Desktop, light setup

Revision as of 01:22, 21 December 2014

After installing the base system, here are instructions on how to get a desktop up and running quickly. The example provided shows how to get xdm login manager with JWM, but these examples should provide useful information for using other session managers or desktops.

Install

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

# pkg install xdm jwm xorg

Alternatively, ports may be installed.

Session manager set up

Basic session managers are XDM, WDM, and slim. KDM and GDM are other options for a not minimal system.

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 setting is also of interest here.

Slim

To enable slim, add to /etc/rc.conf:

slim_enable="YES"

Older versions of slim could have their window manager configured in the file slim.conf under desktop session. Newer versions of slim require a *.desktop file in a directory that is specified in the location by slim.conf typically this would be /usr/local/share/xsessions

The usr/local/share/xsessions/*.desktop file commands must be in xdg-style, shown here http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/desktop-entry-spec-1.0.html#basic-format.

Example of /usr/local/share/xsessions/jwm.desktop file:

Name=JWM
Exec=jwm

Desktop set up

For session managers, be sure to create the files .xinitrc and .xsession in the home and or /usr/local/etc folders. The files in the home folder override the files in /usr/local/etc. .xinitrc is needed to start a window manager from startx, and .xsession is needed to start a window manager from a session manager, otherwise the window manager will fail to load. .xinitrc and .xsession files are identical, except .xsession needs to be executable. A symbolic link can optionally be created between the two files.

Be sure to add exec [window manager]. Do not add an & after this, only add a space and ampersand after programs that are meant to run and detach. Example of both .xinitrc and .xsession files:

exec jwm

To enable the mouse and keyboard add the following to /etc/rc.conf:

hald_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"

Enabling these options sooner may make it harder to fix problems.

Older versions of FreeBSD required the line in the Xorg configuration file to be manually set to:

Option "AllowEmptyInput" "False"

References

• FreeBSD 6 Unleashed (2006)
• Various FreeBSD and other forums