💻 FreeBSD Installation

This page was created before 2022

Please refer to the FreeBSD Handbook for up to date installation instructions

• user: root

• password: [automatic login]

• Boot into the installed system before completing any of the following!

  Full installation is covered via FreeBSD Handbook linked above

• vim /etc/rc.conf

  -- ifconfig_em0="DHCP"
  -- ifconfig_em0_ipv6="inet6 accept_rtadv"
  ++ wlans_ath0="wlan0"
  ++ ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
  

• ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0

• ifconfig wlan0 up scan

• vim /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

  network={
      ssid="myssid"
      psk="mypsk"
  }
  

• service netif restart

• If using zfs with < 8GB RAM perhaps install in chunks

e.g. i3WM

pkg install p5-File-Locate vim neofetch py36-ranger w3m-img wget git firefox zsh bash compton redshift bspwm polybar unclutter nitrogen feh musicpd ncmpcpp mpv xorg xinput xf86-input-synaptics xf86-video-ati rxvt-unicode xarchiver thunar thunar-archive-plugin lxde-common lxde-icon-theme lxde-meta subversion gtk-arc-themes slim slim-freebsd-themes sudo htop dbus py27-glances vlc tmux fortune-mod-futurama cowsay sxiv xsel xdg-user-dirs alsa-utils pulseaudio hack-font

• xfce-(current meta package–.e.g. xfce-4.12_1) thunar-(plugins–also don’t forget to search for: freebsd | grep wallpapers) xfce(v)-power-manager alsa-utils pulseaudio xfce(v)-volumed-pulse xfce(v)-pulseaudio-plugin xfce(v)-notifyd xfce(v)-clipman-plugin plank

mate gnome3 vim sudo sxiv htop neofetch w3m py27-ranger cmake automake gcc wget git subversion papirus-icon-theme freebsd-8k-wallpapers firefox mpv vlc yank xsel xf86-input-synaptics xf86-video-ati xdg-user-dirs drm-kmod

• xdg-user-dirs-update

• FreeBSD / Docs: Chapter 4. Installing Applications: Packages and Ports

• qutebrowser

  Keyboard driven open source web browser

• FreeBSD / Wiki / Synaptics Touchpad

• sudov /boot/loader.conf

  ++ hw.psm.synaptics_support="1"
  

• sudov /etc/sysctl.conf

  ++ hw.psm.synaptics.vscroll_hor_area=1300
  ++ hw.psm.synaptics.min_pressure: 16
  ++ hw.psm.synaptics.max_pressure: 220
  ++ hw.psm.synaptics.max_width: 10
  ++ hw.psm.synaptics.weight_current: 3
  ++ hw.psm.synaptics.weight_previous: 6
  ++ hw.psm.synaptics.weight_previous_na: 20
  ++ hw.psm.synaptics.weight_len_squared: 2000
  

• FreeBSD / Wiki / ZFS Tuning GUide

• sudov /boot/loader.conf

  ++ vm.kmem_size="330M"
  ++ vm.kmem_size_max="330M"
  ++ vfs.zfs.arc_max="40M"
  ++ vfs.zfs.vdev.cache.size="5M"
  

Solution screen tearing with older Radeon cards

Defaults for Acer 5515 laptops

• vim /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-radeon.conf

  Section "Device"
      Identifier "Card0"
      Driver     "radeon"
      Option "TearFree" "on"
  EndSection
  

• vim /etc/rc.conf

  ++ kld_list="radeonkms"
  ++ kld_list="/boot/modules/radeonkms.ko"    
  

• xorg -configure

  X -config /root/xorg.conf.new to check

• sudo pw usermod user -G video

• /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb

  Stores file names in a globally accessible database

• b1c1l1 blog - Using UTF-8 (Unicode) on FreeBSD

• vim /etc/login.conf

  --        :umask=022:
  ++        :umask=022:\
  ++        :charset=UTF-8:\
  ++        :lang=en_US.UTF-8:
  

• cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf

• verify with locale

• mkdir /usr/local/share/fonts/user

• cd /usr/local/share/fonts/user

• wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NerdyPepper/scientifica/master/regular/scientifica-11.bdf

  Scientifica Bitmap font

• wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/csmertx/siji/master/bdf/siji.bdf

  Siji font for symbols and extended unicode characters

• vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf

  Just in case

  ++ Section "Files"
  ++    FontPath     "/usr/local/share/fonts/user"
  ++ EndSection
  

• cd /usr/local/share/icons

• svn checkout https://github.com/KDE/breeze/trunk/cursors/Breeze_Snow

• svn checkout https://github.com/KDE/breeze/trunk/cursors/Breeze

• cp or move dir Breeze/cursors into /usr/local/share/icons/Breeze_

• rm -rf dir Breeze

• Rename Breeze_ to Breeze

• GitHub - PapirusDevelopmentTeam/papirus-icon-theme: Papirus icon theme for Linux

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PapirusDevelopmentTeam/papirus-icon-theme/master/install.sh | env DESTDIR="/usr/local/share/icons" sh

• vim /usr/local/etc/sudoers

  -- # %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
  ++ %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
  

• StackExchange: Poweroff or Reboot as normal User

• vim /etc/defaults

  ++ user ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /sbin/reboot, /sbin/shutdown, /sbin/halt
  

  Use sudo before executing reboot, shutdown, or halt

Enable system services including Slim display manager

• vim /etc/rc.conf

  ++ ath_enable="YES"
  ++ dbus_enable="YES"
  ++ hald_enable="YES"
  ++ slim_enable="YES"
  

• ls /usr/local/share/slim/themes

  find a theme

• vim /usr/local/etc/slim.conf

  Edit theme

• vim ../themes/theme/slim.theme

  Change *_x values as needed (dual/multi monitor)

• vim ~/.xinitrc

• 
    > Use LXDE.desktop as template for bspwm (or other tiling WMs like i3WM)
  

• cp /usr/local/share/xsessions/LXDE.desktop to /bspwm.desktop

• vim /usr/local/share/xsessions/bspwm.desktop

  -- Name=LXDE
  ++ Name=bspwm
  -- Exec=/usr/local/bin/lxde
  ++ Exec=/usr/local/bin/bspwm
  

• For GNOME try /usr/local/bin/gnome-session

Instructions specifically for use with Ranger File Manager

sudo PCManFM for GUI

• sudo ranger /usr/local/share/slim/themes

• yy copy dir /usr/local/share/slim/themes/default

• pp paste dir /usr/local/share/slim/themes/default_

• dD trash /usr/local/share/slim/themes/default/*

• yy copy /usr/local/share/slim/themes/freebsd-simple/*

• pp paste /usr/local/share/slim/themes/freebsd-simple

• cw rename freebsd-simple to default

• hack 9 font

• Terminal size: 85x29

• See Xresources for URxvt, xterm or other terminal emulators

• chsh -s /usr/local/bin/zsh $USER

• Download the tar file from the local cloud to complete the setup

  I’m going to leave this here, but I think this was specific to a machine I used in 2018

• Escape to loader prompt

  Don’t Panic

• show

  Refresher of /boot/loader.conf & /boot/device.hints

• set that one random.optionfrom.internet.0.disable=0

• And you’ll be saved