# FreeBSD 14: no gnome3 and Firefox?



## salvomic (Feb 5, 2022)

hi,
I've installed freeBSD 14 current in a virtual machine Parallels in my MacBook M1 pro (Silicon, ARM).
Mostly ok (mate + slim) a part of resolution stuck to 1028x768 (how to increase? here it need a virtue-gpu driver) and a fundamental problem with mouse in GUI (stuck) solved putting "ums_load="YES"" in /boot/loader.conf.

There are no gnome3 (so I'm using mate) and no Firefox, Chrome or other good browsers in repos.
No usable browsers: konqueror starts and soon closes, web (gnome) gives message "there will be a problem" for almost every page...

Is normal so?
Any hints?

thank you,
Salvo


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## VladiBG (Feb 5, 2022)

Current release doesn't have pkg repository as it's for developing only/testing new features and everything is build via ports (from source) with high probability of not working at all. That's the reason that the topics in this forum about not supported releases are forbidden.

Firefox works just fine on FreeBSD-14 Current but you need to build it via ports.









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## salvomic (Feb 5, 2022)

ah, well, right. Thank you for info.


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## Alexander88207 (Feb 5, 2022)

VladiBG said:


> Current release doesn't have pkg repository



-CURRENT has a pkg repository.


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## VladiBG (Feb 5, 2022)

yes you are right it has latest repo.


			Index of /FreeBSD:14:amd64/


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## eternal_noob (Feb 5, 2022)

If you look at www/firefox, you can see that there isn't a package for ARM on 14-CURRENT. It's only for amd64, i386 and powerpc64.



FreeBSD:14:aarch64--FreeBSD:14:amd6497.0_1,2-FreeBSD:14:armv6--FreeBSD:14:armv7--FreeBSD:14:i38697.0_1,2-FreeBSD:14:mips--FreeBSD:14:mips64--FreeBSD:14:powerpc6487.0_3,2-


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## salvomic (Feb 5, 2022)

eternal_noob said:


> If you look at www/firefox, you can see that there isn't a package for ARM on 14-CURRENT. It's only for amd64, i386 and powerpc64.


ok, but in M1 I can only install an ARM 64 (aarch64) release. In another MacBook (Intel) I installed freeBSD 13 AMD 64 (and there there is Firefox)...
Here I've only Epiphany web for now unusable...


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## eternal_noob (Feb 5, 2022)

Why do you want to use a development version of FreeBSD anyway? Why not just install a supported version?


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## salvomic (Feb 5, 2022)

eternal_noob said:


> Why do you want to use a development version of FreeBSD anyway? Why not just install a supported version?


Simply because FreeBSD 13 on Parallels in M1 (ARM) at the moment I think it have problems due to some system bugs that I don't know: I tried to install it with the "other systems" option (not Linux), in this case it installs but does not goes to the network; then I tried with the "linux" option and in this case it goes into a loop at the installation and restarts after few seconds...

FreeBSD 14 installs without difficulty, even if it then has these drawbacks.
See here


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## eternal_noob (Feb 5, 2022)

Don't know about Parallels, but a quick Google search found an article on how to install FreeBSD 13.0 on it.








						How To Install FreeBSD On Parallels Desktop [2021] - Leonard Cucos
					

In this short guide, we're going to set up and install FreeBSD on Parallels Desktop 16.0.1 - which is the latest Parallels Desktop release at the time of



					leonardcucos.com
				




Don't know if this works on M1, but maybe it's worth a try.


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## salvomic (Feb 5, 2022)

Yes, of course, but rightly in the tutorial they talk about FreeBSD 13 AMD that myself have already configured on an Intel MacBook, where it's very fine.
However, this installation cannot run on a MacBook M1 because it has a different architecture, ARM.

So I was forced to recreate another virtual machine for ARM, finding the difficulties we are talking about.


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## eternal_noob (Feb 5, 2022)

I think it's better to try to fix the installation problems with a supported version of FreeBSD rather than introducing another unknown variable by using a development version.


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## salvomic (Feb 5, 2022)

eternal_noob said:


> I think it's better to try to fix the installation problems with a supported version of FreeBSD rather than introducing another unknown variable by using a development version.


yes, indeed. I agree.


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## sidetone (Feb 5, 2022)

What Is the Apple M1 Chip?
					

A processor that Apple developed in-house powers the newest Macs and iPad Pro. It's a mighty powerful chip, but it's not without a few quirks. Here's everything you need to know if you're in the market for an M1-powered Apple product.




					www.pcmag.com
				




I think trying to get it to work on FreeBSD 14 may be of more value on the mailing lists.

edit: (or on any FreeBSD version)


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## eternal_noob (Feb 5, 2022)

It works on 14. The problems arise with 13.


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## sidetone (Feb 5, 2022)

eternal_noob said:


> It works on 14. The problems arise with 13.


About the hardware, and there's less packages in CURRENT.


VladiBG said:


> Firefox works just fine on FreeBSD-14 Current but you need to build it via ports.





Alexander88207 said:


> -CURRENT has a pkg repository.


The mailing list has more value for hardware compatibility and bugs. Using CURRENT will require more of building your own ports and other basic tasks.


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## VladiBG (Feb 5, 2022)

Yes and the next question will be why firefox-95.0.2_2,2  doesn't build on main-arm64. In pkg-status you can see it was skip because of jackit-1.9.20 build on arm64.


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## salvomic (Feb 5, 2022)

VladiBG said:


> Yes and the next question will be why firefox-95.0.2_2,2  doesn't build on main-arm64. In pkg-status you can see it was skip because of jackit-1.9.20 build on arm64.


yes, a bad thing...


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## sidetone (Feb 5, 2022)

Does anyone know the status of M1 chips on STABLE?


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## grahamperrin@ (Feb 6, 2022)

salvomic said:


> … in M1 I can only install an ARM 64 (aarch64) release. …



If you feel adventurous: 

CURRENT, STABLE and RELEASE are packaged for aarch64 at non-official <https://alpha.pkgbase.live/>.


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## salvomic (Feb 6, 2022)

grahamperrin said:


> If you feel adventurous:
> 
> CURRENT, STABLE and RELEASE are packaged for aarch64 at non-official <https://alpha.pkgbase.live/>.


yes, in fact I already installed the 14 Current one aarch64, however I would like to set up better the 13, that for now has problem with Network


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## salvomic (Feb 7, 2022)

Eventually I tried the 13 Stable and it works well, the network also works (vtnet0 from virtio isn't seen at all in the 13 Current). 
I installed the GUI (Gnome3 + GDM) but when it goes to login again the message "_something has gone wrong_" comes out in a white page and I cannot enter the desktop. What to do? Is Gnome so buggy?


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## grahamperrin@ (Feb 7, 2022)

salvomic said:


> "_something has gone wrong_"



FreeBSD bug 227334 – x11/gnome-shell: Unable to start session: Oh no something has gone wrong was _closed_, _overcome by events_ in 2020. Hmm.


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## salvomic (Feb 7, 2022)

grahamperrin said:


> FreeBSD bug 227334 – x11/gnome-shell: Unable to start session: Oh no something has gone wrong was _closed_, _overcome by events_ in 2020. Hmm.


I see, thanks. If there is no lotion, I'll try with mate environment. I don't know what's the best desktop environment for FreeBSD 13 nowadays: the old KDE? gnome? mate? or simply XFCE... 
I liked gnome, as in Linux, but there is a problem, so...


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## grahamperrin@ (Feb 7, 2022)

salvomic said:


> … what's the best desktop environment …



For me, KDE Plasma. 









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Hi guys,  since FreeBSD doesn't have a default DE or WM I'd like to know which are the preferences here, it is only a personal curiosity, I if you want share your habit it will be great!  If you do not use any DE/WM there's no need for you to participate but if your WM isn't listed I'd like to...




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## salvomic (Feb 7, 2022)

grahamperrin said:


> For me, KDE Plasma.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


well, thank you


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