For installing Gnome desktop environment in FreeBSD 8.1, the following steps can be used.
Installing X11
Xorg is the default X11 implementation for FreeBSD and can be installed using the following command as the root user
# pkg_add -r xorg
After installing add the lines to /etc/rc.conf as follows
moused_enable=”YES” dbus_enable=”YES” hald_enable=”YES”
Check the installation using the following command as an unprivileged user
$ xinit
If the setup is working, there should be a minimal X session running. Press CTRL+ALT+F1 to move to the first terminal in which the command was executed. Press CTRL+C to stop it.
To create a xorg.conf.new file run the following command as the root user.Reboot the server after installing Xorg if the following command doesn’t work.
# Xorg -configure
A file named xorg.conf.new will be created in /root. To check the file created run the following command as root
# Xorg -config /root/xorg.conf.new -retro
If the configuration is working properly, a background with mouse cursor is seen. Press CTRL+ALT+F1 to move to the first terminal in which the command was executed. Press CTRL+C to stop it.
Copy the file to /etc/X11/ as xorg.conf as the root user using the following command
# cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Installing URW fonts
URW fonts can be installed by using the command
# pkg_add -r urwfonts
Add the following line to the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf under ‘Section “Files”‘
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/URW/"
Installing TTF fonts
TTF fonts can be installed by using the following command
# pkg_add -r ttmkfdir
Check whether the following line is present under ‘Section “Files”‘ in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Add the following line to the ‘Section “Modules”‘
Load "freetype"
Enter the following commands now
# cd /usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/ # ttmkfdir -o fonts.dir
Installing Gnome
Gnome packages can be installed using the following command as the root user
# pkg_add -r gnome2
The gnome installation can be checked using the following command as an unprivileged user
$ xinit /usr/local/bin/gnome-session
Now, to make the system boot into GDM
Add the following line to /etc/rc.conf file
gnome_enable="YES"
And add the following line to /etc/fstab file
proc /proc procfs rw 0 0
Reboot the system, it will boot into GDM.
hey thanks for the gnome2 config/installation tips … 🙂