FreeBSD Installation

Latest: Installing FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64 (202501070736 Use dd to write the image to a USB drive)

Base System

A fresh install - full hard disk available.

boot installer
select lib32 (kernel and base always selected)
added main user account to {wheel,operator} group
- for desktop use, all users need to be in video or wheel
- so normal users should be in video group
- normal users should also be in operator group (some DE need this)
enable sshd, enable ntpdate(on-boot), disable sendmail

Information from this book.

Lightweight path… using pkg to install

going jwm

# pkg install -y xorg jwm xlockmore xfontsel

a more newbie-friendly option could be

# pkg install -y xorg mate libreoffice firefox

also

# pkg install -y lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter

needed if group not assigned during user creation

# pw groupmod video -m user || pw groupmod wheel -m user

basic X should work (as user)
```
$ echo "exec jwm" >.xinitc
$ startx
```
get proper graphics driver (list from handbook)
- e.g. intel/drm-kmod/i915kms, amd/drm-kmod/amdgpu@radeonkms
- e.g. nvidia/nvidia-driver/nvidia@nvidia-modeset
- e.g. vesa/xf86-video-vesa/vesa, scfb/xf86-video-scfb/scfb
check graphics hardware
```
# pciconf -lv | grep -B4 VGA
```
e.g. if it is intel, get drm-kmod
```
# pkg install drm-kmod
```
test loading the module
```
# kldload i915kms
```
if no issues, set to load on boot
```
# sysrc kld_list+=i915kms
```
note20250107 on 14.2-RELEASE, this has problems
- install older one, works ok
```
# pkg install drm-515-kmod
```
- this will remove drm-kmod, but it works fine

some may also need these

# pkg install libva-intel-driver mesa-libs mesa-dri

dumped…

** try this!
https://wiki.freebsd.org/unitrunker/JWM

enable switching virtual consoles during X session
```
# echo "kern.vty=vt" >> /boot/loader.conf
```