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

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

• 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

• development

  # pkg install -y git geany

• console multitasking

  # pkg install -y screen

• office & browser

  # pkg install -y libreoffice firefox