Fresh Installation Of FreeBSD 11.2--Mate Not Working Properly

[B J]

Yesterday, I wanted to upgrade one of my machines to 12.0-RC3 and
ended up trashing my system.

I tried several times to re-install 11.0 (upgrading to 11.2 afterward)
with Mate and Slim and I couldn't get the desktop to work properly.
The best I could do is to log on through Slim, even after I made a
fresh installation of 11.2 directly. I get the Mate desktop but none
of the utilities (such as Mate Terminal) in the menu bar work.

I don't know what to do next. I'm wondering if something's not set up
properly, but I don't think I missed any of the steps.

One possibility is to swap the HD as it's over 10 years old.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.

B. M. Jatzeck

[JD]

Post by B J
Yesterday, I wanted to upgrade one of my machines to 12.0-RC3 and
ended up trashing my system.
I tried several times to re-install 11.0 (upgrading to 11.2 afterward)
with Mate and Slim and I couldn't get the desktop to work properly.
The best I could do is to log on through Slim, even after I made a
fresh installation of 11.2 directly. I get the Mate desktop but none
of the utilities (such as Mate Terminal) in the menu bar work.
I don't know what to do next. I'm wondering if something's not set up
properly, but I don't think I missed any of the steps.
One possibility is to swap the HD as it's over 10 years old.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.
B. M. Jatzeck

I had had a similar problem on one of my linux machines ....
I found the home directory contained mate related config
files that were causing some similar problems to what you
are experiencing. I even hat to rename my .profile to something
else in order to be sure it was not doing settings that were
breaking mate.
So, you might want to try to remove or rename the mate and gnome config
files from the home dir and retry.

Cheers,

jd

[B J]

<snip>

Post by JD
I had had a similar problem on one of my linux machines ....
I found the home directory contained mate related config
files that were causing some similar problems to what you
are experiencing. I even hat to rename my .profile to something
else in order to be sure it was not doing settings that were
breaking mate.
So, you might want to try to remove or rename the mate and gnome config
files from the home dir and retry.

<snip>

Where would those files be located? Thanks.

B. M. Jatzeck

[B J]

I'm now have a fresh direct installation of 11.2 and I just installed
xorg using pkg. Running:

Xorg -configure
Xorg -config /root/xorg.conf.new

and I eventually get a dark screen on my monitor.

What did I do wrong? Thanks.

B. M. Jatzeck

[Polytropon]

Post by B J
I'm now have a fresh direct installation of 11.2 and I just installed
Xorg -configure
Xorg -config /root/xorg.conf.new

Those two steps aren't usually needed. X will configure
itself on startup automatically, so there's hardly a need
for a configuration file.

Post by B J
and I eventually get a dark screen on my monitor.
What did I do wrong? Thanks.

Nothing, that is the correct behaviour. In order to get
a window manager or desktop environment, just install it. ;-)

Further details:

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/x-config.html

[B J]

<snip>

Post by Polytropon
Nothing, that is the correct behaviour. In order to get
a window manager or desktop environment, just install it. ;-)
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/x-config.html

I can't get a proper display when I run:

xinit mate-session

I get the following message:

scfb trace: probe start
scfb trace: probe done
failed to set mtrr: Invalid argument
xinit: connection to X server lost
waiting for X server to shut down failed to unset mtrr: No such file
or directory (II)
Server terminated successfully (0).
Closing log file.

Is this a serious problem? If so, how can I fix it? Thanks.

BMJ

[Manish Jain]

Post by B J
<snip>

Post by Polytropon
Nothing, that is the correct behaviour. In order to get
a window manager or desktop environment, just install it. ;-)
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/x-config.html

xinit mate-session
scfb trace: probe start
scfb trace: probe done
failed to set mtrr: Invalid argument
xinit: connection to X server lost
waiting for X server to shut down failed to unset mtrr: No such file
or directory (II)
Server terminated successfully (0).
Closing log file.
Is this a serious problem? If so, how can I fix it? Thanks.

1)
Perhaps you should put kern.vty=vt in /boot/loader.conf and reboot.
Do you still get the error with startx ?

2)
Put the following in ~/.xinitrc before running startx :

exec mate-session

Regards,
MJ

[Polytropon]

Post by Manish Jain

Post by B J
<snip>

Post by Polytropon
Nothing, that is the correct behaviour. In order to get
a window manager or desktop environment, just install it. ;-)
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/x-config.html

xinit mate-session
scfb trace: probe start
scfb trace: probe done
failed to set mtrr: Invalid argument
xinit: connection to X server lost
waiting for X server to shut down failed to unset mtrr: No such file
or directory (II)
Server terminated successfully (0).
Closing log file.
Is this a serious problem? If so, how can I fix it? Thanks.

1)
Perhaps you should put kern.vty=vt in /boot/loader.conf and reboot.
Do you still get the error with startx ?

On FreeBSD 11.2 (as written in an earlier message), this
should already be the default.

[B J]

<snip>

Post by Manish Jain
1)
Perhaps you should put kern.vty=vt in /boot/loader.conf and reboot.
Do you still get the error with startx ?
2)
exec mate-session

<snip>

I did that and there was no difference in what Mate did.

Since my machine is over 10 years old, I wonder if the current version
of Mate is incompatible with it?

BMJ

[Polytropon]

Post by B J
Since my machine is over 10 years old, I wonder if the current version
of Mate is incompatible with it?

That probably won't be the case. I have a customer who is using
a 10 years old Dell laptop with FreeBSD 10 and MATE on it, and
no problems.

[Sérgio de Almeida Lenzi]

If you are interest, I have a full mate desktop working on FreeBSD 12
both i386 and amd64 with more than 1600 packages compiled and working

just edir the /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf to look like:
================================
DISTBSD: {
url: ftp://177.189.222.85/FreeBSD/${ABI}
enabled: yes
}
================================
create user (not root) and password...
than.... pkg install -y mate-extras....
the system will install about 1.5 GB of a full mate desktop...
reboot the machine. Will come with a gdm-1.21 display...
the first login, the system will create the desktop and will logout
the next login, you will be in the Mate desktop 1.20

[Sergio de Almeida Lenzi]

If you are interest, I have a full mate desktop working on FreeBSD 12
both i386 and amd64 with more than 1600 packages compiled and working
just edir the /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf to look
like:================================DISTBSD: { url:
ftp://177.189.222.85/FreeBSD/${ABI} enabled:
yes}================================create user (not root) and
password...than.... pkg install -y mate-extras....the system will
install about 1.5 GB of a full mate desktop...reboot the machine. Will
come with a gdm-1.21 display... the first login, the system will create
the desktop and will logoutthe next login, you will be in the Mate
desktop 1.20

[B J]

Post by Sérgio de Almeida Lenzi
If you are interest, I have a full mate desktop working on FreeBSD 12
both i386 and amd64 with more than 1600 packages compiled and working
just edir the /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf to look
yes}================================create user (not root) and
password...than.... pkg install -y mate-extras....the system will
install about 1.5 GB of a full mate desktop...reboot the machine. Will
come with a gdm-1.21 display... the first login, the system will create
the desktop and will logoutthe next login, you will be in the Mate
desktop 1.20

<snip>

Thanks for the tips. I might give your suggestions a try.

The original installation was FreeBSD 10.x along with the
corresponding version of Mate. I updated everything periodically and
there didn't seem to be any problems. A fresh installation from
scratch, however, might have incompatibilities.

Meanwhile, I'm running my machine using the backup system on the other HD.

B. M. Jatzeck

[B J]

I just installed Xcfe and it appears to be running properly. It looks
like I might have to consider looking at replacing that machine with
something newer.

BMJ

[Polytropon]

Post by B J
I just installed Xcfe and it appears to be running properly. It looks
like I might have to consider looking at replacing that machine with
something newer.

For better diagnostics, use the following entry in ~/.xinitrc:

exec xterm

Then use "startx", and run "mate-session" from within the
terminal. You should be able to see _why_ MATE isn't starting
properly, while Xfce does.

AS I said in a previous message, the age of the system probably
is not the reason for MATE not working. Maybe something has
changed in its configuration, so maybe renaming MATE's settings
subtree to .old and starting with no configuration at all will
work. Incompatibility of older settings sometimes leads to
software not starting after an upgrade (e. g., CUPS). So this
is something you could try.

[B J]

Post by Polytropon

Post by B J
I just installed Xcfe and it appears to be running properly. It looks
like I might have to consider looking at replacing that machine with
something newer.

exec xterm
Then use "startx", and run "mate-session" from within the
terminal. You should be able to see _why_ MATE isn't starting
properly, while Xfce does.

Thanks for the tip. I might try it in after I return from working on
my father's house.

Post by Polytropon
AS I said in a previous message, the age of the system probably
is not the reason for MATE not working. Maybe something has
changed in its configuration, so maybe renaming MATE's settings
subtree to .old and starting with no configuration at all will
work. Incompatibility of older settings sometimes leads to
software not starting after an upgrade (e. g., CUPS). So this
is something you could try.

My original installation was FreeBSD 10.x. i suspect that a few
things changed in subsequent versions so a brand-new installation
might have incompatibilities.

Meanwhile, I'm running my machine off the backup HD.

BMJ

[B J]

<snip>

Post by Polytropon
exec xterm
Then use "startx", and run "mate-session" from within the
terminal. You should be able to see _why_ MATE isn't starting
properly, while Xfce does.
AS I said in a previous message, the age of the system probably
is not the reason for MATE not working. Maybe something has
changed in its configuration, so maybe renaming MATE's settings
subtree to .old and starting with no configuration at all will
work. Incompatibility of older settings sometimes leads to
software not starting after an upgrade (e. g., CUPS). So this
is something you could try.

<snip>

I re-installed Mate and modified the installation as you suggested.
After running "startx", followed by "mate-session" in the terminal, I
got a number of messages, including the following:

mate-session[844]: WARNING: Unable to determine session: Unable to
lookup session information for process '844'
mate-session[844]: WARNING: Unable to find provider ' ' of required
component 'dock'
** (mate-settings-daemon:862): WARNING**: <system time>: There was a
problem when setting QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=0:
GDBus.Error:org.gnome.SessionManager.NotInInitialization: Setenv
interface is only available during the Initialization phase
** (mate-settings-daemon:862): WARNING**: <system time>: There was a
problem when setting QT_SCALE_FACTOR=0:
GDBus.Error:org.gnome.SessionManager.NotInInitialization: Setenv
interface is only available during the Initialization phase
This libgtop was compiled on FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p5 amd64
If you see strange problems caused by it, you should recompile libgtop
and dependent applications.
[15433888288,000,xklavier.c:xkl_engine_start_listen/] The backend
does not require manual layout management - but it is provided by the
application
Initializing caja-image-convertor extension
Initializing caja-open-terminal extension
Initializing caja-xattr-tags extension

** Message:<system time>: Initializing gksu extension....

(polkit-mate-authentication-agent-1:883): polkit-mate-1-WARNING**:
<system time>: Unable to determine the session we are in:
GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Manager.Error.General: Unable
to lookup session information for process '883'

Then there were some messages regarding the location of
GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL and SSH_AUTH_SOCK, followed by:

Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused

The Mate desktop starts with its default configuration except that the
size was for a larger monitor display. I was able to start Mate
Terminal, but it was sluggish moving the window.

I was able to restart my machine twice from Mate, so that function
appears to work.

So, what does this all mean and would it be possible to salvage the
installation? Thank you.

B. M. Jatzeck

[Polytropon]

Post by B J
<snip>

Post by Polytropon
exec xterm
Then use "startx", and run "mate-session" from within the
terminal. You should be able to see _why_ MATE isn't starting
properly, while Xfce does.
AS I said in a previous message, the age of the system probably
is not the reason for MATE not working. Maybe something has
changed in its configuration, so maybe renaming MATE's settings
subtree to .old and starting with no configuration at all will
work. Incompatibility of older settings sometimes leads to
software not starting after an upgrade (e. g., CUPS). So this
is something you could try.

<snip>
I re-installed Mate and modified the installation as you suggested.
After running "startx", followed by "mate-session" in the terminal, I
mate-session[844]: WARNING: Unable to determine session: Unable to
lookup session information for process '844'
mate-session[844]: WARNING: Unable to find provider ' ' of required
component 'dock'
** (mate-settings-daemon:862): WARNING**: <system time>: There was a
GDBus.Error:org.gnome.SessionManager.NotInInitialization: Setenv
interface is only available during the Initialization phase
** (mate-settings-daemon:862): WARNING**: <system time>: There was a
GDBus.Error:org.gnome.SessionManager.NotInInitialization: Setenv
interface is only available during the Initialization phase
This libgtop was compiled on FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p5 amd64
If you see strange problems caused by it, you should recompile libgtop
and dependent applications.
[15433888288,000,xklavier.c:xkl_engine_start_listen/] The backend
does not require manual layout management - but it is provided by the
application
Initializing caja-image-convertor extension
Initializing caja-open-terminal extension
Initializing caja-xattr-tags extension
** Message:<system time>: Initializing gksu extension....
GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Manager.Error.General: Unable
to lookup session information for process '883'

Isn't that scary? All those messages are usually hidden.
You can even get more shocked when you build from source,
then you'll see tons of warnings... terrible attitude...
Part of the error messages aren't even helpful, like the
inability to "find provider ' '" - that's really great!
It seems the times of usable and bloat-reduced software
is long gone... :-/

Post by B J
Then there were some messages regarding the location of
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused

Check in /etc/rc.conf for the presence of the following settings,
which I found from a reference MATE system (which uses slim instead
of gdm, as Gnome was removed due to the Gnome 2 -> Gnome 3
trouble):

hald_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"
polkitd_enable="YES"
volmand_enable="YES"
slim_enable="YES"

That last line refers to slim, a display manager (GUI login).
Anyway, make sure HAL (deprecated), DBus (obsoleted), PolKit
(nonsense) are actually installed on your system.

Then check your ~/.xinitrc for those entries:

dbus-launch
exec ck-launch-session mate-session

I have left out additional programs (xset, xbindkeys, xmodmap,

Post by B J
The Mate desktop starts with its default configuration except that the
size was for a larger monitor display. I was able to start Mate
Terminal, but it was sluggish moving the window.

You can use xrandr interactively from a terminal to set the
correct screen size. You can make the setting permanent by
adding it to your ~/.xinitrc, for example:

xrandr --fb 1400x1050
xrandr --size 1400x1050

There is also a Mate setting for this.

If it doesn't work, use xorg.conf hard-coded values, for
example /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/screen-resolution.conf:

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection

That isn't nice, but it works. ;-)

Post by B J
I was able to restart my machine twice from Mate, so that function
appears to work.

There is some documentation regarding Gnome on how to deal
with HAL, which scatters its stupid XML configuration across
the /usr/local subtree. This documentation also seems to work
with MATE.

https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/

https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/faq2.html

https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/halfaq.html

Relevant files can be found in /usr/local/share/polkit-1/actions,
they should already be installed by MATE.

Post by B J
So, what does this all mean and would it be possible to salvage the
installation?

Yes. ;-)

You are more or less fighting the narrow view of programmers
who primarily develop for Linux. In order to get MATE working
on FreeBSD, there is some work you need to do, messing with
stupid XML files, running outdated system services that were
abolished in Linux years ago... but yes, sure, it is of course
possible to get MATE running on FreeBSD, as I refered to from
an older reference system running MATE; I'm not sure I would
be able to get a similar system installed and configured on a
more recent FreeBSD version from scratch... :-)

[B J]

<snip>

Post by Polytropon
Isn't that scary? All those messages are usually hidden.
You can even get more shocked when you build from source,
then you'll see tons of warnings... terrible attitude...
Part of the error messages aren't even helpful, like the
inability to "find provider ' '" - that's really great!
It seems the times of usable and bloat-reduced software
is long gone... :-/

It reminds me of when, during my sophomore undergrad year, I first
learned programming with WATFOR/WATFIV. It often produced a lot of
cryptic error messages which I, a rookie at this, often couldn't
figure out. Worse was that we did it in those days with punch cards
because interactive terminal weren't, for the most part, available on
campus.

Post by Polytropon

Post by B J
Then there were some messages regarding the location of
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused

Check in /etc/rc.conf for the presence of the following settings,
which I found from a reference MATE system (which uses slim instead
of gdm, as Gnome was removed due to the Gnome 2 -> Gnome 3
hald_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"
polkitd_enable="YES"
volmand_enable="YES"
slim_enable="YES"
That last line refers to slim, a display manager (GUI login).
Anyway, make sure HAL (deprecated), DBus (obsoleted), PolKit
(nonsense) are actually installed on your system.

I used

hald_enable='YES'
dbus_enable='YES'

in /etc/rc.conf. It appears they're both installed and working. Running:

dbus-launch

gave me some DBUS_SESSION messages

I also tried:

dbus-launch lshal

which produced a long listing of various devices on the machine.

Post by Polytropon
dbus-launch
exec ck-launch-session mate-session
I have left out additional programs (xset, xbindkeys, xmodmap,

Post by B J
The Mate desktop starts with its default configuration except that the
size was for a larger monitor display. I was able to start Mate
Terminal, but it was sluggish moving the window.

You can use xrandr interactively from a terminal to set the
correct screen size. You can make the setting permanent by
xrandr --fb 1400x1050
xrandr --size 1400x1050

I'll keep that in mind, though with the installation on the other HD
on my computer, that was never required. However, as I mentioned in
earlier postings, I began with an earlier version of FreeBSD, so that
might have been set back then but not when I installed 11.2 this past
weekend.

I started X on the machine and brought up xterm. Running xrandr gave
me the message:

Failed to get size of gamma for output default

as well as a listing of available screen sizes. I reset it using

xrandr --size 1024x768

but running

xrandr --fb 1024x768

still gave me the gamma size error message.

Post by Polytropon
There is also a Mate setting for this.
If it doesn't work, use xorg.conf hard-coded values, for
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection
That isn't nice, but it works. ;-)

Post by B J
I was able to restart my machine twice from Mate, so that function
appears to work.

There is some documentation regarding Gnome on how to deal
with HAL, which scatters its stupid XML configuration across
the /usr/local subtree. This documentation also seems to work
with MATE.
https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/
https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/faq2.html
https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/halfaq.html
Relevant files can be found in /usr/local/share/polkit-1/actions,
they should already be installed by MATE.

I checked that directory and there were a number of org.*.*.policy
files, including one for Gnome and several for Mate. I assume these
might the ones I should look at.

Post by Polytropon

Post by B J
So, what does this all mean and would it be possible to salvage the
installation?

Yes. ;-)
You are more or less fighting the narrow view of programmers
who primarily develop for Linux. In order to get MATE working
on FreeBSD, there is some work you need to do, messing with
stupid XML files, running outdated system services that were
abolished in Linux years ago... but yes, sure, it is of course
possible to get MATE running on FreeBSD, as I refered to from
an older reference system running MATE; I'm not sure I would
be able to get a similar system installed and configured on a
more recent FreeBSD version from scratch... :-)

<snip>

That's sort of what I thought. Installing everything using earlier
versions of FreeBSD and software packages likely also installed all
the necessary files to get the system running. But that was several
years ago. In between time, for some reason, those files were no
longer being installed by the updated versions of those packages.

In other words, I did nearly everything right this past weekend based
on what worked before. But there might have been some extra things
that needed to be done and that's what I missed.

At least I have the other system to refer to when I check those files.

B. M. Jatzeck

[Polytropon]

Post by B J
<snip>

Post by Polytropon
Isn't that scary? All those messages are usually hidden.
You can even get more shocked when you build from source,
then you'll see tons of warnings... terrible attitude...
Part of the error messages aren't even helpful, like the
inability to "find provider ' '" - that's really great!
It seems the times of usable and bloat-reduced software
is long gone... :-/

It reminds me of when, during my sophomore undergrad year, I first
learned programming with WATFOR/WATFIV. It often produced a lot of
cryptic error messages which I, a rookie at this, often couldn't
figure out.

There was a reference manual where you could look up
most error codes. ;-)

Post by B J
Worse was that we did it in those days with punch cards
because interactive terminal weren't, for the most part, available on
campus.

Not that worse. It emphasized the "first think, then code"
mentality which today has been obsoleted by "works on my
machine" and "silence the compiler", as well as "warnings
are not errors" and "I don't care"...

Post by B J

Post by Polytropon

Post by B J
Then there were some messages regarding the location of
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused

Check in /etc/rc.conf for the presence of the following settings,
which I found from a reference MATE system (which uses slim instead
of gdm, as Gnome was removed due to the Gnome 2 -> Gnome 3
hald_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"
polkitd_enable="YES"
volmand_enable="YES"
slim_enable="YES"
That last line refers to slim, a display manager (GUI login).
Anyway, make sure HAL (deprecated), DBus (obsoleted), PolKit
(nonsense) are actually installed on your system.

I used
hald_enable='YES'
dbus_enable='YES'
dbus-launch
gave me some DBUS_SESSION messages
dbus-launch lshal
which produced a long listing of various devices on the machine.

Okay, so those infrastructures are up and running. Good.

Post by B J

Post by Polytropon

Post by B J
The Mate desktop starts with its default configuration except that the
size was for a larger monitor display. I was able to start Mate
Terminal, but it was sluggish moving the window.

You can use xrandr interactively from a terminal to set the
correct screen size. You can make the setting permanent by
xrandr --fb 1400x1050
xrandr --size 1400x1050

I'll keep that in mind, though with the installation on the other HD
on my computer, that was never required.

It _should_ not be required at all. But in worst case, you can
always use this as a fallback level (a _lower_ level!) where
you can quickly get things to behave as they should.

Post by B J
I started X on the machine and brought up xterm. Running xrandr gave
Failed to get size of gamma for output default
as well as a listing of available screen sizes. I reset it using
xrandr --size 1024x768
but running
xrandr --fb 1024x768
still gave me the gamma size error message.

In that case, I think the call with the --size parameter is
sufficient.

Still the message is just a warning, I get it too:

% xrandr
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 175, current 1400 x 1050, maximum 1400 x 1050
[...]

It seems to be no problem.

Post by B J

Post by Polytropon
There is some documentation regarding Gnome on how to deal
with HAL, which scatters its stupid XML configuration across
the /usr/local subtree. This documentation also seems to work
with MATE.
https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/
https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/faq2.html
https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/halfaq.html
Relevant files can be found in /usr/local/share/polkit-1/actions,
they should already be installed by MATE.

I checked that directory and there were a number of org.*.*.policy
files, including one for Gnome and several for Mate. I assume these
might the ones I should look at.

In my opinion, they should work as the installer created them
there. I don't remember to have seen a _requirement_ to edit
them, unlike others (related to auto-mounting, which never
really worked).

Post by B J

Post by Polytropon

Post by B J
So, what does this all mean and would it be possible to salvage the
installation?

Yes. ;-)
You are more or less fighting the narrow view of programmers
who primarily develop for Linux. In order to get MATE working
on FreeBSD, there is some work you need to do, messing with
stupid XML files, running outdated system services that were
abolished in Linux years ago... but yes, sure, it is of course
possible to get MATE running on FreeBSD, as I refered to from
an older reference system running MATE; I'm not sure I would
be able to get a similar system installed and configured on a
more recent FreeBSD version from scratch... :-)

<snip>
That's sort of what I thought. Installing everything using earlier
versions of FreeBSD and software packages likely also installed all
the necessary files to get the system running. But that was several
years ago. In between time, for some reason, those files were no
longer being installed by the updated versions of those packages.

You should rely on the dependency resolving mechanism of pkg.
If you can make a clean install, just install the "top ports",
i. e., the things you're actually going to use, while ignoring
possible dependencies you might have on a list from an older
installation.

Post by B J
In other words, I did nearly everything right this past weekend based
on what worked before. But there might have been some extra things
that needed to be done and that's what I missed.

Correct.

Post by B J
At least I have the other system to refer to when I check those files.

It's always good to have some reference system, and if it's just
that you can have a look at certain configuration files, or notes
that you took on that system on where you had to modify something.

[B J]

<snip>

Post by Polytropon

Post by B J
In other words, I did nearly everything right this past weekend based
on what worked before. But there might have been some extra things
that needed to be done and that's what I missed.

Correct.

<snip>

I found the following after an Internet search:

https://blog.frederic2ec.tk/20180925/installer-une-freebsd-112-avec-mate

https://jacekkowalczyk.wordpress.com/2018/11/23/how-to-install-and-configure-freebsd-11-2/

I installed my system directly onto the hard drive, so I didn't use
VirtualBox. In addition, it appears that bash was installed already.

Others than that, my installation was much the same as those two
examples. I didn't add anything for things like a printer.

I still don't get the full default Mate desktop as there are no icons
for the computer, my home directory, or, for that matter, Trash. i
remain baffled.

BMJ

[B J]

I've done some further tinkering and here's what I've got so far:

- I'm still running xterm when I used startx
- at the suggestion from several sources, I added this to /etc/fstab:

proc /proc procfs

[B J]

I've done some more tinkering and this is what I have so far:

- I start with xterm when I run startx

- the pull-down menus appear to work

- I can change settings, such as the desktop background, through Control Center

- the display still insists it's at 1280 x 1024 when it's supposed
default to 1024 x 768, but I can change it with xrandr

- at the suggestion of several sources, including what was on the URLs
I sent, I added the following to /etc/fstab:

proc /proc procfs rw 0 0

I'm not sure if that made any difference (I recall having to add
something like that in earlier versions of FreeBSD/Gnome, but that
didn't seem to be necessary for my other installations)

- I'm able to run applications such as Firefox and VLC, but those were
already installed and configured under Xfce

- external drives, such as a USB stick, don't appear to mount

- I can drag windows, files, and directories, but the response is slow

I also got this following message in the xterm window:

** (mate-settings-daemon:868): WARNING **: <system time>: There was a
problem when setting QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1:
GDBus.Error:org.gnome.SessionManager.NotInInitialization: Setenv
interface is only available during the Initialization phase
This libgtop was complied on FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p5 amd64
If you see strange problems caused by it,
you should recompile kibgtop and dependent applications.
[1544066549,000,xklavier.c:xkl_engine_start_listen/]

I'm not sure what to make of it.

I appear to be making some progress, but I'm not sure what else to
check. Close, but no cigar, as they say.

B. M. Jatzeck

[JD]

Post by B J
- I start with xterm when I run startx
- the pull-down menus appear to work
- I can change settings, such as the desktop background, through Control Center
- the display still insists it's at 1280 x 1024 when it's supposed
default to 1024 x 768, but I can change it with xrandr
- at the suggestion of several sources, including what was on the URLs
proc /proc procfs rw 0 0
I'm not sure if that made any difference (I recall having to add
something like that in earlier versions of FreeBSD/Gnome, but that
didn't seem to be necessary for my other installations)
- I'm able to run applications such as Firefox and VLC, but those were
already installed and configured under Xfce
- external drives, such as a USB stick, don't appear to mount

You need to install and enable autofs , which does the automounting.

[B J]

Since the HD on which I installed the system is about as old as the
computer, I thought that it might have been going wobbly.

I made a fresh installation on an external unit and ran Mate through
xterm. There doesn't appear to be any difference between that and
what I have on the main drive. In the fresh installation, I can drag
and place windows, but it's slow. In addition, I'm getting the same
error messages as I did earlier.

It would seem, then, that something somewhere got fiddled between when
I installed the original system on the HD and now. Maybe I should
look at using a new desktop. KDE, maybe?

BMJ

[JD]

Well, you can choose whatever desktop you are comfortable and happy with.
Most of the problems I have seen from people who run into post installation,
have to do with missing pieces, or problems with default configurations.

Good luck to ya!

Post by B J
Since the HD on which I installed the system is about as old as the
computer, I thought that it might have been going wobbly.
I made a fresh installation on an external unit and ran Mate through
xterm. There doesn't appear to be any difference between that and
what I have on the main drive. In the fresh installation, I can drag
and place windows, but it's slow. In addition, I'm getting the same
error messages as I did earlier.
It would seem, then, that something somewhere got fiddled between when
I installed the original system on the HD and now. Maybe I should
look at using a new desktop. KDE, maybe?
BMJ
_______________________________________________
https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
To unsubscribe, send any mail to

[Polytropon]

Post by B J
<snip>

Post by Polytropon
Nothing, that is the correct behaviour. In order to get
a window manager or desktop environment, just install it. ;-)
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/x-config.html

xinit mate-session

You should initalize ~/.xinitrc properly, then "startx" will
be fully sufficient. For example, in case of MATE, the line

exec mate-session

should do the trick. When the mate-session program exits, the
X server will shut down as intended.

Post by B J
scfb trace: probe start
scfb trace: probe done
failed to set mtrr: Invalid argument
xinit: connection to X server lost
waiting for X server to shut down failed to unset mtrr: No such file
or directory (II)
Server terminated successfully (0).
Closing log file.
Is this a serious problem? If so, how can I fix it? Thanks.

Looks a bit suspicious, but could be due to missing startup file.
Check /var/log/Xorg.0.log for "EE" lines which indicate errors.

[Manish Jain]

Post by Polytropon

Post by B J
I'm now have a fresh direct installation of 11.2 and I just installed
Xorg -configure
Xorg -config /root/xorg.conf.new

Those two steps aren't usually needed. X will configure
itself on startup automatically, so there's hardly a need
for a configuration file.

Post by B J
and I eventually get a dark screen on my monitor.
What did I do wrong? Thanks.

Nothing, that is the correct behaviour. In order to get
a window manager or desktop environment, just install it. ;-)
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/x-config.html

I had the same problem. The problem here is not what you are doing is
incorrect.

The xorg documentation is wrong. It prompts you to run 'Xorg -config
/root/xorg.conf.new' to test the server. But that leads to a blank screen.

If you want to test your config, just use startx

Regards,
Manish Jain

[B J]

<snip>

Post by Manish Jain
I had the same problem. The problem here is not what you are doing is
incorrect.
The xorg documentation is wrong. It prompts you to run 'Xorg -config
/root/xorg.conf.new' to test the server. But that leads to a blank screen.

That's what I thought.

Post by Manish Jain
If you want to test your config, just use startx

<snip>

I got xorg to run using that. Thanks.

B. M. Jatzeck

[James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions]

Post by B J
I re-installed Mate and modified the installation as you suggested.
After running "startx", followed by "mate-session" in the terminal, I

For various reasons I have always desired to login to a console
session before starting a GDM. On my FreeBSD-11.2p4 desktop I have
this in ~/.xinitrc, which seems to work for me:

ck-launch-session mate-session
--
*** e-Mail is NOT a SECURE channel ***
Do NOT transmit sensitive data via e-Mail
Do NOT open attachments nor follow links sent by e-Mail

James B. Byrne mailto:***@Harte-Lyne.ca
Harte & Lyne Limited http://www.harte-lyne.ca
9 Brockley Drive vox: [phone]
Hamilton, Ontario fax: [phone]
Canada L8E 3C3

[Polytropon]

Post by James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions

Post by B J
I re-installed Mate and modified the installation as you suggested.
After running "startx", followed by "mate-session" in the terminal, I

For various reasons I have always desired to login to a console
session before starting a GDM.

I wasn't able to get gdm working with anything than Gnome
(and it completely ignores ~/.xsession, forcing you to
manually configure "Autostart" applications for each user),
so I replaced it with slim. Personally, I prefer xdm with
an ~/.xsession -> ~/.xinitrc "cascade" so plain startx
will still work. ;-)

Post by James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions
On my FreeBSD-11.2p4 desktop I have
ck-launch-session mate-session

Yes, I have the same setting on a reference system, except that
the line is

exec ck-launch-session mate-session

to make sure X will shut down (and maybe return to gdm or slim)
when the controlling MATE session has been terminated.