FreeBSD still seems to get a bad rap as a desktop. The impression is still out there that sure, it's a rock-solid server, but you need a master's degree in rocket science in order to get a sound card or Java to work. Hogwash. Granted, you still have to take the time to build and configure the components you desire, but that is the beauty of FreeBSD. No company is deciding for you what you want in your desktop, and you have the satisfaction of knowing you built your system your way. Not to mention the literally hundreds of multimedia applications to choose from, some which put their commercial counterparts to shame.
In today's article, I'll concentrate on a fresh install that is totally up-to-date, then move on to integrating Java, Flash, and streaming multimedia into a browser. I'll be taking the slow, systematic route, so follow along and pick out the bits that are interesting to you.
Being the paranoid person that I am, I like to install from CD, reboot into a firewalled system, than CVSup to the latest sources. Before starting any install, I always copy the following onto a floppy:
I then start the install from CD and choose to install everything, including the ports collection. Once bin has been installed, I press Alt-F4, which now has a prompt. I then mount the floppy and copy over the first three files:
mkdir /floppy
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy
cd
cp /floppy/.cshrc .
source .cshrc (I now have my favorite prompt)
cp /floppy/.cshrc /usr/share/skel/dot.cshrc (now the users I create will
also get my favorite prompt)
cp /floppy/ipfw.rules /etc/
cp /floppy/rc.conf /etc/
umount /floppy
Usually, by the time I've unmounted the floppy, the install is also finished and prompting me for post-install configuration. I then reboot and watch the messages to ensure that my firewall rules successfully load.
Now that I'm protected by a firewall, I'll go out on the Internet and download the latest sources and today's port collection. First, I'll install the cvsup-without-gui utility:
su
Password:
cd /usr/ports/net/cvsup-without-gui
make install clean
and answering the questions as they appear. (Pressing enter for the
Once the build is finished, I'll remount that floppy and copy over the
remaining files:
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy
cp /floppy/cvs-supfile ~
cp /floppy/make.conf /etc/
cd /usr/local/etc
mkdir cvsup
cd cvsup
mkdir sup
cd sup
cp /floppy/refuse .
umount /floppy
If you've never done a CVSup before, you'll want to read the CVSup section
of the handbook first.
I was both intimidated and intrigued when I was first introduced to the
whole CVSup concept. Now, I couldn't live without it, and the knowledge
that my operating system is completely up-to-date in security and
functionality and that all of my installed applications are the latest and
greatest. The handbook will show you how to customize the files needed to
use CVSup; mine look like this:
more /root/cvs-supfile
*default host=cvsup.ca.freebsd.org
*default base=/usr/local/etc/cvsup
*default prefix=/usr
*default tag=RELENG_4_6_2_RELEASE
*default release=cvs delete use-rel-suffix compress
src-all
ports-all tag=.
doc-all tag=.
more /usr/local/etc/cvsup/sup/refuse
doc/es*
doc/fr*
doc/ja*
doc/ru*
doc/zh*
ports/biology
ports/chinese
ports/french
ports/german
ports/hebrew
ports/japanese
ports/korean
ports/russian
ports/ukranian
ports/vietnamese
more /etc/make.conf
# $FreeBSD: src/etc/defaults/make.conf,v 1.97.2.67
# 2002/06/02 16:07:01 matusita Exp $
#
CFLAGS= -O -pipe
#
# To avoid building various parts of the base system:
NO_BIND= true # do not build BIND
NO_FORTRAN= true # do not build g77 and related libraries
NO_I4B= true # do not build isdn4bsd package
NO_LPR= true # do not build lpr and related programs
NOPROFILE= true # Avoid compiling profiled libraries
NOUUCP= true # do not build uucp related programs
DOC_LANG= en_US.ISO8859-1
Once you have created your own customized files, invoke CVSup like so:
cvsup -g -L 2 ~/cvs-supfile
The CVSup utility will do its thing, and the results will be displayed to
your screen. The first time you run this program, you will download a lot
of changes to src; this means you'll also be rebuilding your world. (What
did you do on Saturday? Oh, nothing much, just rebuilt the world ... ) You
don't have to rebuild the world everytime you CVSup, just when there are
changes to src. Once your system is up-to-date, src rarely changes;
usually this only occurs when there is a security-related patch. The handbook
gives instructions on how to cron your CVSup ; I prefer to do mine by hand, so I
can watch the output to see if src has changed.
The CVSup utility will also download all of the new ports changes. Ports change
on a daily basis, so I like to CVSup every day or so to keep my ports collection
up-to-date. I then use the portupgrade utility found in the sysutils section
of the ports collection to keep my already installed ports up-to-date.
Michael Lucas wrote an excellent article on the portupgrade utility,
which should get you started.
She has over a decade of experience administering and teachingNetware, Microsoft, Cisco, Checkpoint, SCO, Solaris, Linux, and BSDsystems. A prolific author, she pens the popular
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Once that is finished, I start building my favorite windows manager.
Currently, this is KDE, which is a very, very long build; the kind of build
you start before going to bed in the hopes that it will be finished by the
time you wake up in the morning. So, I'll start its build in one terminal:
cd /usr/ports/x11/kde3
make install clean
I'll then go to a second terminal and install the XFree86-4 libraries
before I forget; most of the applications I'll be building require these:
cd /usr/ports/x11/XFree86-4-libraries
make install clean
And on a third terminal, I'll configure the XFree86 Server. This is the
first time I had configured a system with an USB mouse; during the install, I
answered yes when it asked if I had a USB mouse. I'll now double-check
that I have the following lines in /etc/rc.conf:
usbd_enable="YES"
moused_flags="/dev/ums0"
usbd_flags="-vv"
Before configuring your own XFree86 Server, make sure you have the
following information:
- The make and model of your video card.
- The amount of memory in your video card.
- The type of mouse and what com port it is on, if it is a serial mouse.
Then:
/stand/sysinstall
Configure
XFree86
XF86Setup (if you have an unsupported video card and get an error
message, choose xf86config instead)
If you're prompted to configure your mouse, do so, and test it 'til it
works. You will then be able to use it to select your video card and desired
settings. Hopefully, all will go well for you fairly quickly.
Once I had a running XFree86 Server, I left the superuser account and
created a .xinitrc file in my home directory that contained the following
line:
exec startkde
Once KDE finally finishes building, I'll be able to type startx to
receive my KDE desktop.
Next comes the browser. I've been pretty satisfied with Mozilla; it has
its flaky moments, but for the most part it is speedy, configurable, and supports plugins and skins.
cd /usr/ports/www/mozilla
make install clean
Next, I'll create a custom kernel that supports Java and sound:
cd /usr/src/sys/i386/conf
cp GENERIC MULTIMEDIA
I'll then add the following lines to MULTIMEDIA:
options USER_LDT #used by java
options CPU_ENABLE_SSE #used by DVD
device pcm #builds PCI soundblaster support
I've always had good luck with the SoundBlaster PCI 128; it's a
reasonably-priced soundcard that only requires one line in the kernel
configuration file in order to work.
Once I've saved my changes to MULTIMEDIA:
cd /usr/src
make buildkernel KERNCONF=MULTIMEDIA
make installkernel KERNCONF=MULTIMEDIA
Once the kernel is installed, I'll ensure that I've saved all of the work on my
other terminals, then:
reboot
Now, I'll use Mozilla to download the files I need for Java support:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/download.html
- Click on "Linux GNUZIP Tar shell script."
- Accept license agreement.
- Save to
/usr/ports/distfiles/j2sdk-1_3_1_04-linux-i586.bin.
http://wwws.sun.com/software/java2/download.html
- Click to download JavaTM 2 SDK 1.3.1 (requires free registration).
- Save to
/usr/ports/distfiles/j2sdk-1_3_1-src.tar.gz.
http://www.eyesbeyond.com/freebsddom/java/jdk13.html
- Click on "Download the latest BSD JDK 1.3.1 patchset."
- Agree to download Patchset7.
- Save to
/usr/ports/distfiles/bsd-jdk131-patches-7.tar.gz.
cd /usr/ports/java/linux-sun-jdk13
make install clean
cd /usr/ports/java/jdk13
make install clean
To see if it worked, restart Mozilla and go to Help -> About Plug-ins. You
should get about a page's worth of Java plugins. A short trip to
javaboutique.internet.com should convince you that Java is indeed
functional.
Next comes streaming multimedia:
cd /usr/ports/www/plugger
make install clean
This port installs mpeg, avi, quicktime, midi, and pdf support; you'll see the full list once you re-check your Help -> About Plug-ins. Then, head over to the plugger testing grounds.
Finally, the Flash plugin:
cd /usr/ports/www/flashplugin-mozilla
make install clean
Before installing this plugin, be advised that Flash is a registered
trademark and it was "designed solely for the Windows PC and Macintosh
desktop operating systems." There are also redistribution issues, which
means that the GPL version does NOT support full Flash functionality.
This means that some Flash sites will work, some will hang, some will
crash your browser.
For example, if you install the Flash plugin, don't bother heading over to
www.shockwave.com unless you
want to watch your browser crash. And I've found that it depends upon
the phase of the moon and a certain combination of mojo whether or not
the Flash ecards at Hallmark will show me anything other than a grey
screen. However, my browser seems to have no problems displaying those
annoying Flash introductions that are becoming increasingly popular on
Web sites. Go figure.
Now that Mozilla supports plugins, I'll move on to installing some skins.
Go to the Edit menu -> Preferences. Click on Appearance -> Themes, then
click on the hyperlink for Get New Themes.
I liked the themes at mozdev.org. SkyPilot looked interesting, so I
clicked on its link, then on SkyPilot again in the Install row of the chart.
I then checked "Use this theme" in the Confirm box and pressed OK. Once the
install did its thing, I went back to Preferences, highlighted SkyPilot and
pressed OK. Mozilla informed me the changes would take effect the next time I
started Mozilla.
Now that my browser looks pretty awesome, I'll head over to my favorite wallpaper site:
To change the wallpaper in KDE, right click the desktop and choose
Configure Desktop. Click on the Background icon, the Wallpaper tab, and
browse for your favorite wallpaper.
In next week's article, we'll move on to the wonderful world of sound and
some utilities that will impress even your Windows buddies.
Editor's note: a previous version of this article mistakenly used
make installworld instead of make installkernel. As well, the link to the plugger testing grounds has been fixed. We
apologize for the inconvenience.