Solved Problems starting Gnome3

[carlcaulkett]

Apple Mac Pro (early 2009)
macOS 10.13.3
FreeBSD installed under Parallels 13

Hello, I have tried to install Gnome3 under FreeBSD using the instructions here: https://fosskb.in/2016/02/16/installing-gnome-3-desktop-on-freebsd-11/
When I reboot, rather than booting into Gnome as expected, my machine still boots up in text mode.
This is the contents of my /etc/rc.conf:

Any ideas, anyone?

 

[SirDice]

Make sure Xorg actually works before enabling GDM.

And remove the vidcontrol(1) command from rc.conf, you're not supposed to put commands in there. The rc.conf file is sourced numerous times and that command would get executed each time.

Also: Handbook: 5.7. Desktop Environments

 

[carlcaulkett]

Thanks for the reply, Sir Dice. Where is the best place for the `vidcontrol` command? I've seen other guide which seem to use `rc.conf` for various initialisation commands.

 

[carlcaulkett]

I have ensured that the following packages are all installed: gnome-desktop, gdm, xorg, xf86-video-fbdev
Rebooting now appears to try to start Xorg, but fails. Running startx results in the following:

cat /var
I've checked the contents of /var/log/Xorg.0.log and that seem to indicate an error occuring quite late on in the startup process:

 

[ldgc]

Where is the best place for the `vidcontrol` command?

AFAIK vidcontrol(1) is useful when the old system console driver syscons(4) is being used.
FreeBSD 11 uses the new system console driver vt(4) by default, so vidcontrol(1) is not useful in this situation.

 

[SirDice]

I've seen other guide which seem to use rc.conf for various initialization commands.

The rc.conf file never contains commands, only variables.

Besides that, pensador_13 is correct, vidcontrol(1) is for sc(4), modern FreeBSD versions use vt(4) by default.

 

[shepper]

I have ensured that the following packages are all installed: gnome-desktop, gdm, xorg, xf86-video-fbdev

1+ for making sure your xorg runs with hardware acceleration prior to installing Gnome.

That means a working intel, radeon or nVidia chip.

 

[carlcaulkett]

After all this hassle, I ended up installing XFCE. At the risk of starting a flame war, I have to say that it seems much better than Gnome. The management of individual window sizing is far superior, and despite the descriptions I've seen about it being lightweight, it seems quite full-featured to me.

 

[ldgc]

carlcaulkett XFCE is one of my favorite desktop environments because it is lightweight, good looking, modular and very customizable

 

[carlcaulkett]

As I just mentioned in another thread, I fully agree. Apart from anything else, there is a full range of window management options available, the mouse speed is set at a sensible default, and the whole package just appears more robust.

 

[tankist02]

+1 for XFCE.