general/other How do I install FreeBSD in GNOME Boxes properly?

Relricey · Apr 3, 2022

Hi.

I'm running Debian 11. I have GNOME Boxes installed as a Flatpak. I've tried various guides on installing FreeBSD as a VM (in other VM Managers) but I can never get it to work properly in GNOME Boxes - low resolution & other miscellaneous issues.

I have a AMD Ryzen 7 3800X CPU & a Radeon RX550/550 Series GPU.

Can someone provide a guide?

Thanks.

Alexander88207 · Apr 3, 2022

1. pkg install gnome3-lite xorg-minimal drm-kmod
2.Adding dbus_enable="YES", gdm_enable="YES" & kld_list="amdgpu" to /etc/rc.conf
3.Load the amdgpu module and start gdm manually on a root account or reboot.
4.Done

Please note that there is a bug with AMD GPU's that you need to use DRI 2 instead of the default (DRI 3)

Hint: You can not use the Vulkan API if you use DRI 2 or older.

253746 – x11-wm/mutter: Freezes on AMD GPU's with DRI3

bugs.freebsd.org

To set to use DRI 2 create an /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/amdgpu.conf

Code:

Section "Device"

Identifier "Card0"

Driver "modesetting"

Option "DRI" "2"

EndSection

kpedersen · Apr 3, 2022

Alexander88207 said:
3.Load the amdgpu module and

I believe the OP wants to install this in "Boxes". A Gnome3 centric frontend to KVM.

@OP, are you able to get it running in raw Qemu? I.e using the -vga <type> option?

https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/qemu-manpage.html

cirrus, std, vmware, qxl, tcx, cg3, virtio, none

I believe it defaults to cirrus but I would try it out with std and vmware modes.

grahamperrin · Apr 4, 2022

Alexander88207 said:
gnome3-lite

x11/gnome3-lite is dead.

grahamperrin · Apr 4, 2022

Relricey said:
… I can never get it to work properly in GNOME Boxes - low resolution & other miscellaneous issues. …

Can you be more specific?

Which version of FreeBSD, exactly?

freebsd-version -kru ; uname -aKU

Packages from latest, or quarterly?

pkg -vv | grep -e url -e enabled

Is resolution an issue only when you use a desktop environment in the VM?

And so on.

Thanks.

mendenlama · Apr 4, 2022

I guess, the problem is the missing qxl driver, see Thread freebsd-12-2-missing-xorg-qxl-video-driver.80462

Boxes is a frontend to qemu+kvm and relies on qxl for the graphics. The qxl driver, however, has vanished from the FreeBSD ports. Here you find a workaround that works on FreeBSD 12.2: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=255973
In 2021, I tried this with 13.0-Release as a guest in Boxes and it did work, too.

As for now, getting Gnome up and running seems to be quite another issue.

Relricey · Apr 10, 2022

Hi guys.

I tried

Code:

startx

and got this:

Relricey · Apr 10, 2022

Alexander88207 said:
1. pkg install gnome3-lite xorg-minimal drm-kmod
2.Adding dbus_enable="YES", gdm_enable="YES" & kld_list="amdgpu" to /etc/rc.conf
3.Load the amdgpu module and start gdm manually on a root account or reboot.
4.Done

Please note that there is a bug with AMD GPU's that you need to use DRI 2 instead of the default (DRI 3)

Hint: You can not use the Vulkan API if you use DRI 2 or older.

253746 – x11-wm/mutter: Freezes on AMD GPU's with DRI3

bugs.freebsd.org

To set to use DRI 2 create an /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/amdgpu.conf

Code:

Section "Device" Identifier "Card0" Driver "modesetting" Option "DRI" "2" EndSection

Hi Alenxander.

I went with:

Code:

pkg install xorg mate slim nano

(I love the MATE)

How do I load the amdgpu module?

Relricey · Apr 10, 2022

grahamperrin said:
x11/gnome3-lite is dead.

Hi Graham. I never liked GNOME3.

Relricey · Apr 10, 2022

kpedersen said:
I believe the OP wants to install this in "Boxes". A Gnome3 centric frontend to KVM.

@OP, are you able to get it running in raw Qemu? I.e using the -vga <type> option?

https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/qemu-manpage.html

I believe it defaults to cirrus but I would try it out with std and vmware modes.

I haven't tried raw QEMU -- looks tricky.

Relricey · Apr 10, 2022

grahamperrin said:
Can you be more specific?

Which version of FreeBSD, exactly?

freebsd-version -kru ; uname -aKU

Packages from latest, or quarterly?

pkg -vv | grep -e url -e enabled

Is resolution an issue only when you use a desktop environment in the VM?

And so on.

Thanks.

FreeBSD 13
Quarterly
The resolution is also small in the cli.

grahamperrin · Apr 10, 2022

Relricey said:
this:

Try correcting the mis-spelling – Optiob

Relricey · Apr 10, 2022

grahamperrin said:
Try correcting the mis-spelling – Optiob

You mean it should say 'Optiob' instead of 'Option' in https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/...sd-in-gnome-boxes-properly.84670/post-562334?

Relricey · Apr 10, 2022

Alexander88207 said:
1. pkg install gnome3-lite xorg-minimal drm-kmod
2.Adding dbus_enable="YES", gdm_enable="YES" & kld_list="amdgpu" to /etc/rc.conf
3.Load the amdgpu module and start gdm manually on a root account or reboot.
4.Done

Please note that there is a bug with AMD GPU's that you need to use DRI 2 instead of the default (DRI 3)

Hint: You can not use the Vulkan API if you use DRI 2 or older.

253746 – x11-wm/mutter: Freezes on AMD GPU's with DRI3

bugs.freebsd.org

To set to use DRI 2 create an /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/amdgpu.conf

Code:

Section "Device" Identifier "Card0" Driver "modesetting" Option "DRI" "2" EndSection

What's the advantage of installing

Code:

xorg-minimal

over

Code:

xorg

?

Deleted member 56028 · Apr 10, 2022

Relricey said:
You mean it should say 'Optiob' instead of 'Option' in https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/...sd-in-gnome-boxes-properly.84670/post-562334?

Look at the "parse error" of your screenshot.

Relricey · Apr 10, 2022

Menelkir said:
Look at the "parse error" of your screenshot.

Ah, sorry, my bad.

Alexander88207 · Apr 10, 2022

Relricey said:
What's the advantage of installing

Code:

xorg-minimal

over

Code:

xorg

?

x11/xorg-minimal only installs the necessary things to run an Xorg session.

x11/xorg installs the full X family (apps like xrandr, a window manager [twm], xcursor themes and fonts etc..)

So if you are going to install an DE like GNOME, KDE or an standalone WM anyway xorg-minimal should be enough because the xorg metaport installs a lot of stuff that nobody needs at the same time.

For instance x11/gnome installs the full GNOME stack ( all gnome-* ) applications while x11/gnome-lite only installs a minimal set to keep a clean overview.

Relricey · Apr 10, 2022

More screenshots of the progress:

Alexander88207 · Apr 10, 2022

Relricey said:
More screenshots of the progress:

View attachment 13574
View attachment 13575

View attachment 13576

If you dont want to run GNOME anyway. You can drop my xorg configuration. Mate is not affected by this bug.

Do you already have installed and loaded your drm drivers?

You can load the amdgpu module with kldload amdgpu

twllnbrck · Apr 10, 2022

grahamperrin said:
x11/gnome3-lite is dead.

Are you sure? I thought it is a package flavor now.

grahamperrin · Apr 10, 2022

twllnbrck said:
Are you sure?

Yes, rest in peace (RIP) gnome3-lite and gnome3:

twllnbrck said:
I thought it is a package flavor now.

For 41, not for 3:

x11/gnome

FreeBSD bugs:

grahamperrin · Apr 10, 2022

Relricey said:
… resolution is also small in the cli.

Does the virtual hardware use EFI to boot?

loader.conf(5)

Here:

Code:

% grep -e efi_max_resolution -e screen.font /boot/loader.conf | grep -v \#
screen.font="8x16"
efi_max_resolution="1600x900"
%

<https://old.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/m4w2fs/-/gqxf3gn/>

grahamperrin · Apr 10, 2022

Alexander88207 said:
… if you are going to install an DE like GNOME, KDE or an standalone WM anyway xorg-minimal should be enough …

It's true that xorg-minimal is mentioned (screenshot below) in the KDE Community Wiki, however that part of the page is oudated (sorry); it's under a rewrite heading that appears to be dated 2019.

My experience with x11/xorg-minimal is that it can be troublesome, at least with Plasma. IMHO it's simpler and quicker to install x11/xorg, than to figure out what's missing (or wrong) after taking a minimalist approach.

Phishfry · Apr 10, 2022

I don't use x11/xorg-minimal for anything but x11-forwarding on headless.
Even on my minimalist OpenBox kiosk I had to use full Xorg.

twllnbrck · Apr 10, 2022

I use x11/xorg-minimal for a long time on all my machines. It doesnt come with all the x-apps and fonts but is much more lightweight.

general/other How do I install FreeBSD in GNOME Boxes properly?

Relricey

Alexander88207

Enthusiast

253746 – x11-wm/mutter: Freezes on AMD GPU's with DRI3

kpedersen

grahamperrin

grahamperrin

mendenlama

Relricey

Relricey

253746 – x11-wm/mutter: Freezes on AMD GPU's with DRI3

Relricey

Relricey

Relricey

grahamperrin

Relricey

Relricey

253746 – x11-wm/mutter: Freezes on AMD GPU's with DRI3

Deleted member 56028

Guest

Relricey

Alexander88207

Enthusiast

Relricey

Alexander88207

Enthusiast

twllnbrck

grahamperrin

grahamperrin

grahamperrin

Phishfry

twllnbrck