# "FreeBSD vs DesktopBSD"



## Jeaf (Aug 7, 2019)

Hello, everyone, in the last few years I've been doing a lot of tests with Unix systems, and in one of these tests, specifically with desktopBSD systems, I've come across a situation that even though I've been studying a lot about, I really couldn't understand.
How the desktopBSD system, being a UNIX system,  achieve the total resolution of my monitor, without using anything but a simple integrated video processor, Core 2 Quad Q8300, 2500 MHz (7.5 x 333).
The already obsolete desktopBSD system initializes at the time of installation a script, which adjusts the image resolution to the largest available for the monitor on which the system is being installed.
And my short question is, why Unix systems do not use the same script for all systems, since it is functional and the only one to achieve this feat.
Thank all those who can have contribute possible opinions, and answers on this matter.


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## Deleted member 9563 (Aug 8, 2019)

Jeaf said:


> . . .  And my short question is, why Unix systems do not use the same script for all systems, since it is functional and the only one to achieve this feat.


The various Unix systems are, of course, independent. They also have different ideas and resources. One of the common issues with FreeBSD and desktop environments is that the most important thing is to keep the high quality of the basic OS - as one would use for a server, for example. With the limited developer resources that we have, there is simply not enough manpower to bring the GUI related ports up to the level that you might find elsewhere.

Oh, and welcome to the forums.


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## trev (Aug 8, 2019)

Jeaf said:


> And my short question is, why Unix systems do not use the same script for all systems, since it is functional and the only one to achieve this feat.



Care to share this magic script? We can then confirm whether it works with FreeBSD.


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## 6502 (Aug 8, 2019)

Jeaf said:


> How the desktopBSD system, being a UNIX system,  achieve the total resolution of my monitor, without using anything but a simple integrated video processor, Core 2 Quad Q8300, 2500 MHz (7.5 x 333).


The monitor returns information over VGA/DVI/HDMI cable about its resolution. The rest is standard and compatibility.


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## Deleted member 9563 (Aug 9, 2019)

6502 said:


> The monitor returns information over VGA/DVI/HDMI cable about its resolution. The rest is standard and compatibility.


Which works very nicely for laptops and single stand-alone systems. To me it's always a real headache since I rarely work without a KVM. It sure would be nice if there was another (simple, not xorg.conf) way to deal with monitors. I know, single laptops are a popular choice these days, and you can't please everybody.


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## userxbw (Aug 9, 2019)

Just to be the onion in the basket of apples, 


> DesktopBSD is a Unix-derivative, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. Its goal is to combine the stability of FreeBSD with the ease-of-use of KDE Plasma 5, which is the default graphical user interface


got a use KDE, or it is more suited to KDE out of box experience, which I'd have to kill that first thing. 

So it makes me leary to even concider DesktopBSD because of there choice of default DT.


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## Jeaf (Aug 9, 2019)

"Care to share this magic script? We can then confirm whether it works with FreeBSD."

Exactly this question I wanted to read.

Hello Trev, exactly in this point i stopped.
I am not an expert on scripts, actually understand little, merely i found in one of folder's of the desktopBSD system, and also managed to run the script something that is simple.
I run this script using the GhoustBSD system, but since nothing happened, I understood the answer of my dear JO ( thank you very much for the Welcome to the Forum), I understood a little better about how UNIX systems work, perhaps for that reason, of each UNIX system being "unique" in the sense of being independent, the script does not work.


trev said:


> Care to share this magic script? We can then confirm whether it works with FreeBSD.



OBS. I don't write English correctly, if you all don't understand something, please write me.


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## Jeaf (Aug 9, 2019)

I will attach the script, so the user of the Forum and you all that writes "on this theme" can do its tests. I would also love to make this script work, especially in the FreeBSD system, because i could disclose to my students in a more open and clear way, so that each of them, those who have the best financial condition, and the least favored of my country, have in your computers, one System which is a stable, robust, resourceful, very beautiful and mostly Free. Becauseis the main issue of many people using the most commonly used Systems, is mainly because of the fact of the beauty and usability, I believe very much that these two factors contribute to an initial use of the system, and through this, the user will want to know more about the system, leading it to mass results. A very interesting work in the sense of visual beauty and usability is the KDE desktop.


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## Jeaf (Aug 9, 2019)

Script.


If any of you can make this script work on other UNIX systems, such as FreeBSD, which is the OS most used by all UNIX users, the entire community will be immensely grateful, and perhaps become standard on all of UNIX OS.

Because in that sense it would be widely publicized, just like Linux, I think there would be more people working on developing UNIX-based operating systems and applications for it.

I am very grateful to everyone and, once again, if something I have written is unclear, please write me so that I may revise the wording.

NOTE: Clearly reading, it is noticeable that this script works with specific directories and it seems to me that other scripts as well, but as its name "suggests", it is the initial script of all configuration that OS DesktopBSD performs at monitor configuration, leading to one impressive autoconfiguration, setting the screen to the resolution that best fits monitor.


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## Beastie (Aug 9, 2019)

userxbw said:


> So it makes me leary to even concider DesktopBSD because of there choice of default DT.


Nah, you shouldn't consider DesktopBSD for another and much more important reason, mainly that it has been discontinued 4 years ago and that its core is essentially 9 years old (7.2R or something?), meaning that it has outdated software and an unpatched, unsupported and highly insecure FreeBSD base.
Oh dear, their forum has even been kept online all this time and it seems spammers are having a great time using it for their nefarious business. I wonder why people (the project managers, not the spammers) do that; can't they do Humanity a small service by taking it down?!




Jeaf said:


> Script.
> 
> If any of you can make this script work on other UNIX systems, such as FreeBSD


As I've already mentioned above, this last version of DesktopBSD is based on an ancient FreeBSD base and an ancient Xorg. What was it 9 years ago? Xorg 7.4 and xorg-server 1.5.x/1.6.x? Now we're at Xorg 7.7 and xorg-server 1.18.x. Since then a lot of work has been done on drivers both on the Xorg side and on the FreeBSD side. You simply can't compare the two. Also, you haven't clearly mentioned if you're actually using FreeBSD and which version you're using.
The script doesn't seem to do anything magical, that is (still) relevant today, that is not already being done, and that is not mentioned in the Handbook.
Provided you're using one of the latest FreeBSD versions with an up to date Xorg and you're letting it configure on its own, what you're experiencing is more likely due to a regression that crept in somewhere during the past decade.


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## Jeaf (Aug 10, 2019)

Beastie said:


> Nah, you shouldn't consider DesktopBSD for another and much more important reason, mainly that it has been discontinued 4 years ago and that its core is essentially 9 years old (7.2R or something?), meaning that it has outdated software and an unpatched, unsupported and highly insecure FreeBSD base.
> Oh dear, their forum has even been kept online all this time and it seems spammers are having a great time using it for their nefarious business. I wonder why people (the project managers, not the spammers) do that; can't they do Humanity a small service by taking it down?!
> 
> 
> ...



In fact, you didn't understand the core of the subject, or questioning.
I know it is a discontinued system, I wrote this above, read carefully about, and you know about what I question, the title is enclosed in quotation marks.


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## SirDice (Aug 14, 2019)

You don't need anything from that script. It still stems from a time when Xorg didn't quite autodetect everything. It's pretty much obsolete now.


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## Deleted member 9563 (Aug 14, 2019)

SirDice said:


> You don't need anything from that script. It still stems from a time when Xorg didn't quite autodetect everything. It's pretty much obsolete now.


I don't know how that script works, but since Xorg doesn't detect anything (in my experience) when using a KVM, something certainly would be nice to have.


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## teo (Aug 18, 2019)

SirDice said:


> You don't need anything from that script. It still stems from a time when Xorg didn't quite autodetect everything. It's pretty much obsolete now.



At present it is still wonderful how it detects the DesktopBSD that this discontinued years. The good thing should be copied from that script to the FreeBSD graphical environment and not be so cumbersome its configuration by hand.


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

teo said:


> At present it is still wonderful how it detects the DesktopBSD that this discontinued years. The good thing should be copied from that script to the FreeBSD graphical environment and not be so cumbersome its configuration by hand.


Hello everyone, I believe very much that the developers of this script, along with the developers of programs for FreeBSD, could easily work on top of this, as our friend Teo mentioned in his comment, would make it much easier.
It would be wonderful if some user who develops programs for FreeBSD, and develops scripts in this language, try to somehow make this script work, (remembering that this does not work alone), I am absolutely sure that everyone would benefit .
Everything or possible that can become practical, would help without doubts in the propagation of UNIX based systems, this system that in my user experience;  I found it surprising.


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

SirDice said:


> You don't need anything from that script. It still stems from a time when Xorg didn't quite autodetect everything. It's pretty much obsolete now.


If you are aware of the forums, you will see about. 
I would not have the basis to write in this forum something not compatible.


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## Sevendogsbsd (Aug 23, 2019)

The problem with scripts like this is you don't learn anything; you just run the script and hope you have a working system at the end of it. If it doesn't work, you are lost. On bare metal (my desktop PC), xorg auto-configures everything and it just works. It isn't difficult to set FreeBSD up as a desktop, you just need to take your time and do one step at a time, making sure each step works before you do the next.


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## Deleted member 9563 (Aug 23, 2019)

Sevendogsbsd said:


> The problem with scripts like this is you don't learn anything; you just run the script and hope you have a working system at the end of it. If it doesn't work, you are lost.


That is exactly the problem with the Xorg auto-configure as I see it. My thought is that it would be nice to save time by having something that could auto-configure where Xorg fails - which it always does for me.


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## shkhln (Aug 23, 2019)

Jeaf said:


> It would be wonderful if some user



Why not you?


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## kpedersen (Aug 23, 2019)

OJ said:


> something that could auto-configure where Xorg fails - which it always does for me.



I used to have many problems with xorg.conf about 8 years ago when I had to faff about with monitor refresh timings (I have had about 10 monitors and not one provided me with the correct information to put here. Luckily edid started to become popular and I can pretend that mess never happened).

For configuration nowadays, the most I tend to do is either run (`# Xorg -configure`, yes.. let that sucker crash) or nvidia's `# nvidia-setup` if using an nvidia card. Then I pick out the peices (mostly section names) that I need from them and put them into /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d. I then delete the generated xorg.conf file.
What is handy about this is that depending on the driver, it automatically fills out the Options, leaves them commented out so you can simply enable the ones you need.

... and then I leave it alone for ever. I try to do as much as I can then with things like xrandr, xset, setxkbmap, etc.


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## Geezer (Aug 23, 2019)

Yes, why does Xorg -configure always/usually crash?


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

OJ said:


> That is exactly the problem with the Xorg auto-configure as I see it. My thought is that it would be nice to save time by having something that could auto-configure where Xorg fails - which it always does for me.


The same for me, and all my friends.


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

kpedersen said:


> I used to have many problems with xorg.conf about 8 years ago when I had to faff about with monitor refresh timings (I have had about 10 monitors and not one provided me with the correct information to put here. Luckily edid started to become popular and I can pretend that mess never happened).
> 
> For configuration nowadays, the most I tend to do is either run (`# Xorg -configure`, yes.. let that sucker crash) or nvidia's `# nvidia-setup` if using an nvidia card. Then I pick out the peices (mostly section names) that I need from them and put them into /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d. I then delete the generated xorg.conf file.
> What is handy about this is that depending on the driver, it automatically fills out the Options, leaves them commented out so you can simply enable the ones you need.
> ...


You show these steps that runs without errors and crashes to a "auto-configuration of Xorg " in video, and send us this tutorial?

Because all, all the tutorials, relying firstly on the FreeBSD itself, and those of the forums like these, never worked.

In fact, not there is a auto-configuration, as everyone knows, everything must be edited in xorg file and by commands in a terminal.

I myself, I never managed to reach the maximum resolution of my monitor.

I know that the same ones who write, like OJ and Geezer, as well as thousands of users worldwide, have the same problem, for this reason I found interesting how these DesktopBSD scripts work, these yes, auto-configuram the resolution of the Monitors without Any configuration made by hand.


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## shkhln (Aug 23, 2019)

Besides being obnoxious, you are also seem to be completely oblivious to the fact that your script doesn't do any resolution detection. It only runs the same `Xorg -configure` command and a few predefined fallback configs. If some of these configs accidentally happen to contain settings you consider correct for your system, that does _not_ mean they will work for the "thousands of users".


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## Sevendogsbsd (Aug 23, 2019)

Xorg does not normally need configuration at all. I run my desktop system with an Intel HD630 on-cpu video and a 4k (3440x1440) monitor and it does not need a single configuration file. I realize many people run laptops and other configurations which do need configuration. 

FreeBSD is not designed to be a desktop system although it certainly has the capability, with configuration. Most of the use FreeBSD gets is in servers, which do not need configuration at all in terms of video.


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

shkhln said:


> Why not you?





shkhln said:


> Why not you?


I understand little about these scripts, much of what I tried to accomplish with these that auto-configuram the resolution are somehow blocked, something done by the developers of the DesktopBSD system.

Even so, every week since I've seen the way these work, I've been trying to work on other Unix systems, like TrueOS and GhostBSD, these one I find incredibly beautiful, the most beautiful UNIX OS I've ever seen.


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

shkhln said:


> Besides being obnoxious, you are also seem to be completely oblivious to the fact that your script doesn't do any resolution detection. It only runs the same `Xorg -configure` command and a few predefined fallback configs. If some of these configs accidentally happen to contain settings you consider correct for your system, that does _not_ mean they will work for the "thousands of users".


It is not my this script my dear friend shkhln, it is part of the scripts that perform the auto-configuration of the screen, when initializes the installation of DesktopBSD system, I just attached the file, because I was asked about, read carefully.


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## shkhln (Aug 23, 2019)

So, you are using machine translation and you are from Brasil. Interesting…


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

Sevendogsbsd said:


> Xorg does not normally need configuration at all. I run my desktop system with an Intel HD630 on-cpu video and a 4k (3440x1440) monitor and it does not need a single configuration file. I realize many people run laptops and other configurations which do need configuration.
> 
> FreeBSD is not designed to be a desktop system although it certainly has the capability, with configuration. Most of the use FreeBSD gets is in servers, which do not need configuration at all in terms of video.


On the contrary, this is not the policy of the developers of the FreeBSD system, it was developed for both use in Desktop's and servers, is on the FreeBSD pages.

It is not a system unique to servers, because there are UNIX systems unique to servers, look over.


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

shkhln said:


> So, you are using machine translation and you are from Brasil. Interesting…


Exactly, I live in Brazil, I wrote above if there is something you do not understand, I try otherwise express myself.


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## shkhln (Aug 23, 2019)

That partially matches another person banned for trolling, so if I were you, I would be extra careful with controversial topics. This thread seems to be going straight into https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/why-is-freebsd-not-more-like.66591/.


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

shkhln said:


> That (partially) matches another person banned for trolling, so if I were you I would be extra careful with controversial topics.


I am not afraid to express myself to any person in the world my dear friend, and less in a forum.

The subject is not something personal, but it is within a topic allowed in this forum, or it would not continue until this time, I am not breaking rules.

No person with a good sense, would take such a matter of  "Common good", to the personal side, we are users wanting to somehow improve the use of the system with our humble opinions, and if wrong, we want to have equivalent answers.


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## Jeaf (Aug 23, 2019)

shkhln said:


> That partially matches another person banned for trolling, so if I were you I would be extra careful with controversial topics. This thread seems to be going straight into https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/why-is-freebsd-not-more-like.66591/.


So keeping in mind everyone on the subject, I want some of you to help me to achieve maximum resolution effectively on my computer, someone?

QuadCore Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300, 2500 MHz (7.5 x 333)
Intel G31/G33 Chipset - Integrated Graphics 0
Intel GMA 3100
4 Memory
AOC F19L Monitor

I want to have the honor to propagate this system in a territorial way, throughout my country, because I have this medium, I just lack this step, an easy configuration of the monitors, the resolution.

For all the intitutions.

I will continue to try, humbly I will make available to the whole community os scripts.

Mankind must go on like this, helping each other.


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## kpedersen (Aug 23, 2019)

Jeaf said:


> I myself, I never managed to reach the maximum resolution of my monitor.



It sounds then like a driver issue. Can you paste your /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Also, if you can paste the output of `glxinfo`. You may need to install the *mesa-demos* package.
I am expecting both to say vesa fallback. In which case you need to work out what GPU you are using and look into installing / enabling the drivers.

Have a read of https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x-config.html but it generally just consists of installing the *drm-kmod* package and loading the correct driver. Have a read of this post: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/...or-intel-integrated-graphics-with-xorg.66732/ on which driver name to load. based on the info given, you might just be able to run:

`# kldload i915kms` and then startx as usual (after removing the xorg.conf because it should autodetect the rest)

Without suitable drivers, even happy, happy Windows will not give you the correct resolution for your display.


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## Deleted member 9563 (Aug 23, 2019)

Sevendogsbsd said:


> Xorg does not normally need configuration at all.


That's what they say. But I think that's for a direct connection.


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## Sevendogsbsd (Aug 23, 2019)

Agree, and that's what mine is: a DP cable connection from a PC to my monitor. Works perfectly using the Intel driver. Throw an Nvidia card in there and it all goes to sh** though...


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## teo (Aug 28, 2019)

Jeaf said:


> I want to have the honor to propagate this system in a territorial way, throughout my country, because I have this medium, I just lack this step, an easy configuration of the monitors, the resolution.
> 
> For all the intitutions.
> 
> ...


It would be great to discover or write that script that automatically detects all screen and automatically configures all the hardware of the machine as the old disused DesktopBSD, everyone would gain from a default  FreeBSD system  desktop environment.


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