Solved Installation (12.1)and setup of Xorg on a T460s (device Skylake GT2 [HD Graphics 520])

B

BB_

hi!!
I am installing freebsd 12.1 (i386) on my thinkpad T460s. Video device = Skylake GT2 [HD Graphics 520]
I have a black screen when I am trying to login on KDE5. I can only see my mouse.
My option is ATL+CTL+F1....

I followed the steps on the handbook (5.3. Installing Xorg and 5.7.2. KDE)

My actions:
1 - pkg install drm-fbsd12.0-kmod
2 - kld_list="/boot/modules/i915kms.ko"
3 - User is a member of group video (confirmed with # groups)

I can start X and check that my display is set with xrandr (1920 x 1080).

Then during the boot session, I can see that the screen resolution changed (1920 x 1080)
SDDM starts with the right resolution, I am logging on and then black screen.

rc.conf extract:
Code: 
    kld_list="/boot/modules/i915kms.ko"
    dhlus_enable="YES"
    hald_enable="YES"
    sddm_enable="YES"
I did couple of actions, such as:
1 - pkg install drm-kmod
2 - reboot

And then, video driver is not loaded (or considered) during the boot, resolution is bad, and I can log on KDE5 and confirm with xrandr that my screen is detected.

I tried to create setting the video driver in a file as explain in handbook: /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-intel.conf
Code: 
Section "Device"
    Identifier "Card0"
    Driver     "intel"
    # BusID    "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection
With this file server X can not start, this is a fatal error: (EE) no screens found. Without I can start KDE but with a extremely poor resolution.
Thanks for you help and advise.
 
The sddm login screen is shown correctly in high resolution --> X config seems ok, some KDE settings are causing this.
  • Nevertheless, you could try to set Option "AccelMethod" "EXA" (or UXA) in your /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/intel.conf
  • If you did not save your settings from a previous KDE installation, you can rm -fr .local .cache .config .kde from the console and log in again.
  • your user should be in the groups operator and webcamd, too (mount USB stick & access webcam).
  • add to the alias section of /usr/local/etc/pkg.conf:

    message: "query '[%C/%n] %M'",
    rmessage: query -i "[%C/%n-%v] %M",
     and read through pkg message|less. You may have to adjust some system settings.
 
Hi @Mijollnir,
Thanks for your message:
My new config file: /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/intel.conf]
Code: 
Section "Device"
    Identifier "Card0"
    Driver     "intel"
    Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
EndSection
In order to have the proper resolution (during the boot and with sddm), I am using "drm-fbsd12.0-kmod" and not "drm-kmod" (I believe the most updated version).

rm -fr .local .cache .config .kde : done
pkg message|less : done, there are a lot of pages, and honestly I do not know what do with it, I am a rookie.
Should I look for specfic information about video driver or setting ?
Thanks for your help.
B
 
  • On an T460, you are better off using a 64-bit version of FreeBSD. Please seriously consider to reinstall and do not use an i386 version. Why did you take that decision?
  • You need to install pkg install drm-kmod which will select the right package for your version of FreeBSD (12.1)
  • The settings suggested by the package messages go into rc.conf(5), loader.conf(5), and sysctl.conf(5), that depends on the knob they affect. Do not place the same setting in all of these files. To safely edit /etc/rc.conf, it is advised to use sysrc variable=value. The values in /boot/loader.conf must be inside "", the most in /etc/sysctl.conf do not, except they are strings.
  • Edit with ee filename on the console
  • With your current X config, is the sddm(8) login screen shown correctly in high resolution? I also added the sddm user to the video group: pw usermod sddm -G video
  • In case there are CPU bugs: pkg install devcpu-data cpupdate and enable them in loader.conf and rc.conf, resp.
 
mjollnir said:
I also added the sddm user to the video group: pw usermod sddm -G video
Click to expand...
Wrong command. This actually replaces all additional groups with only the video group. The correct command to add the group is pw groupmod video -m sddm. For the sddm user this probably doesn't matter much as it doesn't have any additional groups but it's important to understand the difference because it will bite you some day.

Ignore the actual group names, they're just to illustrate the issue:
Code: 
root@pibsd:~ # pw usermod test -G games,operator
root@pibsd:~ # id test
uid=1002(test) gid=1002(test) groups=1002(test),5(operator),13(games)
root@pibsd:~ # pw usermod test -G www
root@pibsd:~ # id test
uid=1002(test) gid=1002(test) groups=1002(test),80(www)
root@pibsd:~ # pw usermod test -G games,operator
root@pibsd:~ # id test
uid=1002(test) gid=1002(test) groups=1002(test),5(operator),13(games)
root@pibsd:~ # pw groupmod www -m  test
root@pibsd:~ # id test
uid=1002(test) gid=1002(test) groups=1002(test),5(operator),13(games),80(www)
 
mjollnir said:
  • On an T460, you are better off using a 64-bit version of FreeBSD. Please seriously consider to reinstall and do not use an i386 version. Why did you take that decision?
  • You need to install pkg install drm-kmod which will select the right package for your version of FreeBSD (12.1)
  • The settings suggested by the package messages go into rc.conf(5), loader.conf(5), and sysctl.conf(5), that depends on the knob they affect. Do not place the same setting in all of these files. To safely edit /etc/rc.conf, it is advised to use sysrc variable=value. The values in /boot/loader.conf must be inside "", the most in /etc/sysctl.conf do not, except they are strings.
  • Edit with ee filename on the console
  • With your current X config, is the sddm(8) login screen shown correctly in high resolution? I also added the sddm user to the video group: pw usermod sddm -G video
  • In case there are CPU bugs: pkg install devcpu-data cpupdate and enable them in loader.conf and rc.conf, resp.
Click to expand...
I considered a i386 version since by Thinkpad T460s has a i5-6200U Processor, it might not be right choice., I am learning. Which version should I use ?
on site, I can see:
Thanks for recommending the right one.
B
 
AMD64 is for 64 bit Intel and AMD processors. You have a 64 bit CPU: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...-6200u-processor-3m-cache-up-to-2-80-ghz.html

The name AMD64 is because AMD was the first to introduce the 64 bit extensions. Due to its popularity Intel copied it and calls it "Intel 64". Not to be confused with IA-64, which was Intel's original 64 bit CPU architecture (The Intel Itanium CPU was an IA-64 architecture).
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: BB_
amd64 is the right choice. It is not only for AMD, but also Intel and others who build 64-bit x86 CPU. It's just that on FreeBSD the term amd64 is used for this architecture and not x86_64 like elsewhere (which IMHO is more intuitive). If your harddisk or SSD is of reasonable size (>50GB), I'd suggest you choose ZFS, not UFS as filesystem and follow the installer's preset (auto).
Good luck!
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: BB_
Hi Guys! (SirDice and mjollnir )!!
Very happy to share with you my first post on my T460s on freeBSD. Getting the right version made a huge difference.
I still have plenty of things to configure (better graphs and sounds, sound is difference on my W10), the base is working!!!
Thanks for your help, much appreciated. This is just the beginning of my journey on freebsd.
Best regards,
B
 
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