Help Me Install KDE Plasma, Please

matt_k said:
Oh, I am sorry, I confused this thread with some other, or maybe it flipped in my mind only, not sure anymore {or maybe it got merged/deleted}. To be honest, I installed KDE right now, you inspired me to do so, it was only a few steps really. I am enjoying it so far, KDE looks very nice (as it always did, the best looking DE there is).

I am not sure anymore what you did with your system, at first you followed some guide, which basically led you step-by-step through standard installation and then through the sysutils/desktop-installer script. I did exactly the same thing two weeks ago on another computer and it just worked out of the box (I had to twiddle with nvidia drivers, but that's another story and with intel graphics, you should not have such a problem). Then this thread became a bit more chaotic to follow.

Basically, you need to solve two things:
  1. graphics drivers (which should be loaded, as you logged in as root and it worked with startx, and also I saw kldstat with i915kms loaded somewhere above)
  2. login manager (sddm), which is not a hard requirement, but certainly is convenient.
When you open an X-session with startx as root, you must close it/kill it before you can open another one! This seems to be confusing you. You need to log out of KDE as root and kill the X-session and return to tty, if you used startx. Otherwise nor sddm nor startx will work. There can only be one active X-session opened at a time. This is not FreeBSD-specific.
Click to expand...
all you need after installing everything:
1. proc /proc procfs rw 0 0 --> /etc/fstab
2. dbus_enable="YES" --> /etc/rc.conf
3. sddm_enable="YES" --> /etc/rc.conf
4. kld_list="/boot/modules/i915kms.ko" --> /etc/rc.conf
5. Reboot

This is explained in the Handbook, step by step. Section 5.7.2, KDE. Handbook does not mention Step 4 from my list, because it assumes it has been done earlier.
 
grahamperrin said:
More KDE at and under <https://forums.FreeBSD.org/threads/new-hopefully-freebsd-user-here.82307/post-535092>
Click to expand...
This was just a general chat that just developed. That’s why I created this current thread.
matt_k said:
Oh, I am sorry, I confused this thread with some other, or maybe it flipped in my mind only, not sure anymore {or maybe it got merged/deleted}.
Click to expand...
no problem.

Anyway I am sorry I caused all this trouble for you.

I really appreciate all the support I got here.

But sadly, I think I didn’t do well here in the forums. Too many posts and questions, I am not that “literate”, so I am creating a lot of “noise”.

So, it’s OK, enough is enough.

This is my last post.

Thank you all again.
 
astyle said:
that one is not making any sense.
Click to expand...
We can see that OP cannot run Xorg -configure for diagnostic purposes and there is a dead Xorg process running.

Under normal circumstances, when SDDM is running, killing Xorg with killall Xorg results in graceful restart of Xorg with the following messages:
Code: 
[08:31:53.388] (WW) DAEMON: QProcess: Destroyed while process ("/usr/local/libexec/sddm-helper") is still running.
[08:31:53.395] (II) HELPER: [PAM] Starting...
[08:31:53.395] (II) HELPER: [PAM] Authenticating...
[08:31:53.395] (II) HELPER: [PAM] returning.
[08:31:53.396] (II) HELPER: Starting: "/usr/local/share/sddm/scripts/Xsession /usr/local/bin/sddm-greeter --socket /tmp/sddm-:0-sVhhxn --theme /usr/local/share/sddm/themes/breeze"
[08:31:53.398] (II) DAEMON: Greeter session started successfully
[08:31:53.503] (II) DAEMON: Message received from greeter: Connect
[08:33:50.480] (II) DAEMON: Display server stopped.
[08:33:50.480] (II) DAEMON: Running display stop script  "/usr/local/share/sddm/scripts/Xstop"
[08:33:50.484] (II) DAEMON: Greeter stopping...
[08:33:50.484] (II) DAEMON: Socket server stopping...
[08:33:50.484] (II) DAEMON: Socket server stopped.
[08:33:50.484] (II) DAEMON: Removing display ":0" ...
[08:33:50.484] (II) DAEMON: Adding new display on vt 9 ...
[08:33:50.484] (II) DAEMON: Loading theme configuration from ""
[08:33:50.484] (II) DAEMON: Display server starting...
[08:33:50.484] (II) DAEMON: Adding cookie to "/var/run/sd
[08:33:50.948] (WW) DAEMON: Could not setup default cursor
[08:33:50.948] (II) DAEMON: Running display setup script  "/usr/local/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup"
[08:33:50.950] (II) DAEMON: Display server started.
[08:33:50.950] (II) DAEMON: Socket server starting...
[08:33:50.951] (II) DAEMON: Socket server started.
[08:33:50.951] (II) DAEMON: Loading theme configuration from "/usr/local/share/sddm/themes/breeze/theme.conf"
[08:33:50.951] (II) DAEMON: Greeter starting...
[08:33:50.952] (II) DAEMON: Greeter stopping...
[08:33:50.952] (WW) DAEMON: QProcess: Destroyed while process ("/usr/local/libexec/sddm-helper") is still running.
[08:33:50.960] (II) HELPER: [PAM] Starting...
[08:33:50.960] (II) HELPER: [PAM] Authenticating...
[08:33:50.960] (II) HELPER: [PAM] returning.
[08:33:50.960] (II) HELPER: Starting: "/usr/local/share/sddm/scripts/Xsession /usr/local/bin/sddm-greeter --socket /tmp/sddm-:0-ykxlKN --theme /usr/local/share/sddm/themes/breeze"
[08:33:50.963] (II) DAEMON: Greeter session started successfully

I think for diagnostics it is a good idea to:
  1. service sddm stop
  2. See that there are no dead Xorg process or just killall Xorg
  3. run Xorg -configure
  4. post the contents of /root/xorg.conf.new
  5. It should contain the device section
Code: 
Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
        ### <percent>: "<f>%"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "Accel"                  # [<bool>]
        #Option     "AccelMethod"            # <str>
        #Option     "Backlight"              # <str>
        #Option     "CustomEDID"             # <str>
        #Option     "DRI"                    # <str>
        #Option     "Present"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ColorKey"               # <i>
        #Option     "VideoKey"               # <i>
        #Option     "Tiling"                 # [<bool>]
        #Option     "LinearFramebuffer"      # [<bool>]
        #Option     "HWRotation"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "VSync"                  # [<bool>]
        #Option     "PageFlip"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "SwapbuffersWait"        # [<bool>]
        #Option     "TripleBuffer"           # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvPreferOverlay"        # [<bool>]
        #Option     "HotPlug"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ReprobeOutputs"         # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvMC"                   # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ZaphodHeads"            # <str>
        #Option     "VirtualHeads"           # <i>
        #Option     "TearFree"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "PerCrtcPixmaps"         # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FallbackDebug"          # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugFlushBatches"      # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugFlushCaches"       # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugWait"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "BufferCache"            # [<bool>]
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "intel"
    BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

If it does not, the most probable cause is DRM.
 
shkhln said:
Definitely don't ever run -configure.
Click to expand...
Completely disagree!

We are diagnosing the OP-s issue. For diagnostic purposes OP should run it and post the output to see if Device section is created. I am not urging the OP to actually use the auto-generated configuration later.
 
limo said:
This was just a general chat that just developed. That’s why I created this current thread.

no problem.

Anyway I am sorry I caused all this trouble for you.

I really appreciate all the support I got here.

But sadly, I think I didn’t do well here in the forums. Too many posts and questions, I am not that “literate”, so I am creating a lot of “noise”.

So, it’s OK, enough is enough.

This is my last post.

Thank you all again.
Click to expand...
You've done nothing wrong. People here just like noise. It's not your fault.

It is a forum after all.
 
According to the Handbook:
docs.freebsd.org

Chapter 5. The X Window System

This chapter describes how to install and configure the X Window System providing a graphical environment
docs.freebsd.org docs.freebsd.org
A couple things to pay attention to there: The green-colored section says that -configure is meant for troubleshooting purposes, not for creating a .conf file to be used in actual install. Basically, it's saying, "This is the hardware I see, based on the loaded drivers, and what not. Real fixes are elsewhere."
Most of the time, loading the correct graphics driver (As I pointed out earlier in this thread) fixes everything. In OP's case, the correct graphics driver is listed in Step 4 in my bespoke post.
 
limo said:
… sadly, I think I didn’t do well here in the forums. Too many posts and questions, I am not that “literate”, so I am creating a lot of “noise”.

So, it’s OK, … This is my last post.

Thank you all again.
Click to expand...

limo please, don't feel a need to step back.

Oversimplifying:
  • noise can good or bad
  • the noise here and nearby is good.
Good, because:
  • the noise is (at least) sparking an improvement to KDE-provided documentation for KDE Plasma on FreeBSD
  • the KDE-provided documentation will become a little less noisy ☑


Essentially, you have:
  1. the KDE-provided quick start for FreeBSD
  2. a chapter or more of the FreeBSD Handbook
– and somewhere between those two extremes, a wealth/avalanche of alternative approaches and advice, some of which is (naturally) outdated or contradictory.

Of the alternative approaches, the best – if you start afresh – might be sysutils/desktop-installer, which is intended for people who "… don't want (or can't afford) to spend time on tedious systems setup tasks like configuring Xorg, USB device support, WiFi drivers, CUPS printing services, NTP, EXFAT support, etc. …". (I know, you used this at least once already.)
 
roccobaroccoSC said:
I don't know what kdm5_enable is. In general you need sddm_enable. Don't try to start multiple display managers simultaneously. You need only one. SDDM is the official one for Plasma, AFAIK.
Click to expand...

As far as I had read, he had read the manual for kde 4 (I assume by mistake) and then tried kdm4_enable to kdm5_enable.

UPDATE:
I found https://freebsdfoundation.org/freebsd-project/resources/installing-a-desktop-environment-on-freebsd/

and I am following it (for KDE)

Perhaps it needs update as


Code:

pkg install x11/kde4

didn’t work, so I changed it to kde5 and it’s working.
Click to expand...
 
Alexander88207 said:
As far as I had read, he had read the manual for kde 4 (I assume by mistake) and then tried kdm4_enable to kdm5_enable.
Click to expand...
This explains things. I don't know what is this madness to rename products like wild. Continuity should be a priority in such long-lived products.
 
roccobaroccoSC said:
… Continuity should be a priority in such long-lived products.
Click to expand...

We have continuity of naming where appropriate.

It was necessary for kde4 and kde5 to not share the same name because for a while, both versions of KDE Plasma were maintained. Please note the overlap:

… I don't know what is this madness to rename products like wild. …
Click to expand...

The transition of KDE-related ports to FreeBSD was very well-organised, I don't recall any madness or wildness.
 
limo said:
May I suggest. Better … a separate page for each DE. …
Click to expand...

A previous edition of the FreeBSD Handbook did have shorter web pages, which I preferred. There was, for example, a page for section 5.7 (843 words).

With the current edition, 5.7 is in the midst of a much longer page that presents an entire chapter – 7,737 words o_O
 
grahamperrin said:
A previous edition of the FreeBSD Handbook did have shorter web pages, which I preferred. There was, for example, a page for section 5.7 (843 words).

With the current edition, 5.7 is in the midst of a much longer page that presents an entire chapter – 7,737 words o_O
Click to expand...
To be honest, I agree, the Handbook can be better organized. It is a lot of effort to keep it up to date, let alone translate it. But it's that very effort that put the Handbook in position to be THE authoritative, up-to-date source of information that can be referred to as such. Thanks to that effort, anyone can say that everything else is outdated, contains workarounds, etc. This is why on the forums, we encourage reading the Handbook - Just following it and paying attention will give best results possible. Only after paying attention to the Handbook does it make sense to turn to wikis for hardware support, etc.
 
Argentum said:
Completely disagree!

We are diagnosing the OP-s issue. For diagnostic purposes OP should run it and post the output to see if Device section is created. I am not urging the OP to actually use the auto-generated configuration later.
Click to expand...
Compare https://github.com/freedesktop/xorg-xserver/blob/f9f705bf3cf0d169d54a70f235cc99e106dbda43/hw/xfree86/common/xf86AutoConfig.c#L167 with https://github.com/freedesktop/xorg...dbda43/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Configure.c#L595. For diagnostics we must stick to reading logs, there are no shortcuts.
 
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grahamperrin said:
Done, thanks to Alexander88207, limo and others:

<https://community.kde.org/index.php?title=FreeBSD/Setup&type=revision&diff=93266&oldid=91673>

Whilst some parts of the page remain outdated, the quick start is simplified:
  • from graphics plus five steps
  • to graphics plus four steps.
Click to expand...

Nice.

If you like you can submit an optional installation where only the basic stuff from kde5 is in.

For me kde5 installs a lot of unnecessary stuff is my opinion. I do use the meta package x11/plasma5-plasma-desktop and do if required install stuff like x11-fm/dolphin, x11/konsole extra in addition.
 
Installing KDE according to the manual is a good way, if you get a black screen and nothing happens, I think you should check your graphics card drivers.
 
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