Install Lumina Desktop on FreeBSD

To install Lumina Desktop on FreeBSD without login manager:

1. by terminal
Code:
# pkg install lumina xorg qt4-imageformats
# sysrc zfs_enable="YES"
# sysrc hald_enable="YES"
# sysrc dbus_enable="YES"
# sysrc moused_enable="YES"
# sysrc mixed_enable="YES"
2. edit ~/.xinitrc
Code:
exec lumina-desktop
3. after login
Code:
$ startx

That's all!

Bye
 
Nukear's post actually will result in a non-functional Lumina desktop session...
Try this instead:

To install the package + X11 (can use other xorg packages instead, like "xorg-minimal" if you like)
pkg install lumina xorg

To start a Lumina desktop session from the CLI:
start-lumina-desktop

Alternatively, you can put "exec start-lumina-desktop" at the end of your ~/.xinitrc, and then you can run startx instead. (Typically used if you need to customize your X startup settings)


As far as other services which Lumina can use if enabled in /etc/rc.conf:
zfs : Lumina is agnostic about this. You will need it for access to ZFS filesystems naturally, but Lumina does not require it in any way.
hald : **DO NOT USE**. This is the device detection system from Linux (and is old/vulnerable). Lumina has never needed this, and never will.
moused : Probably a good idea. This is the mouse control daemon for FreeBSD, and while Lumina does not explicitly care how the mice are presented to the X11 server, moused seems to do the best job in my experience.
mixer : (NOTE: not "mixed" as mentioned in the posts above). If this is turned on, then Lumina can use the "mixer" utility to let the user change audio volume graphically. Not needed per-se, but is nice to have.

dbus:
This one is a bit more complicated due to a Qt bug, but Lumina itself neither needs or uses dbus.
1) Enable the service in /etc/rc.conf. This will turn on a root-permissioned DBUS server (generally for talking to consolekit or policykit - neither of which Lumina uses). I generally do not recommend/use this.
2) Enable the service for the user's desktop session only (user-permissions). Just wrap the desktop init call as follows: dbus-launch --exit-with-session start-lumina-desktop
3) No DBUS service. After installing the Lumina package, just run (as root) dbus-uuidgen --ensure. That will simply save a unique ID string into /var/db/dbus/machine-id. Once that file is there, then Qt will no longer crash on startup if there is no dbus session active on the system, and you can use Lumina normally without any dbus pollution on the system. This may cause issues with other apps that try to forcibly use dbus, but that is another topic for another time...

NOTE: The start-lumina-desktop routine for Lumina has gone through a number of changes in the last couple versions, and will automatically try to detect one of the three dbus service options listed above, and automatically start #2 (local dbus session) if no dbus session is currently active (root or user), and the "machine-id" file is not found on the system (just to ensure the Qt crash gets avoided).
 
I installed FreeBSD with KDE as the desk top but I would like to try Lumina
I have followed the instructions by beanpole Lumina has installed but I cannot start it.
How can I get it to show as a choice in the KDE log in screen?
 
Why on earth would you like to install/use an unfinished "desktop" environment? To add a new entry to kdm you need to add a file called lumina.desktop in /usr/local/share/xsessions/lumina.desktop which will contain:
ex.:
Code:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Lumina
Comment=Lumina Desktop Environment
Exec=start-lumina-desktop
Icon=lumina
Type=XSession
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply and info.
i am a new user of FreeBSD and am endeavoring to get to grips with its intricacies, with the help of a couple of Unix books, searching on line and asking questions.
KDE tells me I am not allowed to alter the time and date and will not find my printer when using HPLIP or cups
Just thought I would try something else and saw Lumina was designed for Unix/FreeBSD I did no realize it was a work in progress.
Anyway thanks again for your help and comments
 
KDE tells me I am not allowed to alter the time and date and will not find my printer when using HPLIP or cups Just thought I would try something else and saw Lumina was designed for Unix/FreeBSD I did no realize it was a work in progress. Anyway thanks again for your help and comments

Lumina out of the box is just a little more than a "naked" X window manager. Don't expect it to manage your OS or other services.
I'm using it at home and love it
 
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