Problems with Intel NUC 8th gen / 655 graphics

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Ernesto67

Hello,

I am currently trying to get FreeBSD 12-release with KDE5 working on my Intel NUC I5-8259u (Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 graphics).

After the normal installation I ran a
pkg update
Then I installed the following packages:
pkg install xorg xterm twm kde5 sddm

I then added these two lines to the /etc/rc.conf
dbus_enable="YES"
sddm_enable="YES"

Then I rebooted the system, but KDE did not start up.

I then found this thread https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/...or-intel-integrated-graphics-with-xorg.66732/ and concluded that I have to install the graphics/drm-next-kmod port.
This was the first time that I had to install a port, but the handbook had really good instructions (https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ports-using.html). So I ran
portsnap fetch
portsnap extract
cd /usr/ports/graphics/drm-next-kmod
make install

That seems to have worked, no error visible. But still no KDE. When booting now, the text login comes up, but it does not show anything that I type. When I press the power button, the system shuts down and I can briefly see what I typed.
I saw in the first thread that only CPUs up to 7th generation are supported, but was hoping that it might work with 8th gen too.

As I am still really new to FreeBSD, I am not sure if I did something wrong or if I just have to wait until the CPU integrated graphics card is supported.
I got the NUC specifically for FreeBSD so I can learn more about it, so any help is appreciated.

Cheers
Ernesto67
 
It seems you didn't add the following line to /etc/rc.conf
Code: 
kld_list="boot/modules/i915kms.ko"
To actually load the driver.

For testing purposed, it's a good idea to disable login managers like sddm temporarily.
You'll see the screen switch to high resolution suring boot, when the kms driver attaches.
 
I did a clean install, then added the line that you mentioned to the /etc/rc.conf and did not add the sddm line.
Booting now works fine, I can log in via text.

I then execute a "startx" (I hope that is correct, as mentioned I am still learning), but get the following error:
Fatal server error:
(EE) Cannot run in framebuffer mode. Please specify busIDs for all framebuffer devices.
..
(EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: connection refused
xinit: server error
 
I wonder if you have created a xorg.conf file? If yes, please remove it.

Please check that
1. The output from kldstat lists that i915km.ko is loaded
2. The output from dmesg | grep ^info: should list a bunch of connectors and stuff, found by the driver.
 
I did not create an xorg.conf, but did check /etc/X11/ to be sure. Negative, no file in there.

1. kldstat lists the i915kms.ko
2. I do not get any output when running that command. Of course dmesg shows output, if I can find out how to get the output on an USB stick I will paste it here.
 
Your CoffeeLake CPU is very new, it's possible it's pciid ihas not been added to the driver yet.
Will you run the following commands and post it's output, so I can look that up.
pciconf -l | grep ^vga | cut -d " " -f 3 | cut -c 6-11
dmesg | grep CPU:

Edit: not getting any output from the second (2.) command means the driver is not attached, most likely because your CPU is not recognized.
 
Sure, here are the outputs:
0x3ea5

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8259U CPU @2.30GHz (2304-14-MHz K8-class CPU)

Thanks for all the help so far :)
 
That's not the problem, your CPU's id is in the driver....

But there was another thing that I was a bit surprised about. In your first post you write that you installed drm-next-kmod and I don't even have that on FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE.
The pkg though has a much older revision and the way to go since 12.0-RELEASE is to install graphics/drm-kmod
Would you install that one:
pkg delete drm-next-kmod
portsnap fetch update
cd /usr/ports/graphics/drm-kmod
make install

Edit: then reboot and run the second command again
 
Done. Now the output is:
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8259U CPU @2.30GHz (2304-13-MHz K8-class CPU)
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8259U CPU @2.30GHz (2304-10-MHz K8-class CPU)

I also tried the "startx" command and get a graphical display with 4 windows: Login, two Xterm and a tiny one with a clock.

I think this is a good sign, I did not get this before. Is there a way to start KDE5, or do I have to put the sddm_enable="YES" into the rc.conf again?
 
Very good, you where most likely running an outdated revision of the driver before.

I was a bit unclear about the command, sorry. I ment that one: dmesg | grep ^info:
It should definitely show some output now that you got twm and Xorg up and running.

I have never used KDE, I'm a bit unsure. Isn't it called KDM?
The most obvious would be to add
Code: 
kdm_enable="YES"
to /etc/rc.conf but I could be totally wrong.

At least you have the driver problem fixed.
Search the forum (though the search function won't be of much help as it doesn't work with such short words like "kde")
for help, there are several threads about KDE.
 
The dmesg | grep ^info: still does not show any info.

But I tried adding sddm_enable="YES" to the /etc/rc.conf and it worked :)
There seem to be some glitches, but the main part was to get the GUI running and that works now.

Again, thank you so much!


A little writeup in case someone else has the same problem in the future:
After the normal installation I ran a
pkg update
Then I installed the following packages:
pkg install xorg xterm twm kde5 sddm

I then added these two lines to the /etc/rc.conf
dbus_enable="YES"
kld_list="boot/modules/i915kms.ko"

Then
portsnap fetch
portscap extract
cd /usr/ports/graphics/drm-kmod
make install

After that added this line to the /etc/rc.conf
sddm_enable="YES"
Reboot and KDE should come up.
 
Nice. I just noticed there was a little change in the new driver regarding it's output.
Now what I wanted to see was this dmesg | grep ^\\[drm

You don't have to run it, but that's what I was after. It's the best indicator to see if the driver attached. Cheers!
 
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