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, [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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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