How to Install and run KDE

The mechanics of installing are the same, yes, I guess I was alluding to the complexity of a full desktop environment and the number of issues people have with them because of this complexity. Also, new users tend to try and install everything at once (xorg, login manager, desktop environment) and that typically introduces too many variables when it comes to troubleshooting. My advice is always to get xorg working first along with display drivers, then the desktop, then the login manager, if desired. Lessens the the number of variables and makes troubleshooting easier.
 
pkg delete drm-kmod
pkg delete nvidia-xconfig
pkg autoremove

rm /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Create a /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-nvidia.conf:
Code:
Section "Device"
        Identifier "Card0"
        Driver     "nvidia"
EndSection

sysrc kld_list+="nvidia-modeset"


Which NVidia card do you have? For some of the older cards you might need to use the legacy version of the driver.
GTX 960

Done. No result.
 
Code:
sshd*
dumpdev*
__
clear_tmp*
disable_sendmail*
Don't login as root
Add new user to wheel
freebsd-update fetch
freebsd-update install
reboot
uname -a
su -
pkg install sudo
visudo
root ALL=(ALL) (ALL)
-# %wheel ALL=(ALL) (ALL)
wq!
sudo -s
pkg install nvidia-driver
/rc.config
kld_list="linux nvidia nvidia-modeset fuse"
linux_load="YES"
nvidia_load="YES"
nvidia_name="nvidia"
nvidia_modeset_load="YES"
nvidia_modeset_name="nvidia-modeset"
pkg install xorg
startx
sudo -s
pkg update
pkg install neofetch
neofetch
pkg install x11/kde5
vi /etc/fstab
3 line
# KDE
proc    /proc    procfs rw    0    0
pkg install x11/sddm
vi /etc/rc.conf
#For KDE
dbus_enable="YES"
sddm_enable="YES"
reboot
neofetch
==============================================================

What is missing here? Deleted system completely today, thought the speed problem was on my software, but it looks like that was some issue with my next hop uplink router, even don't wont to know what is wrong there, "pppoe stable the speed is fine" Still can't figure out how to get stable nvidia driver working along with kde. I'll try to do this steps, just leave it here if someone one know what should go wrong, but for now the nvidia the screen is laggy, and the problem is in nvidia-driver. Just one bad decision and the system was wiped out. Thought is was a good idea to "archive" the /etc/ folder in GUI. As a result the system was corrupted from the root's dolphin, and never went up again.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
afaik, nvidia cards like yours can only use drivers nvidia-driver-340-340.108_3 n nvidia-driver-390-390.144. my fstab has something like this...
proc /proc procfs rw 0 0
fdesc /dev/fd fdescfs rw,auto,late 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs rw,mode=0177 0 0

i dint have issues running kde5 or plasma5. i only used xorg-minimal.
 
sshd* dumpdev* __ clear_tmp* disable_sendmail* Don't login as root Add new user to wheel freebsd-update fetch freebsd-update install reboot uname -a su - pkg install sudo visudo root ALL=(ALL) (ALL) -# %wheel ALL=(ALL) (ALL) wq! sudo -s pkg install nvidia-driver /rc.config kld_list="linux nvidia nvidia-modeset fuse" linux_load="YES" nvidia_load="YES" nvidia_name="nvidia" nvidia_modeset_load="YES" nvidia_modeset_name="nvidia-modeset" pkg install xorg startx sudo -s pkg update pkg install neofetch neofetch pkg install x11/kde5 vi /etc/fstab 3 line # KDE proc /proc procfs rw 0 0 pkg install x11/sddm vi /etc/rc.conf #For KDE dbus_enable="YES" sddm_enable="YES" reboot neofetch ==============================================================

What is missing here? Deleted system completely today, thought the speed problem was on my software, but it looks like that was some issue with my next hop uplink router, even don't wont to know what is wrong there, "pppoe stable the speed is fine" Still can't figure out how to get stable nvidia driver working along with kde. I'll try to do this steps, just leave it here if someone one know what should go wrong, but for now the nvidia the screen is laggy, and the problem is in nvidia-driver. Just one bad decision and the system was wiped out. Thought is was a good idea to "archive" the /etc/ folder in GUI. As a result the system was corrupted from the root's dolphin, and never went up again.
I'd suggest re-tracing your steps, starting from the very first post in this thread. Re-read what you did, what worked, what didn't... and record the successful steps. Order matters. BTW, why did you install neofetch(1)? Another rather questionable decision is to do freebsd-update(8). These forums are full of horror stories from users who didn't do their homework and planning before running freebsd-update(8). Generally, Keep It Simple, Stupid.
1640755888549.png
 
I periodically run freebsd-update fetch and freebsd-update install on FreeBSD-13.0-RELEASE without any ill effects. This was also my regular habit when running 11.2 and 12.0. No horror stories after using it regularly, for years. My Radeon kernel mode setting driver actually runs much better now, on 13.0-RELEASE-p4 and -p5, than it did prior to running those updates.

My best guess is that OP's problems are not a result of those updates.

This is a bit off-topic, but the only horror stories I've read involving freebsd-update(8) resulted from using freebsd-update upgrade to upgrade to a newer release. In my opinion, these stories are horror stories only because ( 1.) the systems being upgraded were live working systems, and ( 2.) backup and recovery strategies were inadequate.

An adequate backup and recovery strategy means being able to reinstall all necessary data and software from scratch, in any case of system failure, whether it results from freebsd-update upgrade failure, pkg upgrade failure, other software failures, hardware failures, user errors, or from any other unforeseen or unforeseeable failures. One should not depend exclusively on update rollback or boot environment recovery software to recover a live working system.

Back on topic, OP is not upgrading a live working system. OP is attempting a first time configuration using software which is unfamiliar to him. I suspect his problem might be related to his Nvidia drivers, which are unfamiliar to me as well, or his problem might be procedural.

The best I can offer at this time is:
  1. "fuse" is out of date, and should be replaced by "fusefs" in the kld_list assignment statement.
  2. /rc.config is probably a typographical error, but, just in case, the kld_list assignment and nvidia directives should go in the file /etc/rc.conf rather than in any /rc.config file.
  3. It might help if OP would please share the output of dmesg and/or the contents of /var/log/Xorg.0.log
 
GTX 960 is not a legacy card, it runs the 470 driver.

Edit : I've been running mine with a latest driver since 2015, throughout FreeBSD 10,11,12 and now 13. I switched it to Quadro M4000 which now runs my Plasma desktop on FreeBSD 13, the GTX960 is ppt to bhyve, where it runs Debian. Everything is version 470.

If you aren't experienced with freebsd I suggest first try getting hardware accelerated X server up and running, and then go for setting up the desktop.

On a vanilla FreeBSD installation, install the xorg, nvidia-driver, nvidia-xconfig and nvidia-settings packages, add their loading on startup and disable KMS so your ttys do not get fucked up.

Code:
pkg install xorg nvidia-driver nvidia-xconfig nvidia-settings
sysrc -f /boot/loader.conf nvidia_load="YES"
sysrc -f /boot/loader.conf hw.vga.textmode=1

Reboot the system. When you log back in, there should be driver attach logs in dmesg

Code:
dmesg | grep nvidia
nvidia0: <Quadro M4000> numa-domain 0 on vgapci0
vgapci0: child nvidia0 requested pci_enable_io
vgapci0: child nvidia0 requested pci_enable_io
nvidia-modeset: Loading NVIDIA Kernel Mode Setting Driver for UNIX platforms  470.74  Tue Sep 14 00:47:44 UTC 202
1

Now, execute

Code:
nvidia-xconfig

To generate X11 configuration (although there's something to be said about directories used (Linuxisms), if you're a new user just use this utility and bear in mind that your X configuration is in /etc/X11).

This should be it, test with

Code:
startx /usr/local/bin/nvidia-settings

If you get to see and click around the settings program, congrats you have nvidia installed in your system.

Now you can proceed to installation of the desktop environment without mixing up the driver/display server in the process.
 
After few reinstallations of whole system the method with "desktop-installer" worked, but only if I terminated program right before 'sddm', when the system boots drivers works perfectly, but if re-run the desktop-installer and continue - something breaks. So it's the only working method for me. Would like to know the whole process in depth to know how to make it manually without helper "desktop-installer"
 
Hi @blindOne
Congratulations on your successful installation. I know the guys here are not very interested in video tutorials, but you can also get help from YouTube. for example to install kde or check if you did something wrong or not, you can watch this. link
P.S. There is no doubt that the most complete reference is handbook.
 
Hi @blindOne
Congratulations on your successful installation. I know the guys here are not very interested in video tutorials, but you can also get help from YouTube. for example to install kde or check if you did something wrong or not, you can watch this. link
P.S. There is no doubt that the most complete reference is handbook.
Maybe the handbook is, but for me it become impossible to install kde along with drivers by this guides, don't know why
 
Back
Top