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Installing &os;JimMockRestructured, reorganized, and parts rewritten
by GavinAtkinsonUpdated for bsdinstall by WarrenBlockAllanJudeUpdated for root-on-ZFS by SynopsisinstallationThere are several different ways of getting &os; to run,
depending on the environment. Those are:Virtual Machine images, to download and import on a
virtual environment of choice. These can be downloaded from
the Download
FreeBSD page. There are images for KVM
(qcow2), VMWare (vmdk),
Hyper-V (vhd), and raw device images that are
universally supported. These are not installation images,
but rather the preconfigured (already
installed) instances, ready to run and perform
post-installation tasks.Virtual Machine images available at Amazon's AWS
Marketplace, Microsoft
Azure Marketplace, and Google
Cloud Platform, to run on their respective hosting
services. For more information on deploying &os; on Azure
please consult the relevant chapter in the Azure
Documentation.SD card images, for embedded systems such as Raspberry
Pi or BeagleBone Black. These can be downloaded from the
Download
FreeBSD page. These files must be uncompressed and
written as a raw image to an SD card, from which the board
will then boot.Installation images, to install &os; on
a hard drive for the usual desktop, laptop, or server
systems.The rest of this chapter describes the fourth case,
explaining how to install &os; using the text-based
installation program named
bsdinstall.In general, the installation instructions in this chapter
are written for the &i386; and AMD64
architectures. Where applicable, instructions specific to other
platforms will be listed. There may be minor differences
between the installer and what is shown here, so use this
chapter as a general guide rather than as a set of literal
instructions.
-
- Users who prefer to install &os; using a graphical
- installer may be interested in
- pc-sysinstall, the installer used
- by the TrueOS Project. It can be used to install either a
- graphical desktop (TrueOS) or a command line version of &os;.
- Refer to the TrueOS Users Handbook for details (https://www.trueos.org/handbook/trueos.html).
+ Users who prefer to install &os; using a graphical
+ installer may be interested in
+ FuryBSD,
+ GhostBSD or
+ MidnightBSD.After reading this chapter, you will know:The minimum hardware requirements and &os; supported
architectures.How to create the &os; installation media.How to start
bsdinstall.The questions bsdinstall will
ask, what they mean, and how to answer them.How to troubleshoot a failed installation.How to access a live version of &os; before committing
to an installation.Before reading this chapter, you should:Read the supported hardware list that shipped with the
version of &os; to be installed and verify that the system's
hardware is supported.Minimum Hardware RequirementsThe hardware requirements to install &os; vary by
architecture. Hardware architectures and devices supported by a
&os; release are listed on the &os; Release
Information page. The &os; download page
also has recommendations for choosing the correct image for
different architectures.A &os; installation requires a minimum of 96 MB of
RAM and 1.5 GB of free hard drive space.
However, such small amounts of memory and disk space are really
only suitable for custom applications like embedded appliances.
General-purpose desktop systems need more resources.
2-4 GB RAM and at least 8 GB hard drive space is a
good starting point.These are the processor requirements for each
architecture:&arch.amd64;This is the most common desktop and laptop processor
type, used in most modern systems. &intel; calls it
Intel64. Other manufacturers sometimes
call it x86-64.Examples of &arch.amd64; compatible processors
include: &amd.athlon;64, &amd.opteron;,
multi-core &intel; &xeon;, and
&intel; &core; 2 and later processors.&arch.i386;Older desktops and laptops often use this 32-bit, x86
architecture.Almost all i386-compatible processors with a floating
point unit are supported. All &intel; processors 486 or
higher are supported.&os; will take advantage of Physical Address
Extensions (PAE) support on
CPUs with this feature. A kernel with
the PAE feature enabled will detect
memory above 4 GB and allow it to be used by the
system. However, using PAE places
constraints on device drivers and other features of
&os;.&arch.powerpc;All New World ROM &apple;
&mac; systems with built-in USB
are supported. SMP is supported on
machines with multiple CPUs.A 32-bit kernel can only use the first 2 GB of
RAM.&arch.sparc64;Systems supported by &os;/&arch.sparc64; are listed at
the FreeBSD/sparc64
Project.SMP is supported on all systems
with more than 1 processor. A dedicated disk is required
as it is not possible to share a disk with another
operating system at this time.Pre-Installation TasksOnce it has been determined that the system meets the
minimum hardware requirements for installing &os;, the
installation file should be downloaded and the installation
media prepared. Before doing this, check that the system is
ready for an installation by verifying the items in this
checklist:Back Up Important DataBefore installing any operating system,
always backup all important data first.
Do not store the backup on the system being installed.
Instead, save the data to a removable disk such as a
USB drive, another system on the network,
or an online backup service. Test the backup before
starting the installation to make sure it contains all of
the needed files. Once the installer formats the system's
disk, all data stored on that disk will be lost.Decide Where to Install &os;If &os; will be the only operating system installed,
this step can be skipped. But if &os; will share the disk
with another operating system, decide which disk or
partition will be used for &os;.In the &arch.i386; and &arch.amd64; architectures, disks
can be divided into multiple partitions using one of two
partitioning schemes. A traditional Master Boot
Record (MBR) holds a
partition table defining up to four primary
partitions. For historical reasons, &os;
calls these primary partition
slices. One of these primary
partitions can be made into an extended
partition containing multiple
logical partitions. The
GUID Partition Table
(GPT) is a newer and simpler method of
partitioning a disk. Common GPT
implementations allow up to 128 partitions per disk,
eliminating the need for logical partitions.The &os; boot loader requires either a primary or
GPT partition. If all of the primary or
GPT partitions are already in use, one
must be freed for &os;. To create a partition without
deleting existing data, use a partition resizing tool to
shrink an existing partition and create a new partition
using the freed space.A variety of free and commercial partition resizing
tools are listed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disk_partitioning_software.
GParted Live (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php)
is a free live CD which includes the
GParted partition editor.
GParted is also included with
many other Linux live CD
distributions.When used properly, disk shrinking utilities can
safely create space for creating a new partition. Since
the possibility of selecting the wrong partition exists,
always backup any important data and verify the integrity
of the backup before modifying disk partitions.Disk partitions containing different operating systems
make it possible to install multiple operating systems on
one computer. An alternative is to use virtualization
() which allows multiple
operating systems to run at the same time without modifying
any disk partitions.Collect Network InformationSome &os; installation methods require a network
connection in order to download the installation files.
After any installation, the installer will offer to setup
the system's network interfaces.If the network has a DHCP server, it
can be used to provide automatic network configuration. If
DHCP is not available, the following
network information for the system must be obtained from the
local network administrator or Internet service
provider:Required Network InformationIP addressSubnet maskIP address of default
gatewayDomain name of the networkIP addresses of the network's
DNS serversCheck for &os; ErrataAlthough the &os; Project strives to ensure that
each release of &os; is as stable as possible, bugs
occasionally creep into the process. On very rare occasions
those bugs affect the installation process. As these
problems are discovered and fixed, they are noted in the
&os; Errata (https://www.freebsd.org/releases/&rel121.current;R/errata.html)
on the &os; web site. Check the errata before installing to
make sure that there are no problems that might affect the
installation.Information and errata for all the releases can be found
on the release information section of the &os; web site
(https://www.freebsd.org/releases/index.html).Prepare the Installation MediaThe &os; installer is not an application that can be run
from within another operating system. Instead, download a
&os; installation file, burn it to the media associated with
its file type and size (CD,
DVD, or USB), and boot
the system to install from the inserted media.&os; installation files are available at www.freebsd.org/where.html#download.
Each installation file's name includes the release version of
&os;, the architecture, and the type of file. For example, to
install &os; 12.1 on an &arch.amd64; system from a
DVD, download
FreeBSD-12.1-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso, burn
this file to a DVD, and boot the system
with the DVD inserted.Installation files are available in several formats.
The formats vary depending on computer architecture and media
type.Additional
installation files are included for computers that boot with
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware
Interface). The names of these files include the string
uefi.File types:-bootonly.iso: This is the smallest
installation file as it only contains the installer. A
working Internet connection is required during
installation as the installer will download the files it
needs to complete the &os; installation. This file should
be burned to a CD using a
CD burning application.-disc1.iso: This file contains all
of the files needed to install &os;, its source, and the
Ports Collection. It should be burned to a
CD using a CD
burning application.-dvd1.iso: This file contains all
of the files needed to install &os;, its source, and the
Ports Collection. It also contains a set of popular
binary packages for installing a window manager and some
applications so that a complete system can be installed
from media without requiring a connection to the Internet.
This file should be burned to a DVD
using a DVD burning application.-memstick.img: This file contains
all of the files needed to install &os;, its source, and
the Ports Collection. It should be burned to a
USB stick using the instructions
below.-mini-memstick.img: Like
-bootonly.iso, does not include
installation files, but downloads them as needed. A
working internet connection is required during
installation. Write this file to a USB
stick as shown in .After downloading the image file, download
CHECKSUM.SHA256 from
the same directory. Calculate a
checksum for the image file.
&os; provides &man.sha256.1; for this, used as sha256
imagefilename.
Other operating systems have similar programs.Compare the calculated checksum with the one shown in
CHECKSUM.SHA256. The checksums must
match exactly. If the checksums do not match, the image file
is corrupt and must be downloaded again.Writing an Image File to USBThe *.img file is an
image of the complete contents of a
memory stick. It cannot be copied to
the target device as a file. Several applications are
available for writing the *.img to a
USB stick. This section describes two of
these utilities.Before proceeding, back up any important data on the
USB stick. This procedure will erase
the existing data on the stick.Using dd to Write the
ImageThis example uses /dev/da0 as
the target device where the image will be written. Be
very careful that the correct
device is used as this command will destroy the existing
data on the specified target device.The &man.dd.1; command-line utility is
available on BSD, &linux;, and &macos; systems. To burn
the image using dd, insert the
USB stick and determine its device
name. Then, specify the name of the downloaded
installation file and the device name for the
USB stick. This example burns the
&arch.amd64; installation image to the first
USB device on an existing &os;
system.&prompt.root; dd if=FreeBSD-12.1-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img of=/dev/da0 bs=1M conv=syncIf this command fails, verify that the
USB stick is not mounted and that the
device name is for the disk, not a partition. Some
operating systems might require this command to be run
with &man.sudo.8;. The &man.dd.1; syntax varies slightly
across different platforms; for example, &macos; requires
a lower-case .
Systems like &linux; might buffer
writes. To force all writes to complete, use
&man.sync.8;.Using &windows; to Write the ImageBe sure to give the correct drive letter as the
existing data on the specified drive will be overwritten
and destroyed.Obtaining Image Writer for
&windows;Image Writer for
&windows; is a free application that can
correctly write an image file to a memory stick.
Download it from https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/
and extract it into a folder.Writing the Image with Image WriterDouble-click the
Win32DiskImager icon to start
the program. Verify that the drive letter shown under
Device is the drive
with the memory stick. Click the folder icon and select
the image to be written to the memory stick. Click
[ Save ] to accept the
image file name. Verify that everything is correct, and
that no folders on the memory stick are open in other
windows. When everything is ready, click
[ Write ] to write the
image file to the memory stick.You are now ready to start installing &os;.Starting the InstallationBy default, the installation will not make any changes to
the disk(s) before the following message:Your changes will now be written to disk. If you
have chosen to overwrite existing data, it will
be PERMANENTLY ERASED. Are you sure you want to
commit your changes?The install can be exited at any time prior to this
warning. If
there is a concern that something is incorrectly configured,
just turn the computer off before this point and no changes
will be made to the system's disks.This section describes how to boot the system from the
installation media which was prepared using the instructions in
. When using a
bootable USB stick, plug in the USB stick
before turning on the computer. When booting from
CD or DVD, turn on the
computer and insert the media at the first opportunity. How to
configure the system to boot from the inserted media depends
upon the architecture.Booting on &i386; and &arch.amd64;These architectures provide a BIOS
menu for selecting the boot device. Depending upon the
installation media being used, select the
CD/DVD or
USB device as the first boot device. Most
systems also provide a key for selecting the boot device
during startup without having to enter the
BIOS. Typically, the key is either
F10, F11,
F12, or Escape.If the computer loads the existing operating system
instead of the &os; installer, then either:The installation media was not inserted early enough
in the boot process. Leave the media inserted and try
restarting the computer.The BIOS changes were incorrect or
not saved. Double-check that the right boot device is
selected as the first boot device.This system is too old to support booting from the
chosen media. In this case, the Plop Boot
Manager ()
can be used to boot the system from the selected
media.Booting on &powerpc;On most machines, holding C on the
keyboard during boot will boot from the CD.
Otherwise, hold CommandOptionOF, or
WindowsAltOF on non-&apple; keyboards. At the
0 > prompt, enterboot cd:,\ppc\loader cd:0&os; Boot MenuOnce the system boots from the installation media, a menu
similar to the following will be displayed:By default, the menu will wait ten seconds for user input
before booting into the &os; installer or, if &os; is already
installed, before booting into &os;. To pause the boot timer
in order to review the selections, press
Space. To select an option, press its
highlighted number, character, or key. The following options
are available.Boot Multi User: This will
continue the &os; boot process. If the boot timer has
been paused, press 1, upper- or
lower-case B, or
Enter.Boot Single User: This mode can be
used to fix an existing &os; installation as described in
. Press
2 or the upper- or lower-case
S to enter this mode.Escape to loader prompt: This will
boot the system into a repair prompt that contains a
limited number of low-level commands. This prompt is
described in . Press
3 or Esc to boot into
this prompt.Reboot: Reboots the system.Kernel: Loads a different
kernel.Configure Boot Options: Opens the
menu shown in, and described under, .The boot options menu is divided into two sections. The
first section can be used to either return to the main boot
menu or to reset any toggled options back to their
defaults.The next section is used to toggle the available options
to On or Off by pressing
the option's highlighted number or character. The system will
always boot using the settings for these options until they
are modified. Several options can be toggled using this
menu:ACPI Support: If the system hangs
during boot, try toggling this option to
Off.Safe Mode: If the system still
hangs during boot even with ACPI
Support set to Off, try
setting this option to On.Single User: Toggle this option to
On to fix an existing &os; installation
as described in . Once
the problem is fixed, set it back to
Off.Verbose: Toggle this option to
On to see more detailed messages during
the boot process. This can be useful when troubleshooting
a piece of hardware.After making the needed selections, press
1 or Backspace to return to
the main boot menu, then press Enter to
continue booting into &os;. A series of boot messages will
appear as &os; carries out its hardware device probes and
loads the installation program. Once the boot is complete,
the welcome menu shown in will be displayed.Press Enter to select the default of
[ Install ] to enter the
installer. The rest of this chapter describes how to use this
installer. Otherwise, use the right or left arrows or the
colorized letter to select the desired menu item. The
[ Shell ] can be used to
access a &os; shell in order to use command line utilities to
prepare the disks before installation. The
[ Live CD ] option can be
used to try out &os; before installing it. The live version
is described in .To review the boot messages, including the hardware
device probe, press the upper- or lower-case
S and then Enter to access
a shell. At the shell prompt, type more
/var/run/dmesg.boot and use the space bar to
scroll through the messages. When finished, type
exit to return to the welcome
menu.Using bsdinstallThis section shows the order of the
bsdinstall menus and the type of
information that will be asked before the system is installed.
Use the arrow keys to highlight a menu option, then
Space to select or deselect that menu item.
When finished, press Enter to save the
selection and move onto the next screen.Selecting the Keymap MenuBefore starting the process,
bsdinstall will load the keymap
files as show in .After the keymaps have been loaded
bsdinstall displays the
menu shown in . Use the
up and down arrows to select the keymap that most closely
represents the mapping of the keyboard attached to the system.
Press Enter to save the selection.Pressing Esc will exit this menu
and use the default keymap. If the choice of keymap is not
clear, United States of America
ISO-8859-1 is also a safe option.In addition, when selecting a different keymap, the user
can try the keymap and ensure it is correct before proceeding
as shown in .Setting the HostnameThe next bsdinstall menu is
used to set the hostname for the newly installed
system.Type in a hostname that is unique for the network. It
should be a fully-qualified hostname, such as machine3.example.com.Selecting Components to InstallNext, bsdinstall will prompt to
select optional components to install.Deciding which components to install will depend largely
on the intended use of the system and the amount of disk space
available. The &os; kernel and userland, collectively known
as the base system, are always
installed. Depending on the architecture, some of these
components may not appear:base-dbg - Base tools like
cat,
ls among many others with
debug symbols activated.kernel-dbg - Kernel and modules with
debug symbols activated.lib32-dbg - Compatibility libraries
for running 32-bit applications on a 64-bit version of
&os; with debug symbols activated.lib32 - Compatibility libraries for
running 32-bit applications on a 64-bit version of
&os;.ports - The &os; Ports Collection
is a collection of files which automates the downloading,
compiling and installation of third-party software
packages. discusses how to use
the Ports Collection.The installation program does not check for
adequate disk space. Select this option only if
sufficient hard disk space is available. The &os; Ports
Collection takes up about &ports.size; of disk
space.src - The complete &os; source code
for both the kernel and the userland. Although not
required for the majority of applications, it may be
required to build device drivers, kernel modules, or some
applications from the Ports Collection. It is also used
for developing &os; itself. The full source tree requires
1 GB of disk space and recompiling the entire &os;
system requires an additional 5 GB of space.tests - &os; Test Suite.Installing from the NetworkThe menu shown in
only appears
when installing from a -bootonly.iso or
-mini-memstick.img as this installation
media does not hold copies of the installation files.
Since the installation files must be retrieved over a network
connection, this menu indicates that the network interface must
be configured first. If this menu is shown in any step of the
process remember to follow the instructions in
.Allocating Disk SpaceThe next menu is used to determine the method for
allocating disk space.bsdinstall gives the user four
methods for allocating disk space:Auto (UFS) partitioning
automatically sets up the disk partitions using the
UFS file system.Manual partitioning allows
advanced users to create customized partitions from menu
options.Shell opens a shell prompt where
advanced users can create customized partitions using
command-line utilities like &man.gpart.8;, &man.fdisk.8;,
and &man.bsdlabel.8;.Auto (ZFS) partitioning creates a
root-on-ZFS system with optional GELI encryption support for
boot environments.This section describes what to consider when laying out the
disk partitions. It then demonstrates how to use the different
partitioning methods.Designing the Partition Layoutpartition layout/etc/var/usrWhen laying out file systems, remember that hard drives
transfer data faster from the outer tracks to the inner.
Thus, smaller and heavier-accessed file systems should be
closer to the outside of the drive, while larger partitions
like /usr should be placed toward the
inner parts of the disk. It is a good idea to create
partitions in an order similar to: /,
swap, /var, and
/usr.The size of the /var partition
reflects the intended machine's usage. This partition is
used to hold mailboxes, log files, and printer spools.
Mailboxes and log files can grow to unexpected sizes
depending on the number of users and how long log files are
kept. On average, most users rarely need more than about a
gigabyte of free disk space in
/var.Sometimes, a lot of disk space is required in
/var/tmp. When new software is
installed, the packaging tools extract a temporary copy of
the packages under /var/tmp. Large
software packages, like Firefox
or LibreOffice may be tricky to
install if there is not enough disk space under
/var/tmp.The /usr partition holds many of the
files which support the system, including the &os; Ports
Collection and system source code. At least 2 gigabytes of
space is recommended for this partition.When selecting partition sizes, keep the space
requirements in mind. Running out of space in one partition
while barely using another can be a hassle.swap sizingswap partitionAs a rule of thumb, the swap partition should be about
double the size of physical memory (RAM).
Systems with minimal RAM may perform
better with more swap. Configuring too little swap can lead
to inefficiencies in the VM page scanning
code and might create issues later if more memory is
added.On larger systems with multiple SCSI
disks or multiple IDE disks operating on
different controllers, it is recommended that swap be
configured on each drive, up to four drives. The swap
partitions should be approximately the same size. The
kernel can handle arbitrary sizes but internal data structures
scale to 4 times the largest swap partition. Keeping the swap
partitions near the same size will allow the kernel to
optimally stripe swap space across disks. Large swap sizes
are fine, even if swap is not used much. It might be easier
to recover from a runaway program before being forced to
reboot.By properly partitioning a system, fragmentation
introduced in the smaller write heavy partitions will not
bleed over into the mostly read partitions. Keeping the
write loaded partitions closer to the disk's edge will
increase I/O performance in the
partitions where it occurs the most. While
I/O performance in the larger partitions
may be needed, shifting them more toward the edge of the disk
will not lead to a significant performance improvement over
moving /var to the edge.Guided Partitioning Using UFSWhen this method is selected, a menu will display the
available disk(s). If multiple disks are connected, choose
the one where &os; is to be installed.Once the disk is selected, the next menu prompts to
install to either the entire disk or to create a partition
using free space. If
[ Entire Disk ] is
chosen, a general partition layout filling the whole disk is
automatically created. Selecting
[ Partition ] creates a
partition layout from the unused space on the disk.After
[ Entire Disk ] is
chosen bsdinstall displays a
dialog indicating that the disk will be erased.The next menu shows a list with the partition schemes
types. GPT is usually the most appropriate choice for amd64
computers. Older computers that are not compatible with GPT
should use MBR. The other partition schemes are generally
used for uncommon or older computers. More information is
available in .After the partition layout has been created, review it to
ensure it meets the needs of the installation. Selecting
[ Revert ] will reset the
partitions to their original values and pressing
[ Auto ] will recreate the
automatic &os; partitions. Partitions can also be manually
created, modified, or deleted. When the partitioning is
correct, select [ Finish ] to
continue with the installation.Once the disks are configured, the next menu provides the
last chance to make changes before the selected drives are
formatted. If changes need to be made, select
[ Back ] to return to the
main partitioning menu.
[ Revert & Exit ]
exits the installer without making any changes to the drive.
Select [ Commit ] to start
the installation process.To continue with the installation process go to
.Manual PartitioningSelecting this method opens the partition editor:Highlight the installation drive
(ada0 in this example) and select
[ Create ] to display a menu
of available partition schemes:GPT is usually the most appropriate
choice for &arch.amd64; computers. Older computers that are
not compatible with GPT should use
MBR. The other partition schemes are
generally used for uncommon or older computers.
Partitioning SchemesAbbreviationDescriptionAPMApple Partition Map, used by &powerpc;.BSDBSD label without an
MBR, sometimes called
dangerously dedicated mode as
non-BSD disk utilities may not
recognize it.GPTGUID Partition Table (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table).MBRMaster Boot Record (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record).VTOC8Volume Table Of Contents used by Sun SPARC64 and
UltraSPARC computers.
After the partitioning scheme has been selected and
created, select [ Create ]
again to create the partitions. The Tab
key is used to move the cursor between fields.A standard &os; GPT installation uses
at least three partitions:freebsd-boot - Holds the &os; boot
code.freebsd-ufs - A &os;
UFS file system.freebsd-zfs - A &os;
ZFS file system. More information about
ZFS is available in .freebsd-swap - &os; swap
space.Refer to &man.gpart.8; for descriptions of the available
GPT partition types.Multiple file system partitions can be created and some
people prefer a traditional layout with separate partitions
for /, /var,
/tmp, and /usr. See
for an
example.The Size may be entered with common
abbreviations: K for kilobytes,
M for megabytes, or
G for gigabytes.Proper sector alignment provides the best performance,
and making partition sizes even multiples of 4K bytes helps
to ensure alignment on drives with either 512-byte or
4K-byte sectors. Generally, using partition sizes that are
even multiples of 1M or 1G is the easiest way to make sure
every partition starts at an even multiple of 4K. There is
one exception: the freebsd-boot
partition should be no larger than 512K due to current boot
code limitations.A Mountpoint is needed if the partition
will contain a file system. If only a single
UFS partition will be created, the
mountpoint should be /.The Label is a name by which the
partition will be known. Drive names or numbers can change if
the drive is connected to a different controller or port, but
the partition label does not change. Referring to labels
instead of drive names and partition numbers in files like
/etc/fstab makes the system more tolerant
to hardware changes. GPT labels appear in
/dev/gpt/ when a disk is attached. Other
partitioning schemes have different label capabilities and
their labels appear in different directories in
/dev/.Use a unique label on every partition to avoid
conflicts from identical labels. A few letters from the
computer's name, use, or location can be added to the label.
For instance, use labroot or
rootfslab for the UFS
root partition on the computer named
lab.Creating Traditional Split File System
PartitionsFor a traditional partition layout where the
/, /var,
/tmp, and /usr
directories are separate file systems on their own
partitions, create a GPT partitioning
scheme, then create the partitions as shown. Partition
sizes shown are typical for a 20G target disk. If more
space is available on the target disk, larger swap or
/var partitions may be useful. Labels
shown here are prefixed with ex for
example, but readers should use other unique
label values as described above.By default, &os;'s gptboot expects
the first UFS partition to be the
/ partition.Partition TypeSizeMountpointLabelfreebsd-boot512Kfreebsd-ufs2G/exrootfsfreebsd-swap4Gexswapfreebsd-ufs2G/varexvarfsfreebsd-ufs1G/tmpextmpfsfreebsd-ufsaccept the default (remainder of the
disk)/usrexusrfsAfter the custom partitions have been created, select
[ Finish ] to continue with
the installation and go to
.Guided Partitioning Using Root-on-ZFSThis partitioning mode only works with whole disks and
will erase the contents of the entire disk. The main
ZFS configuration menu offers a number of
options to control the creation of the pool.Here is a summary of the options which can be used in
this menu:Install - Proceed with the
installation with the selected options.Pool Type/Disks - Allow to configure
the Pool Type and the disk(s) that will
constitute the pool. The automatic ZFS
installer currently only supports the creation of a single top
level vdev, except in stripe mode. To create more complex
pools, use the instructions in
to create the pool.Rescan Devices - Repopulate the list
of available disks.Disk Info - Disk Info menu can be
used to inspect each disk, including its partition table and
various other information such as the device model number
and serial number, if available.Pool Name - Establish the name of the
pool. The default name is
zroot.Force 4K Sectors? - Force the use of
4K sectors. By default, the installer will automatically
create partitions aligned to 4K boundaries and force ZFS to
use 4K sectors. This is safe even with 512 byte sector
disks, and has the added benefit of ensuring that pools
created on 512 byte disks will be able to have 4K sector
disks added in the future, either as additional storage
space or as replacements for failed disks. Press the
Enter key to chose to activate it or
not.Encrypt Disks? - Encrypting the disks
allows the user to encrypt the disks using
GELI. More information about disk
encryption is available in .
Press the Enter key to chose activate it or
not.Partition Scheme - Allow to choose
the partition scheme. GPT is the recommended option in
most cases. Press the Enter key to chose
between the different options.Swap Size - Establish the amount of
swap space.Mirror Swap? - Allows the user to
mirror the swap between the disks. Be aware, enabling
mirror swap will break crash dumps. Press the
Enter key to activate it or not.Encrypt Swap? - Allow the user the
possibility to encrypt the swap. Encrypts the swap with a
temporary key each time that the system boots and discards
it on reboot. Press the Enter key to chose
activate it or not. More information about swap encryption
in .Select T to configure the Pool
Type and the disk(s) that will constitute the
pool.Here is a summary of the Pool Type
which can be selected in this menu:stripe - Striping provides maximum
storage of all connected devices, but no redundancy. If
just one disk fails the data on the pool is lost
irrevocably.mirror - Mirroring stores a complete
copy of all data on every disk. Mirroring provides a good
read perfomance because data is read from all disks in
parallel. Write performance is slower as the data must be
written to all disks in the pool. Allows all but one disk
to fail. This options requires at least two disks.raid10 - Striped mirrors. Provides
the best performance, but the least storage. This option
needs at least an even number of disks and a minimum of four
disks.raidz1 - Single Redundant RAID.
Allow one disk to fail concurrently. This option needs at
least three disks.raidz2 - Double Redundant RAID.
Allows two disks to fail concurrently. This option needs
at least four disks.raidz3 - Triple Redundant RAID.
Allows three disks to fail concurrently. This option needs
at least five disks.Once a Pool Type has been selected, a
list of available disks is displayed, and the user is prompted
to select one or more disks to make up the pool. The
configuration is then validated, to ensure enough disks are
selected. If not, select <Change
Selection> to return to the list of disks, or
<Back> to change the
Pool Type.If one or more disks are missing from the list, or if
disks were attached after the installer was started, select
- Rescan Devices to repopulate the list
of available disks.To avoid accidentally erasing the wrong disk, the
- Disk Info menu can be used to inspect
each disk, including its partition table and various other
information such as the device model number and serial number,
if available.Select N to configure the
Pool Name. Enter the desired name then
select <OK> to establish it or
<Cancel> to return to the
main menu and leave the default name.Select S to set the amount of
swap. Enter the desired amount of swap and then select
<OK> to establish it or
<Cancel> to return to the
main menu and let the default amount.Once all options have been set to the desired values,
select the >>> Install
option at the top of the menu. The installer then offers a
last chance to cancel before the contents of the selected
drives are destroyed to create the ZFS
pool.If GELI disk encryption was enabled,
the installer will prompt twice for the passphrase to be used
to encrypt the disks. And after that the initializing of the
encryption begins.The installation then proceeds normally. To continue
with the installation go to
.Shell Mode PartitioningWhen creating advanced installations, the
bsdinstall partitioning menus may
not provide the level of flexibility required. Advanced users
can select the Shell option from the
partitioning menu in order to manually partition the drives,
create the file system(s), populate
/tmp/bsdinstall_etc/fstab, and mount the
file systems under /mnt. Once this is
done, type exit to return to
bsdinstall and continue the
installation.Fetching Distribution FilesInstallation time will vary depending on the distributions
chosen, installation media, and speed of the computer. A series
of messages will indicate the progress.First, the installer formats the selected disk(s) and
initializes the partitions. Next, in the case of a
bootonly media or
mini memstick, it downloads the selected
components:Next, the integrity of the distribution files is verified
to ensure they have not been corrupted during download or
misread from the installation media:Finally, the verified distribution files are extracted to
the disk:Once all requested distribution files have been extracted,
bsdinstall displays the first
post-installation configuration screen. The available
post-configuration options are described in the next
section.Accounts, Time Zone, Services and HardeningSetting the
root
PasswordFirst, the root
password must be set. While entering the password, the
characters being typed are not displayed on the screen. After
the password has been entered, it must be entered again. This
helps prevent typing errors.Setting the Time ZoneThe next series of menus are used to determine the correct
local time by selecting the geographic region, country, and
time zone. Setting the time zone allows the system to
automatically correct for regional time changes, such as
daylight savings time, and perform other time zone related
functions properly.The example shown here is for a machine located in the
mainland time zone of Spain, Europe. The selections will
vary according to the geographical location.The appropriate region is selected using the arrow keys
and then pressing Enter.Select the appropriate country using the arrow keys and
press Enter.The appropriate time zone is selected using the arrow keys
and pressing Enter.Confirm the abbreviation for the time zone is
correct.The appropriate date is selected using the arrow keys
and then pressing
[ Set Date ].
Otherwise, the date selection can be skipped by pressing
[ Skip ].The appropriate time is selected using the arrow keys
and then pressing
[ Set Time ].
Otherwise, the time selection can be skipped by pressing
[ Skip ].Enabling ServicesThe next menu is used to configure which system services
will be started whenever the system boots. All of these
services are optional. Only start the services that are
needed for the system to function.Here is a summary of the services which can be enabled in
this menu:local_unbound - Enable the DNS
local unbound. It is necessary to keep in mind that this
is the unbound of the base system and is only meant for
use as a local caching forwarding resolver. If the
objective is to set up a resolver for the entire network
install dns/unbound.sshd - The Secure Shell
(SSH) daemon is used to remotely access
a system over an encrypted connection. Only enable this
service if the system should be available for remote
logins.moused - Enable this service if the
mouse will be used from the command-line system
console.ntpdate - Enable the automatic
clock synchronization at boot time. The functionality of
this program is now available in the &man.ntpd.8; daemon.
After a suitable period of mourning, the &man.ntpdate.8;
utility will be retired.ntpd - The Network Time Protocol
(NTP) daemon for automatic clock
synchronization. Enable this service if there is a
&windows;, Kerberos, or LDAP server on
the network.powerd - System power control
utility for power control and energy saving.dumpdev - Enabling crash dumps is
useful in debugging issues with the system, so users are
encouraged to enable crash dumps.Enabling Hardening Security OptionsThe next menu is used to configure which security
options will be enabled. All of these options are optional.
But their use is encouraged.Here is a summary of the options which can be enabled in
this menu:hide_uids - Hide processes running
as other users to prevent the unprivileged users to see
other running processes in execution by other users (UID)
preventing information leakage.hide_gids - Hide processes running
as other groups to prevent the unprivileged users to see
other running processes in execution by other groups (GID)
preventing information leakage.hide_jail - Hide processes running
in jails to prevent the unprivileged users to see
processes running inside the jails.read_msgbuf - Disabling reading
kernel message buffer for unprivileged users prevent from
using &man.dmesg.8; to view messages from the kernel's log
buffer.proc_debug - Disabling process
debugging facilities for unprivileged users disables
a variety of unprivileged inter-process debugging
services, including some procfs functionality, ptrace(),
and ktrace(). Please note that this will also prevent
debugging tools, for instance &man.lldb.1;, &man.truss.1;,
&man.procstat.1;, as well as some built-in debugging
facilities in certain scripting language like PHP, etc.,
from working for unprivileged users.random_pid - Randomize the PID of
newly created processes.clear_tmp - Clean
/tmp when the system starts
up.disable_syslogd - Disable opening
syslogd network socket. By
default &os; runs syslogd in a
secure way with -s. That prevents the
daemon from listening for incoming UDP requests
at port 514. With this option enabled
syslogd will run with the flag
-ss which prevents
syslogd from opening any port.
To get more information consult &man.syslogd.8;.disable_sendmail - Disable the
sendmail mail transport agent.secure_console - When this option
is enabled, the prompt requests the root password when
entering single.disable_ddtrace - &dtrace; can run
in a mode that will actually affect the running kernel.
Destructive actions may not be used unless they have
been explicitly enabled. To enable this option when using
&dtrace; use -w. To get more
information consult &man.dtrace.1;.Add UsersThe next menu prompts to create at least one user account.
It is recommended to login to the system using a user account
rather than as root.
When logged in as root, there are essentially no
limits or protection on what can be done. Logging in as a
normal user is safer and more secure.Select [ Yes ] to add new
users.Follow the prompts and input the requested information for
the user account. The example shown in creates the asample user account.Here is a summary of the information to input:Username - The name the user will
enter to log in. A common convention is to use the first
letter of the first name combined with the last name, as
long as each username is unique for the system. The
username is case sensitive and should not contain any
spaces.Full name - The user's full name.
This can contain spaces and is used as a description for
the user account.Uid - User ID.
Typically, this is left blank so the system will assign a
value.Login group - The user's group.
Typically this is left blank to accept the default.Invite user into
other groups? - Additional groups to which the
user will be added as a member. If the user needs
administrative access, type wheel
here.Login class - Typically left blank
for the default.Shell - Type in one of the listed
values to set the interactive shell for the user. Refer
to for more information about
shells.Home directory - The user's home
directory. The default is usually correct.Home directory permissions -
Permissions on the user's home directory. The default is
usually correct.Use password-based authentication?
- Typically yes so that the user is
prompted to input their password at login.Use an empty password? -
Typically no as it is insecure to have
a blank password.Use a random password? - Typically
no so that the user can set their own
password in the next prompt.Enter password - The password for
this user. Characters typed will not show on the
screen.Enter password again - The password
must be typed again for verification.Lock out the account after
creation? - Typically no so
that the user can login.After entering everything, a summary is shown for review.
If a mistake was made, enter no and try
again. If everything is correct, enter yes
to create the new user.If there are more users to add, answer the Add
another user? question with
yes. Enter no to finish
adding users and continue the installation.For more information on adding users and user management,
see .Final ConfigurationAfter everything has been installed and configured, a
final chance is provided to modify settings.Use this menu to make any changes or do any additional
configuration before completing the installation.Add User - Described in .Root Password - Described in .Hostname - Described in .Network - Described in .Services - Described in .System Hardening - Described in
.Time Zone - Described in .Handbook - Download and install the
&os; Handbook.After any final configuration is complete, select
Exit.bsdinstall will prompt if there
are any additional configuration that needs to be done before
rebooting into the new system. Select
[ Yes ] to exit to a shell
within the new system or
[ No ] to proceed to the last
step of the installation.If further configuration or special setup is needed,
select [ Live CD ] to
boot the install media into Live CD
mode.If the installation is complete, select
[ Reboot ] to reboot the
computer and start the new &os; system. Do not forget to
remove the &os; install media or the computer may boot from it
again.As &os; boots, informational messages are displayed.
After the system finishes booting, a login prompt is
displayed. At the login: prompt, enter the
username added during the installation. Avoid logging in as
root. Refer to
for instructions on how to
become the superuser when administrative access is
needed.The messages that appeared during boot can be reviewed by
pressing Scroll-Lock to turn on the
scroll-back buffer. The PgUp,
PgDn, and arrow keys can be used to scroll
back through the messages. When finished, press
Scroll-Lock again to unlock the display and
return to the console. To review these messages once the
system has been up for some time, type less
/var/run/dmesg.boot from a command prompt. Press
q to return to the command line after
viewing.If sshd was enabled in , the first boot may be
a bit slower as the system will generate the
RSA and DSA keys.
Subsequent boots will be faster. The fingerprints of the keys
will be displayed, as seen in this example:Generating public/private rsa1 key pair.
Your identification has been saved in /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.
Your public key has been saved in /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
10:a0:f5:af:93:ae:a3:1a:b2:bb:3c:35:d9:5a:b3:f3 root@machine3.example.com
The key's randomart image is:
+--[RSA1 1024]----+
| o.. |
| o . . |
| . o |
| o |
| o S |
| + + o |
|o . + * |
|o+ ..+ . |
|==o..o+E |
+-----------------+
Generating public/private dsa key pair.
Your identification has been saved in /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.
Your public key has been saved in /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
7e:1c:ce:dc:8a:3a:18:13:5b:34:b5:cf:d9:d1:47:b2 root@machine3.example.com
The key's randomart image is:
+--[ DSA 1024]----+
| .. . .|
| o . . + |
| . .. . E .|
| . . o o . . |
| + S = . |
| + . = o |
| + . * . |
| . . o . |
| .o. . |
+-----------------+
Starting sshd.Refer to for more information
about fingerprints and SSH.&os; does not install a graphical environment by default.
Refer to for more information about
installing and configuring a graphical window manager.Proper shutdown of a &os; computer helps protect data and
hardware from damage. Do not turn off the power
before the system has been properly shut down! If
the user is a member of the wheel group, become the
superuser by typing su at the command line
and entering the root password. Then, type
shutdown -p now and the system will shut
down cleanly, and if the hardware supports it, turn itself
off.Network InterfacesConfiguring Network InterfacesNext, a list of the network interfaces found on the
computer is shown. Select the interface to configure.If an Ethernet interface is selected, the installer will
skip ahead to the menu shown in . If a wireless
network interface is chosen, the system will instead scan for
wireless access points:Wireless networks are identified by a Service Set
Identifier (SSID), a short, unique name
given to each network. SSIDs found during
the scan are listed, followed by a description of the
encryption types available for that network. If the desired
SSID does not appear in the list, select
[ Rescan ] to scan again. If
the desired network still does not appear, check for problems
with antenna connections or try moving the computer closer to
the access point. Rescan after each change is made.Next, enter the encryption information for connecting to
the selected wireless network. WPA2
encryption is strongly recommended as older encryption types,
like WEP, offer little security. If the
network uses WPA2, input the password, also
known as the Pre-Shared Key (PSK). For
security reasons, the characters typed into the input box are
displayed as asterisks.Next, choose whether or not an IPv4
address should be configured on the Ethernet or wireless
interface:There are two methods of IPv4
configuration. DHCP will automatically
configure the network interface correctly and should be used
if the network provides a DHCP server.
Otherwise, the addressing information needs to be input
manually as a static configuration.Do not enter random network information as it will not
work. If a DHCP server is not available,
obtain the information listed in from
the network administrator or Internet service
provider.If a DHCP server is available, select
[ Yes ] in the next menu to
automatically configure the network interface. The installer
will appear to pause for a minute or so as it finds the
DHCP server and obtains the addressing
information for the system.If a DHCP server is not available,
select [ No ] and input the
following addressing information in this menu:IP Address - The
IPv4 address assigned to this computer.
The address must be unique and not already in use by
another piece of equipment on the local network.Subnet Mask - The subnet mask for
the network.Default Router - The
IP address of the network's default
gateway.The next screen will ask if the interface should be
configured for IPv6. If
IPv6 is available and desired, choose
[ Yes ] to select it.IPv6 also has two methods of
configuration. StateLess Address AutoConfiguration
(SLAAC) will automatically request the
correct configuration information from a local router. Refer
to rfc4862
for more information. Static configuration requires manual
entry of network information.If an IPv6 router is available, select
[ Yes ] in the next menu to
automatically configure the network interface. The installer
will appear to pause for a minute or so as it finds the router
and obtains the addressing information for the system.If an IPv6 router is not available,
select [ No ] and input the
following addressing information in this menu:IPv6 Address - The
IPv6 address assigned to this computer.
The address must be unique and not already in use by
another piece of equipment on the local network.Default Router - The
IPv6 address of the network's default
gateway.The last network configuration menu is used to configure
the Domain Name System (DNS) resolver,
which converts hostnames to and from network addresses. If
DHCP or SLAAC was used
to autoconfigure the network interface, the Resolver
Configuration values may already be filled in.
Otherwise, enter the local network's domain name in the
Search field. DNS #1
and DNS #2 are the IPv4
and/or IPv6 addresses of the
DNS servers. At least one
DNS server is required.Once the interface is configured, select a mirror site
that is located in the same region of the world as the
computer on which &os; is being installed. Files can be
retrieved more quickly when the mirror is close to the
target computer, reducing installation time.TroubleshootinginstallationtroubleshootingThis section covers basic installation
troubleshooting, such as common problems people have
reported.Check the Hardware Notes (https://www.freebsd.org/releases/index.html)
document for the version of &os; to make sure the hardware is
supported. If the hardware is supported and lock-ups or other
problems occur, build a custom kernel using the instructions in
to add support for devices which
are not present in the GENERIC kernel. The
default kernel assumes that most hardware devices are in their
factory default configuration in terms of
IRQs, I/O addresses, and
DMA channels. If the hardware has been
reconfigured, a custom kernel configuration file can tell &os;
where to find things.Some installation problems can be avoided or alleviated by
updating the firmware on various hardware components, most
notably the motherboard. Motherboard firmware is usually
referred to as the BIOS. Most motherboard
and computer manufacturers have a website for upgrades and
upgrade information.Manufacturers generally advise against upgrading the
motherboard BIOS unless there is a good
reason for doing so, like a critical update. The upgrade
process can go wrong, leaving the
BIOS incomplete and the computer
inoperative.If the system hangs while probing hardware during boot, or
it behaves strangely during install, ACPI may
be the culprit. &os; makes extensive use of the system
ACPI service on the &arch.i386; and
&arch.amd64; platforms to aid in system configuration
if it is detected during boot. Unfortunately, some bugs still
exist in both the ACPI driver and within
system motherboards and BIOS firmware.
ACPI can be disabled by setting the
hint.acpi.0.disabled hint in the third stage
boot loader:set hint.acpi.0.disabled="1"This is reset each time the system is booted, so it is
necessary to add hint.acpi.0.disabled="1" to
the file /boot/loader.conf. More
information about the boot loader can be found in .Using the Live CDThe welcome menu of bsdinstall,
shown in , provides a
[ Live CD ] option. This
is useful for those who are still wondering whether &os; is the
right operating system for them and want to test some of the
features before installing.The following points should be noted before using the
[ Live CD ]:To gain access to the system, authentication is
required. The username is root and the password is
blank.As the system runs directly from the installation media,
performance will be significantly slower than that of a
system installed on a hard disk.This option only provides a command prompt and not a
graphical interface.
Index: head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/desktop/chapter.xml
===================================================================
--- head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/desktop/chapter.xml (revision 54060)
+++ head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/desktop/chapter.xml (revision 54061)
@@ -1,934 +1,936 @@
Desktop ApplicationsSynopsisWhile &os; is popular as a server for its performance and
stability, it is also suited for day-to-day use as a desktop.
With over &os.numports; applications available as &os; packages
or ports, it is easy to build a customized desktop that runs
a wide variety of desktop applications. This chapter
demonstrates how to install numerous desktop applications,
including web browsers, productivity software, document viewers,
and financial software.Users who prefer to install a pre-built desktop version
of FreeBSD rather than configuring one from scratch should
- refer to the
- trueos.org
- website.
+ refer to FuryBSD,
+ GhostBSD or
+ MidnightBSD.
Readers of this chapter should know how to:Install additional software using packages or
ports as described in .Install X and a window manager as described in
.For information on how to configure a multimedia
environment, refer to .Browsersbrowsersweb&os; does not come with a pre-installed web browser.
Instead, the www
category of the Ports Collection contains many browsers which
can be installed as a package or compiled from the Ports
Collection.The KDE and
GNOME desktop environments include
their own HTML browser. Refer to
for more information on how to set up these complete
desktops.Some lightweight browsers include
www/dillo2, www/links, and
www/w3m.This section demonstrates how to install the following
popular web browsers and indicates if the application is
resource-heavy, takes time to compile from ports, or has any
major dependencies.Application NameResources NeededInstallation from PortsNotesFirefoxmediumheavy&os;, &linux;, and localized versions are
availableKonquerormediumheavyRequires KDE
librariesChromiummediumheavyRequires Gtk+FirefoxFirefoxFirefox is an open source
browser that features a
standards-compliant HTML display engine, tabbed browsing,
popup blocking, extensions, improved security, and more.
Firefox is based on the
Mozilla codebase.To install the package of the latest release version of
Firefox, type:&prompt.root; pkg install firefoxTo instead install Firefox
Extended Support Release (ESR) version, use:&prompt.root; pkg install firefox-esrThe Ports Collection can instead be used to compile the
desired version of Firefox from
source code. This example builds
www/firefox, where
firefox can be replaced with the ESR or
localized version to install.&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/www/firefox
&prompt.root; make install cleanKonquerorKonquerorKonqueror is more than a web
browser as it is also a file manager and a multimedia
viewer. It is included in the
x11/kde4-baseapps package or port.Konqueror supports WebKit as
well as its own KHTML. WebKit is a rendering engine used by
many modern browsers including Chromium. To use WebKit with
Konqueror on &os;, install the
www/kwebkitpart package
or port. This example installs the package:&prompt.root; pkg install kwebkitpartTo install from the Ports Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/www/kwebkitpart
&prompt.root; make install cleanTo enable WebKit within
Konqueror, click
Settings, Configure Konqueror.
In the General settings page, click the
drop-down menu next to Default web browser
engine and change KHTML to
WebKit.Konqueror also supports
&flash;. A How To
guide for getting &flash; support
on Konqueror is available at http://freebsd.kde.org/howtos/konqueror-flash.php.ChromiumChromiumChromium is an open source
browser project that aims to build a safer, faster, and more
stable web browsing experience.
Chromium features tabbed browsing,
popup blocking, extensions, and much more.
Chromium is the open source project
upon which the Google Chrome web browser is based.Chromium can be installed as a
package by typing:&prompt.root; pkg install chromiumAlternatively, Chromium can be
compiled from source using the Ports Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/www/chromium
&prompt.root; make install cleanThe executable for Chromium
is /usr/local/bin/chrome, not
/usr/local/bin/chromium.ProductivityWhen it comes to productivity, users often look for an
office suite or an easy-to-use word processor. While some
desktop environments like
KDE provide an office suite, there
is no default productivity package. Several office suites and
graphical word processors are available for &os;, regardless
of the installed window manager.This section demonstrates how to install the following
popular productivity software and indicates if the application
is resource-heavy, takes time to compile from ports, or has any
major dependencies.Application NameResources NeededInstallation from PortsMajor DependenciesCalligralightheavyKDEAbiWordlightlightGtk+ or
GNOMEThe GimplightheavyGtk+Apache
OpenOfficeheavyhuge&jdk; and
MozillaLibreOfficesomewhat heavyhugeGtk+, or
KDE/
GNOME, or
&jdk;CalligraCalligraoffice suiteCalligraThe KDE desktop environment includes
an office suite which can be installed separately from
KDE.
Calligra includes standard
components that can be found in other office suites.
Words is the word processor,
Sheets is the spreadsheet program,
Stage manages slide presentations,
and Karbon is used to draw
graphical documents.In &os;, editors/calligra can be
installed as a package or a port. To install the
package:&prompt.root; pkg install calligraIf the package is not available, use the Ports Collection
instead:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/editors/calligra
&prompt.root; make install cleanAbiWordAbiWordAbiWord is a free word
processing program similar in look and feel to
µsoft; Word. It is fast,
contains many features, and is user-friendly.AbiWord can import or export
many file formats, including some proprietary ones like
µsoft; .rtf.To install the AbiWord
package:&prompt.root; pkg install abiwordIf the package is not available, it can be compiled from
the Ports Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/editors/abiword
&prompt.root; make install cleanThe GIMPThe GIMPFor image authoring or picture retouching,
The GIMP provides a sophisticated
image manipulation program. It can be used as a simple paint
program or as a quality photo retouching suite. It supports a
large number of plugins and features a scripting interface.
The GIMP can read and write a wide
range of file formats and supports interfaces with scanners
and tablets.To install the package:&prompt.root; pkg install gimpAlternately, use the Ports Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/graphics/gimp
&prompt.root; make install cleanThe graphics category (freebsd.org/ports/graphics.html)
of the Ports Collection contains several
GIMP-related plugins, help files,
and user manuals.Apache OpenOfficeApache OpenOfficeoffice suiteApache OpenOfficeApache OpenOffice is an open
source office suite which is developed under the wing of the
Apache Software Foundation's Incubator. It includes all of
the applications found in a complete office productivity
suite: a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager,
and drawing program. Its user interface is similar to other
office suites, and it can import and export in various popular
file formats. It is available in a number of different
languages and internationalization has been extended to
interfaces, spell checkers, and dictionaries.The word processor of Apache
OpenOffice uses a native XML file format for
increased portability and flexibility. The spreadsheet
program features a macro language which can be interfaced
with external databases. Apache
OpenOffice is stable and runs natively on
&windows;, &solaris;, &linux;, &os;, and &macos; X.
More information about Apache
OpenOffice can be found at openoffice.org.
For &os; specific information refer to porting.openoffice.org/freebsd/.To install the Apache
OpenOffice package:&prompt.root; pkg install apache-openofficeOnce the package is installed, type the following command
to launch Apache OpenOffice:&prompt.user; openoffice-X.Y.Zwhere X.Y.Z is the version
number of the installed version of Apache
OpenOffice. The first time
Apache OpenOffice launches, some
questions will be asked and a
.openoffice.org folder will be created in
the user's home directory.If the desired Apache
OpenOffice package is not available, compiling
the port is still an option. However, this requires a lot of
disk space and a fairly long time to compile:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/editors/openoffice-4
&prompt.root; make install cleanTo build a localized version, replace the previous
command with:&prompt.root; make LOCALIZED_LANG=your_language install cleanReplace
your_language with the correct
language ISO-code. A list of supported language codes is
available in
files/Makefile.localized, located in
the port's directory.LibreOfficeLibreOfficeoffice suiteLibreOfficeLibreOffice is a free software
office suite developed by documentfoundation.org.
It is compatible with other major office suites and available
on a variety of platforms. It is a rebranded fork of
Apache OpenOffice and includes
applications found in a complete office productivity suite:
a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, drawing
program, database management program, and a tool for creating
and editing mathematical formulæ. It is available in
a number of different languages and internationalization has
been extended to interfaces, spell checkers, and
dictionaries.The word processor of
LibreOffice uses a native XML file
format for increased portability and flexibility. The
spreadsheet program features a macro language which can be
interfaced with external databases.
LibreOffice is stable and runs
natively on &windows;, &linux;, &os;, and &macos; X.
More information about LibreOffice
can be found at libreoffice.org.To install the English version of the
LibreOffice package:&prompt.root; pkg install libreofficeThe editors category (freebsd.org/ports/editors.html)
of the Ports Collection contains several localizations for
LibreOffice. When installing a
localized package, replace libreoffice
with the name of the localized package.Once the package is installed, type the following command
to run LibreOffice:&prompt.user; libreofficeDuring the first launch, some questions will be asked
and a .libreoffice folder will be created
in the user's home directory.If the desired LibreOffice
package is not available, compiling the port is still an
option. However, this requires a lot of disk space and a
fairly long time to compile. This example compiles the
English version:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/editors/libreoffice
&prompt.root; make install cleanTo build a localized version,
cd into the port directory of
the desired language. Supported languages can be found
in the editors category (freebsd.org/ports/editors.html)
of the Ports Collection.Document ViewersSome new document formats have gained popularity since
the advent of &unix; and the viewers they require may not be
available in the base system. This section demonstrates how to
install the following document viewers:Application NameResources NeededInstallation from PortsMajor DependenciesXpdflightlightFreeTypegvlightlightXaw3dGeeqielightlightGtk+ or
GNOMEePDFViewlightlightGtk+OkularlightheavyKDEXpdfXpdfPDFviewingFor users that prefer a small &os; PDF viewer,
Xpdf provides a light-weight and
efficient viewer which requires few resources. It uses the
standard X fonts and does not require any additional
toolkits.To install the Xpdf
package:&prompt.root; pkg install xpdfIf the package is not available, use the Ports
Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/graphics/xpdf
&prompt.root; make install cleanOnce the installation is complete, launch
xpdf and use the right mouse button to
activate the menu.gvgvPDFviewingPostScriptviewinggv is a &postscript; and PDF
viewer. It is based on ghostview,
but has a nicer look as it is based on the
Xaw3d widget toolkit.
gv has many configurable features,
such as orientation, paper size, scale, and anti-aliasing.
Almost any operation can be performed with either the
keyboard or the mouse.To install gv as a
package:&prompt.root; pkg install gvIf a package is unavailable, use the Ports
Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/print/gv
&prompt.root; make install cleanGeeqieGeeqieGeeqie is a fork from the
unmaintained GQView project, in an
effort to move development forward and integrate the existing
patches. Geeqie is an image
manager which supports viewing a file with a single click,
launching an external editor, and thumbnail previews. It also
features a slideshow mode and some basic file operations,
making it easy to manage image collections and to find
duplicate files. Geeqie supports
full screen viewing and internationalization.To install the Geeqie
package:&prompt.root; pkg install geeqieIf the package is not available, use the Ports
Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/graphics/geeqie
&prompt.root; make install cleanePDFViewePDFViewPDFviewingePDFView is a lightweight
PDF document viewer that only uses the
Gtk+ and
Poppler libraries. It is currently
under development, but already opens most
PDF files (even encrypted), save copies of
documents, and has support for printing using
CUPS.To install ePDFView as a
package:&prompt.root; pkg install epdfviewIf a package is unavailable, use the Ports
Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/graphics/epdfview
&prompt.root; make install cleanOkularOkularPDFviewingOkular is a universal document
viewer based on KPDF for
KDE. It can open many document
formats, including PDF, &postscript;, DjVu,
CHM, XPS, and
ePub.To install Okular as a
package:&prompt.root; pkg install okularIf a package is unavailable, use the Ports
Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/graphics/okular
&prompt.root; make install cleanFinanceFor managing personal finances on a &os; desktop, some
powerful and easy-to-use applications can be installed. Some
are compatible with widespread file formats, such as the formats
used by Quicken and
Excel.This section covers these programs:Application NameResources NeededInstallation from PortsMajor DependenciesGnuCashlightheavyGNOMEGnumericlightheavyGNOMEKMyMoneylightheavyKDEGnuCashGnuCashGnuCash is part of the
GNOME effort to provide
user-friendly, yet powerful, applications to end-users.
GnuCash can be used to keep track
of income and expenses, bank accounts, and stocks. It
features an intuitive interface while remaining
professional.GnuCash provides a smart
register, a hierarchical system of accounts, and many keyboard
accelerators and auto-completion methods. It can split a
single transaction into several more detailed pieces.
GnuCash can import and merge
Quicken QIF files. It also handles
most international date and currency formats.To install the GnuCash
package:&prompt.root; pkg install gnucashIf the package is not available, use the Ports
Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/finance/gnucash
&prompt.root; make install cleanGnumericGnumericspreadsheetGnumericGnumeric is a spreadsheet
program developed by the GNOME
community. It features convenient automatic guessing of user
input according to the cell format with an autofill system
for many sequences. It can import files in a number of
popular formats, including Excel,
Lotus 1-2-3, and
Quattro Pro. It has a large number
of built-in functions and allows all of the usual cell formats
such as number, currency, date, time, and much more.To install Gnumeric as a
package:&prompt.root; pkg install gnumericIf the package is not available, use the Ports
Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/math/gnumeric
&prompt.root; make install cleanKMyMoneyKMyMoneyspreadsheetKMyMoneyKMyMoney is a personal finance
application created by the KDE
community. KMyMoney aims to
provide the important features found in commercial personal
finance manager applications. It also highlights ease-of-use
and proper double-entry accounting among its features.
KMyMoney imports from standard
Quicken QIF files, tracks
investments, handles multiple currencies, and provides a
wealth of reports.To install KMyMoney as a
package:&prompt.root; pkg install kmymoney-kde4If the package is not available, use the Ports
Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/finance/kmymoney-kde4
&prompt.root; make install clean
Index: head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11/chapter.xml
===================================================================
--- head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11/chapter.xml (revision 54060)
+++ head/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11/chapter.xml (revision 54061)
@@ -1,2213 +1,2214 @@
The X Window SystemSynopsisAn installation of &os; using
bsdinstall does not automatically
install a graphical user interface. This chapter describes how
to install and configure &xorg;,
which provides the open source X Window System used to provide a
graphical environment. It then describes how to find and
install a desktop environment or window manager.Users who prefer an installation method that automatically
- configures the &xorg; and offers a
- choice of window managers during installation should refer to
- the
- website.
+ configures the &xorg; should refer
+ to FuryBSD,
+ GhostBSD or
+ MidnightBSD.
For more information on the video hardware that
&xorg; supports, refer to the x.org website.After reading this chapter, you will know:The various components of the X Window System, and how
they interoperate.How to install and configure
&xorg;.How to install and configure several window managers
and desktop environments.How to use &truetype; fonts in
&xorg;.How to set up your system for graphical logins
(XDM).Before reading this chapter, you should:Know how to install additional third-party
software as described in .TerminologyWhile it is not necessary to understand all of the details
of the various components in the X Window System and how they
interact, some basic knowledge of these components can be
useful.X serverX was designed from the beginning to be
network-centric, and adopts a client-server
model. In this model, the X server runs on
the computer that has the keyboard, monitor, and mouse
attached. The server's responsibility includes tasks such
as managing the display, handling input from the keyboard
and mouse, and handling input or output from other devices
such as a tablet or a video projector. This confuses some
people, because the X terminology is exactly backward to
what they expect. They expect the X server
to be the big powerful machine down the hall, and the
X client to be the machine on their
desk.X clientEach X application, such as
XTerm or
Firefox, is a
client. A client sends messages to the
server such as Please draw a window at these
coordinates, and the server sends back messages
such as The user just clicked on the OK
button.In a home or small office environment, the X server
and the X clients commonly run on the same computer. It
is also possible to run the X server on a less powerful
computer and to run the X applications on a more powerful
system. In this scenario, the communication between the X
client and server takes place over the network.window managerX does not dictate what windows should look like
on-screen, how to move them around with the mouse, which
keystrokes should be used to move between windows, what
the title bars on each window should look like, whether or
not they have close buttons on them, and so on. Instead,
X delegates this responsibility to a separate window
manager application. There are dozens of window
managers available. Each window manager provides
a different look and feel: some support virtual desktops,
some allow customized keystrokes to manage the desktop,
some have a Start button, and some are
themeable, allowing a complete change of the desktop's
look-and-feel. Window managers are available in the
x11-wm category of the Ports
Collection.Each window manager uses a different configuration
mechanism. Some expect configuration file written by hand
while others provide graphical tools for most
configuration tasks.desktop environmentKDE and
GNOME are considered to be
desktop environments as they include an entire suite of
applications for performing common desktop tasks. These
may include office suites, web browsers, and games.focus policyThe window manager is responsible for the mouse focus
policy. This policy provides some means for choosing
which window is actively receiving keystrokes and it
should also visibly indicate which window is currently
active.One focus policy is called
click-to-focus. In this model, a window
becomes active upon receiving a mouse click. In the
focus-follows-mouse policy, the window that
is under the mouse pointer has focus and the focus is
changed by pointing at another window. If the mouse is
over the root window, then this window is focused. In the
sloppy-focus model, if the mouse is moved
over the root window, the most recently used window still
has the focus. With sloppy-focus, focus is only changed
when the cursor enters a new window, and not when exiting
the current window. In the click-to-focus
policy, the active window is selected by mouse click. The
window may then be raised and appear in front of all other
windows. All keystrokes will now be directed to this
window, even if the cursor is moved to another
window.Different window managers support different focus
models. All of them support click-to-focus, and the
majority of them also support other policies. Consult the
documentation for the window manager to determine which
focus models are available.widgetsWidget is a term for all of the items in the user
interface that can be clicked or manipulated in some way.
This includes buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, icons,
and lists. A widget toolkit is a set of widgets used to
create graphical applications. There are several popular
widget toolkits, including Qt, used by
KDE, and GTK+, used by
GNOME. As a result,
applications will have a different look and feel,
depending upon which widget toolkit was used to create the
application.Installing &xorg;On &os;, &xorg; can be installed
as a package or port.The binary package can be installed quickly but with
fewer options for customization:&prompt.root; pkg install xorgTo build and install from the Ports Collection:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/x11/xorg
&prompt.root; make install cleanEither of these installations results in the complete
&xorg; system being installed. Binary packages
are the best option for most users.A smaller version of the X system suitable for experienced
users is available in x11/xorg-minimal. Most
of the documents, libraries, and applications will not be
installed. Some applications require these additional
components to function.&xorg; ConfigurationWarrenBlockOriginally contributed by&xorg;&xorg;Quick Start&xorg; supports most common
video cards, keyboards, and pointing devices.Video cards, monitors, and input devices are
automatically detected and do not require any manual
configuration. Do not create xorg.conf
or run a step unless automatic
configuration fails.If &xorg; has been used on
this computer before, move or remove any existing
configuration files:&prompt.root; mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf ~/xorg.conf.etc
&prompt.root; mv /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf ~/xorg.conf.localetcAdd the user who will run
&xorg; to the
video or
wheel group to enable 3D acceleration
when available. To add user
jru to whichever group is
available:&prompt.root; pw groupmod video -m jru || pw groupmod wheel -m jruThe TWM window manager is included
by default. It is started when
&xorg; starts:&prompt.user; startxOn some older versions of &os;, the system console
must be set to &man.vt.4; before switching back to the
text console will work properly. See
.User Group for Accelerated VideoAccess to /dev/dri is needed to allow
3D acceleration on video cards. It is usually simplest to add
the user who will be running X to either the
video or wheel group.
Here, &man.pw.8; is used to add user
slurms to the
video group, or to the
wheel group if there is no
video group:&prompt.root; pw groupmod video -m slurms || pw groupmod wheel -m slurmsKernel Mode Setting (KMS)When the computer switches from displaying the console to
a higher screen resolution for X, it must set the video
output mode. Recent versions of
&xorg; use a system inside the kernel to do
these mode changes more efficiently. Older versions of &os;
use &man.sc.4;, which is not aware of the
KMS system. The end result is that after
closing X, the system console is blank, even though it is
still working. The newer &man.vt.4; console avoids this
problem.Add this line to /boot/loader.conf
to enable &man.vt.4;:kern.vty=vtConfiguration FilesManual configuration is usually not necessary. Please do
not manually create configuration files unless
autoconfiguration does not work.Directory&xorg; looks in several
directories for configuration files.
/usr/local/etc/X11/ is the recommended
directory for these files on &os;. Using this directory
helps keep application files separate from operating system
files.Storing configuration files in the legacy
/etc/X11/ still works. However, this
mixes application files with the base &os; files and is not
recommended.Single or Multiple FilesIt is easier to use multiple files that each configure a
specific setting than the traditional single
xorg.conf. These files are stored in
the xorg.conf.d/ subdirectory of the
main configuration file directory. The full path is
typically
/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/.Examples of these files are shown later in this
section.The traditional single xorg.conf
still works, but is neither as clear nor as flexible as
multiple files in the xorg.conf.d/
subdirectory.Video CardsBecause of changes made in recent versions of &os;, it
is now possible to use graphics drivers provided by the Ports
framework or as packages. As such, users can use one of the
following drivers available from
graphics/drm-kmod.&i915kms;&radeonkms;&amdgpu;2D and 3D acceleration is supported on most
&i915kms; graphics cards provided by Intel.Driver name: i915kms2D and 3D acceleration is supported on most older
&radeonkms; graphics cards provided by AMD.Driver name: radeonkms2D and 3D acceleration is supported on most newer
&amdgpu; graphics cards provided by AMD.Driver name: amdgpuFor reference, please see
or
for a list of supported GPUs.&intel;3D acceleration is supported on most &intel;
graphics up to Ivy Bridge (HD Graphics 2500, 4000, and
P4000), including Iron Lake (HD Graphics) and
Sandy Bridge (HD Graphics 2000).Driver name: intelFor reference, see .&amd; Radeon2D and 3D acceleration is supported on Radeon
cards up to and including the HD6000 series.Driver name: radeonFor reference, see .NVIDIASeveral NVIDIA drivers are available in the
x11 category of the Ports
Collection. Install the driver that matches the video
card.For reference, see .Hybrid Combination GraphicsSome notebook computers add additional graphics
processing units to those built into the chipset or
processor. Optimus combines
&intel; and NVIDIA hardware.
Switchable Graphics or
Hybrid Graphics are a combination
of an &intel; or &amd; processor and an &amd; Radeon
GPU.Implementations of these hybrid graphics systems
vary, and &xorg; on &os; is
not able to drive all versions of them.Some computers provide a BIOS
option to disable one of the graphics adapters or select
a discrete mode which can be used
with one of the standard video card drivers. For
example, it is sometimes possible to disable the NVIDIA
GPU in an Optimus system. The
&intel; video can then be used with an &intel;
driver.BIOS settings depend on the model
of computer. In some situations, both
GPUs can be left enabled, but
creating a configuration file that only uses the main
GPU in the Device
section is enough to make such a system
functional.Other Video CardsDrivers for some less-common video cards can be
found in the x11-drivers directory
of the Ports Collection.Cards that are not supported by a specific driver
might still be usable with the
x11-drivers/xf86-video-vesa driver.
This driver is installed by x11/xorg.
It can also be installed manually as
x11-drivers/xf86-video-vesa.
&xorg; attempts to use this
driver when a specific driver is not found for the video
card.x11-drivers/xf86-video-scfb is a
similar nonspecialized video driver that works on many
UEFI and &arm; computers.Setting the Video Driver in a FileTo set the &intel; driver in a configuration
file:Select &intel; Video Driver in a File/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-intel.confSection "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "intel"
# BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSectionIf more than one video card is present, the
BusID identifier can be uncommented
and set to select the desired card. A list of video
card bus IDs can be displayed with
pciconf -lv | grep -B3
display.To set the Radeon driver in a configuration
file:Select Radeon Video Driver in a File/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-radeon.confSection "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "radeon"
EndSectionTo set the VESA driver in a
configuration file:Select VESA Video Driver in a
File/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-vesa.confSection "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "vesa"
EndSectionTo set the scfb driver for use
with a UEFI or &arm; computer:Select scfb Video Driver in a
File/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-scfb.confSection "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "scfb"
EndSectionMonitorsAlmost all monitors support the Extended Display
Identification Data standard (EDID).
&xorg; uses EDID
to communicate with the monitor and detect the supported
resolutions and refresh rates. Then it selects the most
appropriate combination of settings to use with that
monitor.Other resolutions supported by the monitor can be
chosen by setting the desired resolution in configuration
files, or after the X server has been started with
&man.xrandr.1;.Using &man.xrandr.1;Run &man.xrandr.1; without any parameters to see a
list of video outputs and detected monitor modes:&prompt.user; xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3000 x 1920, maximum 8192 x 8192
DVI-0 connected primary 1920x1200+1080+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 495mm x 310mm
1920x1200 59.95*+
1600x1200 60.00
1280x1024 85.02 75.02 60.02
1280x960 60.00
1152x864 75.00
1024x768 85.00 75.08 70.07 60.00
832x624 74.55
800x600 75.00 60.32
640x480 75.00 60.00
720x400 70.08
DisplayPort-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)This shows that the DVI-0 output
is being used to display a screen resolution of
1920x1200 pixels at a refresh rate of about 60 Hz.
Monitors are not attached to the
DisplayPort-0 and
HDMI-0 connectors.Any of the other display modes can be selected with
&man.xrandr.1;. For example, to switch to 1280x1024 at
60 Hz:&prompt.user; xrandr --mode 1280x1024 --rate 60A common task is using the external video output on
a notebook computer for a video projector.The type and quantity of output connectors varies
between devices, and the name given to each output
varies from driver to driver. What one driver calls
HDMI-1, another might call
HDMI1. So the first step is to run
&man.xrandr.1; to list all the available
outputs:&prompt.user; xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1366 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm
1366x768 60.04*+
1024x768 60.00
800x600 60.32 56.25
640x480 59.94
VGA1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
1280x1024 60.02 + 75.02
1280x960 60.00
1152x864 75.00
1024x768 75.08 70.07 60.00
832x624 74.55
800x600 72.19 75.00 60.32 56.25
640x480 75.00 72.81 66.67 60.00
720x400 70.08
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)Four outputs were found: the built-in panel
LVDS1, and external
VGA1, HDMI1, and
DP1 connectors.The projector has been connected to the
VGA1 output. &man.xrandr.1; is now
used to set that output to the native resolution of the
projector and add the additional space to the right side
of the desktop:&prompt.user; xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --right-of LVDS1--auto chooses the resolution and
refresh rate detected by EDID. If
the resolution is not correctly detected, a fixed value
can be given with --mode instead of
the --auto statement. For example,
most projectors can be used with a 1024x768 resolution,
which is set with
--mode 1024x768.&man.xrandr.1; is often run from
.xinitrc to set the appropriate
mode when X starts.Setting Monitor Resolution in a FileTo set a screen resolution of 1024x768 in a
configuration file:Set Screen Resolution in a File/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/screen-resolution.confSection "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSectionThe few monitors that do not have
EDID can be configured by setting
HorizSync and
VertRefresh to the range of
frequencies supported by the monitor.Manually Setting Monitor Frequencies/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/monitor0-freq.confSection "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
HorizSync 30-83 # kHz
VertRefresh 50-76 # Hz
EndSectionInput DevicesKeyboardsKeyboard LayoutThe standardized location of keys on a keyboard
is called a layout. Layouts and
other adjustable parameters are listed in
&man.xkeyboard-config.7;.A United States layout is the default. To select
an alternate layout, set the
XkbLayout and
XkbVariant options in an
InputClass. This will be applied
to all input devices that match the class.This example selects a French keyboard layout with
the oss variant.Setting a Keyboard Layout/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/keyboard-fr-oss.confSection "InputClass"
Identifier "KeyboardDefaults"
Driver "keyboard"
MatchIsKeyboard "on"
Option "XkbLayout" "fr"
Option "XkbVariant" "oss"
EndSectionSetting Multiple Keyboard LayoutsSet United States, Spanish, and Ukrainian
keyboard layouts. Cycle through these layouts by
pressing
AltShift. x11/xxkb or
x11/sbxkb can be used for
improved layout switching control and
current layout indicators./usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/kbd-layout-multi.confSection "InputClass"
Identifier "All Keyboards"
MatchIsKeyboard "yes"
Option "XkbLayout" "us, es, ua"
EndSectionClosing &xorg; From the
KeyboardX can be closed with a combination of keys.
By default, that key combination is not set because it
conflicts with keyboard commands for some
applications. Enabling this option requires changes
to the keyboard InputDevice
section:Enabling Keyboard Exit from X/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/keyboard-zap.confSection "InputClass"
Identifier "KeyboardDefaults"
Driver "keyboard"
MatchIsKeyboard "on"
Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSectionMice and Pointing DevicesMany mouse parameters can be adjusted with configuration
options. See &man.mousedrv.4x; for a full list.Mouse ButtonsThe number of buttons on a mouse can be set in the
mouse InputDevice section of
xorg.conf. To set the number of
buttons to 7:Setting the Number of Mouse Buttons/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/mouse0-buttons.confSection "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Option "Buttons" "7"
EndSectionManual ConfigurationIn some cases, &xorg;
autoconfiguration does not work with particular hardware, or a
different configuration is desired. For these cases, a custom
configuration file can be created.Do not create manual configuration files unless
required. Unnecessary manual configuration can prevent
proper operation.A configuration file can be generated by
&xorg; based on the detected
hardware. This file is often a useful starting point for
custom configurations.Generating an xorg.conf:&prompt.root; Xorg -configureThe configuration file is saved to
/root/xorg.conf.new. Make any changes
desired, then test that file (using
so there is a visible background) with:&prompt.root; Xorg -retro -config /root/xorg.conf.newAfter the new configuration has been adjusted and tested,
it can be split into smaller files in the normal location,
/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/.Using Fonts in &xorg;Type1 FontsThe default fonts that ship with
&xorg; are less than ideal for
typical desktop publishing applications. Large presentation
fonts show up jagged and unprofessional looking, and small
fonts are almost completely unintelligible. However, there
are several free, high quality Type1 (&postscript;) fonts
available which can be readily used with
&xorg;. For instance, the URW font
collection (x11-fonts/urwfonts) includes
high quality versions of standard type1 fonts (Times Roman, Helvetica, Palatino and others). The
Freefonts collection (x11-fonts/freefonts)
includes many more fonts, but most of them are intended for
use in graphics software such as the
Gimp, and are not complete enough
to serve as screen fonts. In addition,
&xorg; can be configured to use
&truetype; fonts with a minimum of effort. For more details
on this, see the &man.X.7; manual page or .To install the above Type1 font collections from binary packages,
run the following commands:&prompt.root; pkg install urwfontsAlternatively, to build from the Ports Collection, run the following
commands:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/x11-fonts/urwfonts
&prompt.root; make install cleanAnd likewise with the freefont or other collections. To
have the X server detect these fonts, add an appropriate line
to the X server configuration file
(/etc/X11/xorg.conf), which reads:FontPath "/usr/local/share/fonts/urwfonts/"Alternatively, at the command line in the X session
run:&prompt.user; xset fp+ /usr/local/share/fonts/urwfonts
&prompt.user; xset fp rehashThis will work but will be lost when the X session is
closed, unless it is added to the startup file
(~/.xinitrc for a normal
startx session, or
~/.xsession when logging in through a
graphical login manager like XDM).
A third way is to use the new
/usr/local/etc/fonts/local.conf as
demonstrated in .&truetype; FontsTrueType FontsfontsTrueType&xorg; has built in support for
rendering &truetype; fonts. There are two different modules
that can enable this functionality. The freetype module is
used in this example because it is more consistent with the
other font rendering back-ends. To enable the freetype module
just add the following line to the "Module"
section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf.Load "freetype"Now make a directory for the &truetype; fonts (for
example, /usr/local/share/fonts/TrueType)
and copy all of the &truetype; fonts into this directory.
Keep in mind that &truetype; fonts cannot be directly taken
from an &apple; &mac;; they must be in
&unix;/&ms-dos;/&windows; format for use by
&xorg;. Once the files have been
copied into this directory, use
mkfontscale to create a
fonts.dir, so that the X font renderer
knows that these new files have been installed.
mkfontscale can be installed as a
package:&prompt.root; pkg install mkfontscaleThen create an index of X font files in a
directory:&prompt.root; cd /usr/local/share/fonts/TrueType
&prompt.root; mkfontscaleNow add the &truetype; directory to the font path. This
is just the same as described in :&prompt.user; xset fp+ /usr/local/share/fonts/TrueType
&prompt.user; xset fp rehashor add a FontPath line to
xorg.conf.Now Gimp,
Apache OpenOffice, and all of the
other X applications should now recognize the installed
&truetype; fonts. Extremely small fonts (as with text in a
high resolution display on a web page) and extremely large
fonts (within &staroffice;) will
look much better now.Anti-Aliased Fontsanti-aliased fontsfontsanti-aliasedAll fonts in &xorg; that are
found in /usr/local/share/fonts/ and
~/.fonts/ are automatically made
available for anti-aliasing to Xft-aware applications. Most
recent applications are Xft-aware, including
KDE,
GNOME, and
Firefox.To control which fonts are anti-aliased, or to
configure anti-aliasing properties, create (or edit, if it
already exists) the file
/usr/local/etc/fonts/local.conf. Several
advanced features of the Xft font system can be tuned using
this file; this section describes only some simple
possibilities. For more details, please see
&man.fonts-conf.5;.XMLThis file must be in XML format. Pay careful attention to
case, and make sure all tags are properly closed. The file
begins with the usual XML header followed by a DOCTYPE
definition, and then the <fontconfig>
tag:<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>As previously stated, all fonts in
/usr/local/share/fonts/ as well as
~/.fonts/ are already made available to
Xft-aware applications. To add another directory
outside of these two directory trees, add a line like
this to
/usr/local/etc/fonts/local.conf:<dir>/path/to/my/fonts</dir>After adding new fonts, and especially new font
directories, rebuild
the font caches:&prompt.root; fc-cache -fAnti-aliasing makes borders slightly fuzzy, which makes
very small text more readable and removes
staircases from large text, but can cause
eyestrain if applied to normal text. To exclude font sizes
smaller than 14 point from anti-aliasing, include these
lines: <match target="font">
<test name="size" compare="less">
<double>14</double>
</test>
<edit name="antialias" mode="assign">
<bool>false</bool>
</edit>
</match>
<match target="font">
<test name="pixelsize" compare="less" qual="any">
<double>14</double>
</test>
<edit mode="assign" name="antialias">
<bool>false</bool>
</edit>
</match>fontsspacingSpacing for some monospaced fonts might also be
inappropriate with anti-aliasing. This seems to be an issue
with KDE, in particular. One
possible fix is to force the spacing for such fonts
to be 100. Add these lines: <match target="pattern" name="family">
<test qual="any" name="family">
<string>fixed</string>
</test>
<edit name="family" mode="assign">
<string>mono</string>
</edit>
</match>
<match target="pattern" name="family">
<test qual="any" name="family">
<string>console</string>
</test>
<edit name="family" mode="assign">
<string>mono</string>
</edit>
</match>(this aliases the other common names for fixed fonts as
"mono"), and then add: <match target="pattern" name="family">
<test qual="any" name="family">
<string>mono</string>
</test>
<edit name="spacing" mode="assign">
<int>100</int>
</edit>
</match> Certain fonts, such as Helvetica, may have a problem when
anti-aliased. Usually this manifests itself as a font that
seems cut in half vertically. At worst, it may cause
applications to crash. To avoid this, consider adding the
following to local.conf: <match target="pattern" name="family">
<test qual="any" name="family">
<string>Helvetica</string>
</test>
<edit name="family" mode="assign">
<string>sans-serif</string>
</edit>
</match> After editing
local.conf, make certain to end the file
with the </fontconfig> tag. Not
doing this will cause changes to be ignored.Users can add personalized settings by creating their own
~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf. This
file uses the same XML format described
above.LCD screenFontsLCD screenOne last point: with an LCD screen, sub-pixel sampling may
be desired. This basically treats the (horizontally
separated) red, green and blue components separately to
improve the horizontal resolution; the results can be
dramatic. To enable this, add the line somewhere in
local.conf: <match target="font">
<test qual="all" name="rgba">
<const>unknown</const>
</test>
<edit name="rgba" mode="assign">
<const>rgb</const>
</edit>
</match>Depending on the sort of display,
rgb may need to be changed to
bgr, vrgb or
vbgr: experiment and see which works
best.The X Display ManagerSethKingsleyOriginally contributed by X Display Manager&xorg; provides an X Display
Manager, XDM, which can be used for
login session management. XDM
provides a graphical interface for choosing which display server
to connect to and for entering authorization information such as
a login and password combination.This section demonstrates how to configure the X Display
Manager on &os;. Some desktop environments provide their own
graphical login manager. Refer to for instructions on how to configure
the GNOME Display Manager and for
instructions on how to configure the KDE Display Manager.Configuring XDMTo install XDM, use the
x11/xdm package or port. Once installed,
XDM can be configured to run when
the machine boots up by editing this entry in
/etc/ttys:ttyv8 "/usr/local/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm off secureChange the off to on
and save the edit. The ttyv8 in this entry
indicates that XDM will run on the
ninth virtual terminal.The XDM configuration directory
is located in /usr/local/etc/X11/xdm.
This directory contains several files used to change the
behavior and appearance of XDM, as
well as a few scripts and programs used to set up the desktop
when XDM is running. summarizes the function of each
of these files. The exact syntax and usage of these files is
described in &man.xdm.1;.
XDM Configuration FilesFileDescriptionXaccessThe protocol for connecting to
XDM is called the X Display
Manager Connection Protocol (XDMCP)
This file is a client authorization ruleset for
controlling XDMCP connections from
remote machines. By default, this file does not allow
any remote clients to connect.XresourcesThis file controls the look and feel of the
XDM display chooser and
login screens. The default configuration is a simple
rectangular login window with the hostname of the
machine displayed at the top in a large font and
Login: and Password:
prompts below. The format of this file is identical
to the app-defaults file described in the
&xorg;
documentation.XserversThe list of local and remote displays the chooser
should provide as login choices.XsessionDefault session script for logins which is run by
XDM after a user has logged
in. This points to a customized session
script in ~/.xsession.Xsetup_*Script to automatically launch applications
before displaying the chooser or login interfaces.
There is a script for each display being used, named
Xsetup_*, where
* is the local display number.
Typically these scripts run one or two programs in the
background such as
xconsole.xdm-configGlobal configuration for all displays running
on this machine.xdm-errorsContains errors generated by the server program.
If a display that XDM is
trying to start hangs, look at this file for error
messages. These messages are also written to the
user's ~/.xsession-errors on a
per-session basis.xdm-pidThe running process ID of
XDM.
Configuring Remote AccessBy default, only users on the same system can login using
XDM. To enable users on other
systems to connect to the display server, edit the access
control rules and enable the connection listener.To configure XDM to listen for
any remote connection, comment out the
DisplayManager.requestPort line in
/usr/local/etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config by
putting a ! in front of it:! SECURITY: do not listen for XDMCP or Chooser requests
! Comment out this line if you want to manage X terminals with xdm
DisplayManager.requestPort: 0Save the edits and restart XDM.
To restrict remote access, look at the example entries in
/usr/local/etc/X11/xdm/Xaccess and refer
to &man.xdm.1; for further information.Desktop EnvironmentsValentinoVaschettoContributed by This section describes how to install three popular desktop
environments on a &os; system. A desktop environment can range
from a simple window manager to a complete suite of desktop
applications. Over a hundred desktop environments are available
in the x11-wm category of the Ports
Collection.GNOMEGNOMEGNOME is a user-friendly
desktop environment. It includes a panel for starting
applications and displaying status, a desktop, a set of tools
and applications, and a set of conventions that make it easy
for applications to cooperate and be consistent with each
other. More information regarding
GNOME on &os; can be found at https://www.FreeBSD.org/gnome.
That web site contains additional documentation about
installing, configuring, and managing
GNOME on &os;.This desktop environment can be installed from a
package:&prompt.root; pkg install gnome3To instead build GNOME from
ports, use the following command.
GNOME is a large application and
will take some time to compile, even on a fast
computer.&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/x11/gnome3
&prompt.root; make install cleanGNOME
requires /proc to be mounted. Add this
line to /etc/fstab to mount this file
system automatically during system startup:proc /proc procfs rw 0 0GNOME uses
D-Bus and
HAL for a message bus and hardware
abstraction. These applications are automatically installed
as dependencies of GNOME. Enable
them in /etc/rc.conf so they will be
started when the system boots:dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"After installation,
configure &xorg; to start
GNOME. The easiest way to do this
is to enable the GNOME Display Manager,
GDM, which is installed as part of
the GNOME package or port. It can
be enabled by adding this line to
/etc/rc.conf:gdm_enable="YES"It is often desirable to also start all
GNOME services. To achieve this,
add a second line to /etc/rc.conf:gnome_enable="YES"GDM will start
automatically when the system boots.A second method for starting
GNOME is to type
startx from the command-line after
configuring ~/.xinitrc. If this file
already exists, replace the line that starts the current
window manager with one that starts
/usr/local/bin/gnome-session. If this
file does not exist, create it with this command:&prompt.user; echo "exec /usr/local/bin/gnome-session" > ~/.xinitrcA third method is to use XDM as
the display manager. In this case, create an executable
~/.xsession:&prompt.user; echo "exec /usr/local/bin/gnome-session" > ~/.xsessionKDEKDEKDE is another easy-to-use
desktop environment. This desktop provides a suite of
applications with a consistent look and feel, a standardized
menu and toolbars, keybindings, color-schemes,
internationalization, and a centralized, dialog-driven desktop
configuration. More information on
KDE can be found at http://www.kde.org/.
For &os;-specific information, consult http://freebsd.kde.org.To install the KDE package,
type:&prompt.root; pkg install x11/kde5To instead build the KDE port,
use the following command. Installing the port will provide a
menu for selecting which components to install.
KDE is a large application and will
take some time to compile, even on a fast computer.&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/x11/kde5
&prompt.root; make install cleanKDE requires
/proc to be mounted. Add this line to
/etc/fstab to mount this file system
automatically during system startup:proc /proc procfs rw 0 0KDE uses
D-Bus and
HAL for a message bus and hardware
abstraction. These applications are automatically installed
as dependencies of KDE. Enable
them in /etc/rc.conf so they will be
started when the system boots:dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"KDEdisplay managerSince KDE Plasma 5, the KDE Display Manager,
KDM is no longer developed.
A possible replacement is SDDM.
To install it, type:&prompt.root; pkg install x11/sddmAdd this line to
/etc/rc.conf:sddm_enable="YES"A second method for launching
KDE Plasma is to type
startx from the command line. For this to
work, the following line is needed in
~/.xinitrc:exec ck-launch-session startplasma-x11A third method for starting KDE Plasma
is through XDM. To do so, create
an executable ~/.xsession as
follows:&prompt.user; echo "exec ck-launch-session startplasma-x11" > ~/.xsessionOnce KDE Plasma is started, refer to
its built-in help system for more information on how to use
its various menus and applications.XfceXfce is a desktop environment
based on the GTK+ toolkit used by
GNOME. However, it is more
lightweight and provides a simple, efficient, easy-to-use
desktop. It is fully configurable, has a main panel with
menus, applets, and application launchers, provides a file
manager and sound manager, and is themeable. Since it is
fast, light, and efficient, it is ideal for older or slower
machines with memory limitations. More information on
Xfce can be found at http://www.xfce.org.To install the Xfce
package:&prompt.root; pkg install xfceAlternatively, to build the port:&prompt.root; cd /usr/ports/x11-wm/xfce4
&prompt.root; make install cleanXfce uses
D-Bus for a message bus. This
application is automatically installed as dependency of
Xfce. Enable it in
/etc/rc.conf so it will be started when
the system boots:dbus_enable="YES"Unlike GNOME or
KDE,
Xfce does not provide its own login
manager. In order to start Xfce
from the command line by typing startx,
first create ~/.xinitrc with this
command:&prompt.user; echo ". /usr/local/etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc" > ~/.xinitrcAn alternate method is to use
XDM. To configure this method,
create an executable ~/.xsession:&prompt.user; echo ". /usr/local/etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc" > ~/.xsessionInstalling Compiz FusionOne way to make using a desktop
computer more pleasant is with nice 3D effects.Installing the Compiz Fusion
package is easy, but configuring it requires a few steps that
are not described in the port's documentation.Setting up the &os; nVidia DriverDesktop effects can cause quite a load on the graphics
card. For an nVidia-based graphics card, the proprietary
driver is required for good performance. Users of other
graphics cards can skip this section and continue with the
xorg.conf configuration.To determine which nVidia driver is needed see the FAQ question
on the subject.Having determined the correct driver to use for your card,
installation is as simple as installing any other
package.For example, to install the latest driver:&prompt.root; pkg install x11/nvidia-driverThe driver will create a kernel module, which needs to be
loaded at system startup. Add the following line to
/boot/loader.conf:nvidia_load="YES"To immediately load the kernel module into the running
kernel issue a command like kldload
nvidia. However, it has been noted that some
versions of &xorg; will not
function properly if the driver is not loaded at boot time.
After editing /boot/loader.conf, a
reboot is recommended.With the kernel module loaded, you normally only need to
change a single line in xorg.conf
to enable the proprietary driver:Find the following line in
/etc/X11/xorg.conf:Driver "nv"and change it to:Driver "nvidia"Start the GUI as usual, and you should be greeted by the
nVidia splash. Everything should work as usual.Configuring xorg.conf for Desktop EffectsTo enable Compiz Fusion,
/etc/X11/xorg.conf needs to be
modified:Add the following section to enable composite
effects:Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSectionLocate the Screen section which should look
similar to the one below:Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
...and add the following two lines (after
Monitor will do):DefaultDepth 24
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"Locate the Subsection that refers to the
screen resolution that you wish to use. For example, if you
wish to use 1280x1024, locate the section that follows. If
the desired resolution does not appear in any subsection, you
may add the relevant entry by hand:SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSectionA color depth of 24 bits is needed for desktop
composition, change the above subsection to:SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSectionFinally, confirm that the glx and
extmod modules are loaded in the
Module section:Section "Module"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
...The preceding can be done automatically with
x11/nvidia-xconfig by running (as
root):&prompt.root; nvidia-xconfig --add-argb-glx-visuals
&prompt.root; nvidia-xconfig --composite
&prompt.root; nvidia-xconfig --depth=24Installing and Configuring Compiz FusionInstalling Compiz Fusion
is as simple as any other package:&prompt.root; pkg install x11-wm/compiz-fusionWhen the installation is finished, start your graphic
desktop and at a terminal, enter the following commands (as a
normal user):&prompt.user; compiz --replace --sm-disable --ignore-desktop-hints ccp &
&prompt.user; emerald --replace &Your screen will flicker for a few seconds, as your window
manager (e.g. Metacity if you are
using GNOME) is replaced by
Compiz Fusion.
Emerald takes care of the window
decorations (i.e. close, minimize, maximize buttons, title
bars and so on).You may convert this to a trivial script and have it run
at startup automatically (e.g. by adding to
Sessions in a GNOME
desktop):#! /bin/sh
compiz --replace --sm-disable --ignore-desktop-hints ccp &
emerald --replace &Save this in your home directory as, for example,
start-compiz and make it
executable:&prompt.user; chmod +x ~/start-compizThen use the GUI to add it to Startup
Programs (located in
System,
Preferences,
Sessions on a
GNOME desktop).To actually select all the desired effects and their
settings, execute (again as a normal user) the
Compiz Config Settings Manager:&prompt.user; ccsmIn GNOME, this can also be
found in the System,
Preferences menu.If you have selected gconf support during
the build, you will also be able to view these settings using
gconf-editor under
apps/compiz.TroubleshootingIf the mouse does not work, you will need to first configure
it before proceeding.
In recent Xorg
versions, the InputDevice sections in
xorg.conf are ignored in favor of the
autodetected devices. To restore the old behavior, add the
following line to the ServerLayout or
ServerFlags section of this file:Option "AutoAddDevices" "false"Input devices may then be configured as in previous
versions, along with any other options needed (e.g., keyboard
layout switching).As previously explained the
hald daemon will, by default,
automatically detect your keyboard. There are chances that
your keyboard layout or model will not be correct, desktop
environments like GNOME,
KDE or
Xfce provide tools to configure
the keyboard. However, it is possible to set the keyboard
properties directly either with the help of the
&man.setxkbmap.1; utility or with a
hald's configuration rule.For example if, one wants to use a PC 102 keys keyboard
coming with a french layout, we have to create a keyboard
configuration file for hald
called x11-input.fdi and saved in the
/usr/local/etc/hal/fdi/policy
directory. This file should contain the following
lines:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
<device>
<match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.keyboard">
<merge key="input.x11_options.XkbModel" type="string">pc102</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.XkbLayout" type="string">fr</merge>
</match>
</device>
</deviceinfo>If this file already exists, just copy and add to your
file the lines regarding the keyboard configuration.You will have to reboot your machine to force
hald to read this file.It is possible to do the same configuration from an X
terminal or a script with this command line:&prompt.user; setxkbmap -model pc102 -layout fr/usr/local/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst
lists the various keyboard, layouts and options
available.&xorg;
tuningThe xorg.conf.new configuration file
may now be tuned to taste. Open the file in a text editor
such as &man.emacs.1; or &man.ee.1;. If the monitor is an
older or unusual model that does not support autodetection of
sync frequencies, those settings can be added to
xorg.conf.new under the
"Monitor" section:Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 30-107
VertRefresh 48-120
EndSectionMost monitors support sync frequency autodetection, making
manual entry of these values unnecessary. For the few
monitors that do not support autodetection, avoid potential
damage by only entering values provided by the
manufacturer.X allows DPMS (Energy Star) features to be used with
capable monitors. The &man.xset.1; program controls the
time-outs and can force standby, suspend, or off modes. If
you wish to enable DPMS features for your monitor, you must
add the following line to the monitor section:Option "DPMS"xorg.confWhile the xorg.conf.new configuration
file is still open in an editor, select the default resolution
and color depth desired. This is defined in the
"Screen" section:Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSectionThe DefaultDepth keyword describes the
color depth to run at by default. This can be overridden with
the command line switch to
&man.Xorg.1;. The Modes keyword describes
the resolution to run at for the given color depth. Note that
only VESA standard modes are supported as defined by the
target system's graphics hardware. In the example above, the
default color depth is twenty-four bits per pixel. At this
color depth, the accepted resolution is 1024 by 768
pixels.Finally, write the configuration file and test it using
the test mode given above.One of the tools available to assist you during
troubleshooting process are the
&xorg; log files, which contain
information on each device that the
&xorg; server attaches to.
&xorg; log file names are in the
format of /var/log/Xorg.0.log. The
exact name of the log can vary from
Xorg.0.log to
Xorg.8.log and so forth.If all is well, the configuration file needs to be
installed in a common location where &man.Xorg.1; can find it.
This is typically /etc/X11/xorg.conf or
/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.&prompt.root; cp xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.confThe &xorg; configuration
process is now complete. &xorg;
may be now started with the &man.startx.1; utility. The
&xorg; server may also be started
with the use of &man.xdm.1;.Configuration with &intel; i810
Graphics ChipsetsIntel i810 graphic chipsetConfiguration with &intel; i810 integrated chipsets
requires the agpgart AGP programming
interface for &xorg; to drive the
card. See the &man.agp.4; driver manual page for more
information.This will allow configuration of the hardware as any
other graphics board. Note on systems without the
&man.agp.4; driver compiled in the kernel, trying to load
the module with &man.kldload.8; will not work. This driver
has to be in the kernel at boot time through being compiled
in or using /boot/loader.conf.Adding a Widescreen Flatpanel to the Mixwidescreen flatpanel configurationThis section assumes a bit of advanced configuration
knowledge. If attempts to use the standard configuration
tools above have not resulted in a working configuration,
there is information enough in the log files to be of use in
getting the setup working. Use of a text editor will be
necessary.Current widescreen (WSXGA, WSXGA+, WUXGA, WXGA, WXGA+,
et.al.) formats support 16:10 and 10:9 formats or aspect
ratios that can be problematic. Examples of some common
screen resolutions for 16:10 aspect ratios are:2560x16001920x12001680x10501440x9001280x800At some point, it will be as easy as adding one of these
resolutions as a possible Mode in the
Section "Screen" as such:Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1680x1050"
EndSubSection
EndSection&xorg; is smart enough to
pull the resolution information from the widescreen via
I2C/DDC information so it knows what the monitor can handle
as far as frequencies and resolutions.If those ModeLines do not exist in
the drivers, one might need to give
&xorg; a little hint. Using
/var/log/Xorg.0.log one can extract
enough information to manually create a
ModeLine that will work. Simply look for
information resembling this:(II) MGA(0): Supported additional Video Mode:
(II) MGA(0): clock: 146.2 MHz Image Size: 433 x 271 mm
(II) MGA(0): h_active: 1680 h_sync: 1784 h_sync_end 1960 h_blank_end 2240 h_border: 0
(II) MGA(0): v_active: 1050 v_sync: 1053 v_sync_end 1059 v_blanking: 1089 v_border: 0
(II) MGA(0): Ranges: V min: 48 V max: 85 Hz, H min: 30 H max: 94 kHz, PixClock max 170 MHzThis information is called EDID information. Creating a
ModeLine from this is just a matter of
putting the numbers in the correct order:ModeLine <name> <clock> <4 horiz. timings> <4 vert. timings>So that the ModeLine in
Section "Monitor" for this example would
look like this:Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Bigname"
ModelName "BestModel"
ModeLine "1680x1050" 146.2 1680 1784 1960 2240 1050 1053 1059 1089
Option "DPMS"
EndSectionNow having completed these simple editing steps, X
should start on your new widescreen monitor.Troubleshooting Compiz FusionI have installed
Compiz Fusion, and
after running the commands you mention, my windows are
left without title bars and buttons. What is
wrong?You are probably missing a setting in
/etc/X11/xorg.conf. Review this
file carefully and check especially the
DefaultDepth and
AddARGBGLXVisuals
directives.When I run the command to start
Compiz Fusion, the X
server crashes and I am back at the console. What is
wrong?If you check
/var/log/Xorg.0.log, you
will probably find error messages during the X
startup. The most common would be:(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the GLX module; please check in your X
(EE) NVIDIA(0): log file that the GLX module has been loaded in your X
(EE) NVIDIA(0): server, and that the module is the NVIDIA GLX module. If
(EE) NVIDIA(0): you continue to encounter problems, Please try
(EE) NVIDIA(0): reinstalling the NVIDIA driver.This is usually the case when you upgrade
&xorg;. You will need to
reinstall the x11/nvidia-driver
package so glx is built again.