinit can be soft-linked to each other, which will make their file permissions match.

Xorg

Xorg is now mostly auto-configured. xorg.conf is no longer used, but it is replaced by the directory /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ for specific configurations only. The syntax of a configuration filename in this directory is #-<customname>.conf, such as 10-nvidia.conf.

See Configuring X and the FreeBSD Handbook: The X Window System for more information.

Enabling hardware

To enable the mouse and keyboard, considering that recent versions of xorg are set to use autodetection by default.

Add the following to /etc/rc.conf:

dbus_enable="YES"

For using devfs, add to /etc/fstab:

devfs      /dev       devfs     rw    0   0 # May not be necessary, since devfs automatically uses /dev
fdescfs    /dev/fd    fdescfs   rw    0   0 # May not be necessary, since devfs automatically loads it

Programs may have to be built without the hal option. See the manpages: devd(), devfs(), devfs.conf(), devfs.rules(), and fdescfs().

For more advanced topics on hardware configuration, see Hardware Configuration, Audio/Video.

Obsolete configuration reference

This is for those who are familiar with older versions of FreeBSD.

Manually setting the option in xorg.conf to the next line enabled the mouse and keyboard:

Option "AllowEmptyInput" "False"

/etc/rc.conf:

hald_enable="YES" #this option can be replaced with FreeBSD's native program devd, if set in xorg-server.

For a custom xorg configuration file:

% Xorg -configure

After testing this configuration, xorg.conf.new can be copied to /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

% cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Rescue configuration

If an error is made, there are convenient options to fix the problem from the console, without requiring the install disc. The availability of some options depend on the situation.

One solution is to reboot into single user mode, then remount the drive using mount -u /. Other partitions required for start-up may have to manually be mounted.

Some window managers will let you log in to the console line, by entering "console", depending on it's configuration file, as the login user name and the root password.

<ctrl>-<alt>-<functionkey> will pull up a virtual console, where you can log in to fix configuration errors. This uses either the sc(4)() or vt(4)() driver. The sc driver doesn't work with all video cards.

References

• FreeBSD 6 Unleashed (2006)
• Various FreeBSD and other related forums: https://forums.freebsd.org/
• FreeBSD and programs documentation