# Cinnamon Won't Start in FreeBSD 11.1



## tripseven (Dec 29, 2017)

Hello,

New to FreeBSD and just installed 11.1 as per Trihexagonal's Beginners Guide - How To Set Up A FreeBSD Desktop From Scratch. Fluxbox, XFE and Eterm appears to work correctly when using starx command.

I decided to install Cinnamon according to the Cinnamon portion of this guide https://www.linuxsecrets.com/entry/51-freebsd/2017/09/04/2942-configure-5-freebsd-x-environments.

I now have a nice login screen but instead of loading Cinnamon it loads Eterm and Xfe in fluxbox.
I put # in front of Eterm, Xfe and fluxbox leaving only exec cinnamon in ~.xinitrc but got stuck in a continuous loop on login screen. Got that fixed back to


```
Eterm &
xfe &
exec fluxbox
exec cinnamon
[/CMD]

Any help would be most appreciated getting this desktop to load correctly.
```


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## Minbari (Dec 29, 2017)

I presume that the login manager is slim or gdm. You need to a entry to that login manager, a file called cinnamon.desktop in  /usr/local/share/xsessions. That file need to contain the following:


```
[LIST=1]
[*][Desktop Entry]

[*]Encoding=UTF-8

[*]Name=Cinnamon

[*]Exec=/usr/local/bin/cinnamon

[*]Comment=This session logs you into Cinnamon desktop environment

[*]Type=Application

[/LIST]
```

Also in .xinitrc you need to add *exec cinnamon-session* not exec cinnamon.


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## rigoletto@ (Dec 29, 2017)

Unless something changed (IDK), Cinnamon is know to be broken in FreeBSD.


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## Snurg (Dec 29, 2017)

lebarondemerde, could you be more specific about what is broken with Cinnamon, please?


tripseven said:


> ```
> Eterm &
> xfe &
> exec fluxbox
> ...


Why do you expect Cinnamon to start when you command your computer to run fluxbox?
It did just what it should do.
What happens when you place `exec [B][I]cinnamon-session[/I][/B]` into the .xinitrc as Minbari said, and remove the other exec commands?


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## tripseven (Dec 29, 2017)

Minbari said:


> I presume that the login manager is slim or gdm. You need to a entry to that login manager, a file called cinnamon.desktop in  /usr/local/share/xsessions. That file need to contain the following:
> 
> 
> ```
> ...



Got that done but had to remove Fluxbox. Also removed Xfe and Eterm. Now I have a Cinnamon desktop that is just a black screen with an "X" for mouse pointer. Right click, create folder, open folder opens in Nemo window. Shouldn't there be a start menu in lower left of screen? And yes on Slim.


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## tripseven (Dec 29, 2017)

Snurg said:


> lebarondemerde, could you be more specific about what is broken with Cinnamon, please?
> Why do you expect Cinnamon to start when you command your computer to run fluxbox?
> It did just what it should do.
> What happens when you place `exec [B][I]cinnamon-session[/I][/B]` into the .xinitrc as Minbari said, and remove the other exec commands?



Was just putting things back the way it was before asking for help as I'm learning. My previous post answers your final question. Thanks for responding!


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## Snurg (Dec 29, 2017)

I have no experience with Cinnamon except of a 5 minute trial a few years ago.
The issue that you report could (just my wild unqualified guess) be caused by the removal of fluxbox and the cleanup changes to the configuration involved.
If that is the cause, you might be able to solve the issue by `pkg delete cinnamon` and then `pkg (re)installing cinnamon` again to make sure it gets configured correctly.


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## rigoletto@ (Dec 29, 2017)

> Now I have a Cinnamon desktop that is just a black screen with an "X" for mouse pointer.



This is what I was talking about.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Dec 29, 2017)

tripseven said:


> Got that done but had to remove Fluxbox. Also removed Xfe and Eterm. Now I have a Cinnamon desktop that is just a black screen with an "X" for mouse pointer.



I've never used Cinnamon but you shouldn't have to remove x11-wm/fluxbox, x11-fm/xfe or x11/eterm as a prerequisite for it to run, and could have used them to fall back on in the event of problems.


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## tripseven (Dec 29, 2017)

Trihexagonal said:


> I've never used Cinnamon but you shouldn't have to remove x11-wm/fluxbox, x11-fm/xfe or x11/eterm as a prerequisite for it to run, and could have used them to fall back on in the event of problems.



Yep...putting it back as I had to single user too many times now. At least now I have the following memorized lol


```
fsck -y
mount -u /
mount -a -t ufs
swapon -a
```


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## tripseven (Dec 29, 2017)

lebarondemerde said:


> This is what I was talking about.



A few more irritations and I will go with something else. What do you use/recommend?


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## Deleted member 30996 (Dec 29, 2017)

tripseven said:


> A few more irritations and I will go with something else. What do you use/recommend?



Doing so now.

FreeBSD is not Linux and there is a steep learning curve, which makes it all the more rewarding when you accomplish what you set out to do. In this instance, get a fully functional desktop.

If a little work getting it straightened out, after you had one and decided to go with something else, is too much trouble save yourself the headache.


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## rigoletto@ (Dec 29, 2017)

I use x11-wm/bspwm but for a Cinnamon user I would recommend XFCE, what should be the most well maintained desktop on FreeBSD.

But I guess most folks are using some WM instead of full featured desktop.

Trihexagonal

Cinnamon probably need to be patched to work.


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## Snurg (Dec 29, 2017)

lebarondemerde said:


> This is what I was talking about.


Hmm. Are there really no guys who got it working?
Shouldn't then the Cinnamon port be marked as defunct?



Trihexagonal said:


> FreeBSD is not Linux and there is a steep learning curve, which makes it all the more rewarding when you accomplish what you set out to do. In this instance, get a fully functional desktop.


Umm. I believe Linux is not really easier if you take away the GUI stuff. Possibly in fact harder because there is so much wild-grown variation and permanent change.



tripseven said:


> A few more irritations and I will go with something else. What do you use/recommend?


KDE, Gnome, LXDE, XFCE all work well afaik. 
Personally I do not like conventional desktops.

Because of my ADHD I use FVWM because it is not like a Las Vegas Strip blinking on my screen.
The only WM widget I have on screen is the 48-screen pager.
No icons, trays, bars, menus and all that stuff that annoys me because it distracts me.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Dec 29, 2017)

If I was going to use a DE I'd probably go with the x11/lxde-meta port of LXDE, though I've only tried it on Linux.


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## tripseven (Dec 29, 2017)

First and foremost great comments...great community!

I'm now thinking of giving WM a shot as I'm a glutton for punishment on the learning curve 

Searching images of suggestions regarding WM's BSPWM and FVWM they appear to be configurable to resemble a windows/linux type DE. So now I'm willing to give it a go with some form of WM. The question is...which one? I guess the better question would be...what makes a person choose one over the other?


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## Snurg (Dec 29, 2017)

I think I am too nerdy to give sensible suggestions... anyway KDE has a full set of well-done applications, I like that. I know many will frown but what I normally do when setting up a system for me, is installing KDE and FVWM. I just use the KDE apps (Kate, Konsole, Okular, Dolphin, Konqueror, K3b, ...) without the annoyance that the KDE desktop makes to my ADHD.

Particularly I like the FVWM pager concept very much.
You organize and find your windows like papers side-by-side on a real desktop, instead like a stack of papers on your lap like the usual DE do.
The autofocus/autoraise also is a thing I do not want to miss.
The only DM that comes near to FVWM's capabilities in this regard is KDE. But it uses a lot of memory compared to FVWM.
I never found FVWM exceed a memory usage of 78MB (but that was with 48 screens with about 100 windows of all sorts open).

The drawback is, FVWM is not exactly easy to configure. But if you just need a simple but powerful desktop, the effort pays off. I am using my configuration for many years now. This saves me from the recurring repeated reconfiguring like it is necessary after installing normal DMs just to throw out all the stuff that triggers my ADHD.


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## rigoletto@ (Dec 30, 2017)

x11-wm/bspwm is a tiling window manager, like x11-wm/i3 and x11-wm/awesome (and many others).

*Taste differ*, but for a non-tiling WM I personally would go to x11-wm/openbox.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Dec 30, 2017)

tripseven said:


> I'm now thinking of giving WM a shot as I'm a glutton for punishment on the learning curve



Good. I don't want to see you give up, especially since you've managed to get a Fluxbox desktop up and running. I'm glad you got some use from the tutorial.

Snurg is, of course, correct. When I think of Linux it's of Debian and what you get with an install from a Live Disk and using apt.

There are very detailed threads about which WM is best and everyone has a viable, convincing argument why theirs works best for them. I like Fluxbox, and since you've already successfully set it up once, why not give it a try? Programs are added to the menu by plain text file in the ~/.fluxbox directory.

Edit: You didn't specify if you used ports and ports-mgmt/portmaster or pkg, but if you used portmaster it is being updated frequently due to the recent introduction of flavors to ports, and was again today. You want to stay with the latest version so you would need to run:

`# pkg delete portmaster
# cd /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/portmaster
# make install clean`

to get the latest version. It can't build itself.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Dec 30, 2017)

Snurg said:


> I am using my configuration for many years now. This saves me from the recurring repeated reconfiguring like it is necessary after installing normal DMs just to throw out all the stuff that triggers my ADHD.



I like things in an orderly fashion, and doing things step-by-step so as to keep my OCD in check.


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## tripseven (Dec 30, 2017)

OK obviously I hadn't realized the vast amount of WMs available to suit ones taste. Since Fluxbox is already installed I will play with it for a bit to see how it goes. Meanwhile feel free to offer any suggestions on other WMs as I'm finding Youtube has a ton of vids in this regard and can get a great visual.

A personal thanks again to all!


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## Deleted member 30996 (Dec 30, 2017)

Don't miss the FreeBSD screenshot thread where you'll find shots of the most popular among forum users.


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## tankist02 (Jan 3, 2018)

I vaguely remember that to fix Cinnamon you need to create a link for python.


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## tonyhain (Jan 17, 2018)

Cinnamon needs work. I have the base WM up, but don't recall everything I had to do because I was also fighting with getting i915 to work on the original i915GM. In any case at least settings/date-time fail due to python syntax changes. 

```
File "./cinnamon-settings", line 8
    print "Python module"
                                  ^
SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'.
```
Fixing the print syntax issues gets to line 20

```
...
ValueError: execv() arg 2 first element cannot be empty
```
Simply changing cinnamon-settings to use python2 gets a little further, but that eventually trips over syntax errors in /usr/local/lib/cinnamon-settings.py. Despite the misdirection of multiple changes in python syntax I fixed all of those that gave me a line number, but that eventually gives back a useless fail.

```
<class 'SyntaxError'>
```

Fundamentally maintenance appears to have stopped on both this and vlc which fails over Qt4/5 version mismatches. I understand that keeping up with stupid change-for-its-own-sake maneuvers by the Linux/python/Qt devs is a challenge, but some of these changes are relatively old. 
Before directing me to a different DE, consider that this is a 10 year old laptop that I am setting up for my daughter. The goal is a light-weight replacement for XP that was on it to do basic web browsing. Cinnamon looks like the right DE for the task, but I will not put the braindead linux OS of the week under it. FreeBSD is the right OS, but all the desktop efforts appear to be focused on the high-end, with incomplete instructions in the man page or wiki, and inconsistent recommendations in the forum about when/where/how to load the multi-part intel drivers. Porting a moving target is not trivial,and I do appreciate all the effort that has been put in. Just keep in mind that some of the end users are not capable of dealing with version mismatch issues.


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## rigoletto@ (Jan 17, 2018)

tonyhain said:


> Before directing me to a different DE, consider that this is a 10 year old laptop that I am setting up for my daughter. The goal is a light-weight replacement for XP that was on it to do basic web browsing.



XFCE. Probably one of the best maintained full featured DE on FreeBSD[1]. 

[1] just need some work to de-uglify.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Jan 17, 2018)

tonyhain said:


> ...consider that this is a 10 year old laptop that I am setting up for my daughter.



All my machines are 2008 vintage or earlier and I run x11-wm/fluxbox on all of them. I have multimedia/vlc on all of them, too, so I'm not sure why you're having problems in that area.

You would do well to make a thread of your own outlining any other problems you have. It's more likely to be seen that way.


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## Sensucht94 (Jan 17, 2018)

tonyhain said:


> Before directing me to a different DE, consider that this is a 10 year old laptop that I am setting up for my daughter. The goal is a light-weight replacement for XP that was on it to do basic web browsing.



I love Cinnamon, a pity to hear it is currently unmaintained in FreeBSD. Anyway,my recommendation for a lightweight DE is *LXQt*, available also in FreeBSD in Beta (tested it recently): *LXQt in FreeBSD*

However consider that on older hardware WMs perform better than DEs, as they are far less resource-avid. Fluxbox, Openbox, WMii, JWM and IceWM are good recommendation for stacking WMs; Ratpoison, Bspwm, XMonad and i3 for tiling ones


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## tripseven (Jan 17, 2018)

I'm running an 8 year old HP Probook 4530s laptop and I'm simply amazed how lightweight FreeBSD is with Fluxbox WM. I've yet to use 1G ram out my 4G while streaming 4k vids and DVDs. Highest CPU temp was 104F. Linux/Cinnamon ran OK but ate 3G+ ram and hit 190F+ at times while doing same. If I didn't know any better I'd be thinking I bought a new machine


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## Chris_H (Jan 18, 2018)

I _have_ used Cinnamon. I was introduced to it, when I was evaluating a Linux that used the FreeBSD kernel. It didn't work really well on it. But I kinda liked it, so installed it on one of my FreeBSD boxes. It caused me _much_ grief -- and I've been on FreeBSD for some 30yrs. Anyway, the only way I was able to finally get it to work; was to turn on a debugging switch, and force it to create a log file. So I could figure out why it was NOT working. My (initial) experience was much the same as yours (black screen, and all). With the debug switch, and the log file, I was _finally_ able to get to start. But I still ended up with core files in my user dir, and finally decided it just wasn't worth it.
If _I_ were you, I'd go with Xfce4 ( x11-wm/xfce4-wm ). It just works, and has everything you need in a WM _without_ the hassle. It has many Themes to choose from. So it should easily satisfy your needs. 

HTH

--Chris


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## tripseven (Jan 19, 2018)

Chris_H said:


> If _I_ were you, I'd go with Xfce4 ( x11-wm/xfce4-wm ).



I looked at that and several other DEs including MATE, which is installed but haven't ran. But I got to fiddling with Fluxbox WM and realized the absolute control of WMs. I'm nowhere near where I want to be with it but I'm having fun figuring it out...with help of course!

Now if someone could help me figure out how to uninstall MATE...JK! And no offense MATE users! Run what ya like...that's the beauty of it all in a free world 

Thank you for your input Sir!


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## Chris_H (Jan 19, 2018)

tripseven said:


> ...
> Now if someone could help me figure out how to uninstall MATE...JK! And no offense MATE users! Run what ya like...that's the beauty of it all in a free world


Heh. Sure...
`cd /usr/ports/x11/mate`
`make deinstall`
Depending on your setup, the following may also hold true...
`pkg delete mate`
followed by...
`pkg autoremove`
the last one removes any cruft left over from x11/mate (and anything else, for that matter.).
See pkg(8) for all the finite details. 


tripseven said:


> Thank you for your input Sir!


You are *very* welcome. 

HTH

--Chris


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## tonyhain (Jan 21, 2018)

Trihexagonal said:


> All my machines are 2008 vintage or earlier and I run x11-wm/fluxbox on all of them. I have multimedia/vlc on all of them, too, so I'm not sure why you're having problems in that area.
> 
> You would do well to make a thread of your own outlining any other problems you have. It's more likely to be seen that way.



I would create a separate thread if I thought there was something worth digging into. I finally gave up on trying to fix all the version errors and set /usr/local/bin/python -> python2.7 instead of 3.6, then recompiled the vlc port with an explicit selection of qt4. For what this machine needs to do, things are working. 

What the docs and the forum comments don't say is that to make things work you have to use specific old versions of dependencies. I assume that everyone that claims it works hasn't tried a fresh install for quite awhile, and if they did they knew to pick old versions because it isn't documented anywhere that i could find. Fortunately I don't need to run anything that requires python3 as the default, or I would be starting a new thread to chase down the remaining broken syntax issues. Those are likely not FreeBSD specific though, unless the Linux version of Cinnamon has been fixed and just not updated here yet.


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## CraigHB (Jan 21, 2018)

Snurg said:


> Because of my ADHD I use FVWM because it is not like a Las Vegas Strip blinking on my screen.  The only WM widget I have on screen is the 48-screen pager.  No icons, trays, bars, menus and all that stuff that annoys me because it distracts me.



That's good to hear.  I'm waiting for another disk I have an order to set up FreeBSD on the desktop for the first time, don't have space for it right now.  Currently running Debian.  I've been using fvwm for a long time.  Glad to hear it runs on FreeBSD.  I still use a number of widgets so it's not bare bones, but I like the overhead is a lot lower than a full desktop environment.  I agree it can be tedious to configure, but it's not like you have to do it all the time.  Still pretty easy to add new apps to it when necessary.


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