Black Screen and Cross-cursor after login (FreeBSD / KDE5)

Hello !

I have a problem that has been turning my head for 1 day ...

That's all, I tried to install FreeBSD on a VMWare virtual machine. I want to install KDE5.

My installations and configurations:

-xorg
-kde5
-sddm

sysrc dbus_enable="YES"
sysrc hald_enable="YES"
sysrc sddm_enable="YES"

I have also mounted an FS.

Here is my problem:

My system Boot is fine and I reach the login screen sddm. By entering my password. A black screen and a cross-shaped cursor.

I tried the "startx" command but it brings me to an environment which is not KDE.

Someone to clarify me ??
65s465f4ds65.PNG
 
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Add exec ck-launch-session startplasma-x11 to your ~/.xessions file, restart and try again. Also make sure your entries in /etc/rc.conf have the correct formatting or else it won't be parsed.

"sysrc dbus_enable = yes"
"sysrc hald_enablsysrc"
"sddm_enable = yese = yes"

All of this should read;

dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"
sddm_enable=YES"
 
Thank you for your reply,

It didn't work for me: /
I decided to do a re-installation.

I have done this differently to see, but my Xorg server won't start, and I can't get my SDDM screen.


However my Xorg logs tell me:

Code:
(EE) no screen found (EE)

xinit: abandon
xinit: unable to connect to the X server: connection refused
xinit: server error
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ok everything is good!

Ducoup here is what I did to resolve the concerns: (if I can help someone else with the same problem, that's cool!)

1st step:
Go to /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf
Then change the driver to "vesa".

2nd step:
Go to /usr/local/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
Add the line: exec ck-launch-session startplasma-x11

And start Xorg with the "startx" command.

Bye !
 
Then change the driver to "vesa".
1) don't create a xorg.conf at all. 2) this switches to the vesa(4) driver (you need x11-drivers/xf86-video-vesa for that) which is an non-accelerated driver and doesn't support high resolutions.

Add the line: exec ck-launch-session startplasma-x11
Do this in ~/.xinitrc.

sysrc dbus_enable = yes
sysrc hald_enable = yes
sysrc sddm_enable = yes
Don't put spaces here.
Code:
sysrc dbus_enable="YES"
sysrc hald_enable="YES"
sysrc sddm_enable="YES"
 
Correct, I had put spaces only so that it is more readable for you ;) As I said. Everything is good for me; ) Thank you !
 
I had put spaces only so that it is more readable for you
Never do this when it comes to commands or config file options. Spaces are important, we want to see the exact commands or options you used.
 
I understand, I corrected this ;) I will pay attention to it next time ;) Have a nice day!
 
sysrc option=value (or sysrc option+=value) is a shell command you are expected to run (on the console or in a terminal window) as root or via sudo(8) or the like. It does some checks and changes rc.conf(5) accordingly. You can read it's RTFM sysrc(8) to find out about it's functionality. So that's preferable to directly editing /etc/rc.conf: it stops on typos due to syntax check.

OTT, because this is frequently overseen by newbies: when you install many packages in a bunch, their messages fly through. Thus:
  • You may want to add message: "query '[%C/%n] %M'", to the ALIAS section of /usr/local/etc/pkg.conf, then read through all pkg message|less and apply the requested settings.
  • Instead of less(1), you may find sysutils/most more user-friendly. Beginners will prefer edit(1) (ee(1)), editors/aee or editors/nano over the old-school, UNIX'ish vi(1) (wizzard's choice).
  • The utilities sysutils/psearch or sysutils/portfind will help you to find available software in the ports(7) tree.
  • Some nice small utilities are self-contained in the ports(7) tree (most under sysutils) and are not available as packages.
  • If you mix self-built ports(7) & packages, adjust both to use the same version (quarterly vs. latest): See /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf. portsnap(8) is locked to latest & can not use the quarterly ports(7) tree branch, please read the Handbook.
  • ports-mgmt/octopkg is a user-friendly graphical frontend to the pkg-ng package manager. It uses the Qt toolkit and runs on every GUI. AFAIK there is no Gtk-based counterpart.
  • Use sysrc(8) to safely edit system rc(8) files instead of editing rc.conf(5). It does some checks to prevent typos, and allows for advanced tricks like sudo sysrc moused_flags+=" -l 2" (note the space).
 
(i'm offering advice to a more senior member):

(1) try it again, switch windows do ps(1) and tell us what processes are running

all i know from image is X is the default cursor and black is the "new" default blackground for Xorg (instead of pattern)

You can using .xinitrc to change the background pattern. This can be minorly useful because it tells you if X has loaded or if you've been stopped on some video error.

In this case you have X cursor so I can say X loaded, but I can't say what part of KDE is or isn't running.

Certainly you have to use the "exec foo" (whatever KDE says is the way to start their session).

If I see in ps(1) some are started, I will ask which parts of KDE are not still running or never ran. If none are running, then the question is more easily, why did the launcher quit.
 
If the display manager (sddm(1) or the like) is set up correctly, a ~/.xinitrc is not needed. In fact, I don't have one and I'm running KDE as my daily driver. Nevertheless, the option to load a background via xinit(1) to instantly see that the X11 server is active and took control of the screen, is a very good idea.
 
Hello, I'm just starting up with FreeBSD - also on a virtual machine, though KVM/Qemu and I have the same issue.

I followed the handbook (and some other tricks online to see if it helped but it did not) and I tried the 3 methods in the handbook:
* Launching KDE with startx works after running "exec /usr/local/bin/gnome-session" > ~/.xinitrc
* Launching KDE with xdm session manager works after running echo "exec /usr/local/bin/gnome-session" > ~/.xsession (and it launches automatically as well after adding xdm_enable to rc.conf
* And so launching KDE with sddm fails just like the above. It shows the sddm log-in screen (which I'd quite like to have, nicer than the big boxes of xdm) and when I log in, black screen + X cursor

Happy to give more info and see if it can work the intended way.
 
Follow the instructions for KDE, in 5.7.2 rather than gnome:


Pay particular attention to the notes on the requirement for the /proc filesystem.
 
Follow the instructions for KDE, in 5.7.2 rather than gnome:


Pay particular attention to the notes on the requirement for the /proc filesystem.
Sorry, my bad, these were typos, I did follow the instructions for KDE (it did launch with both startx & xdm commands but not with sddm).
 
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