# can I create my own graphical interface to run on FreeBSD?



## SuperuserRoot (Nov 10, 2020)

some time ago I installed FreeBSD with GNOME but I was not satisfied with this graphical interface, and I also do not want to install KDE, I wanted to make my own interface, would that be possible? If possible, how could I do this?


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## sidetone (Nov 10, 2020)

Look in the x11-wm category for window managers.

Go to /usr/ports/x11-wm/, or use `psearch -c x11-wm`.

There's one written in C, where if you know C, you can compile it to do what you want.


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## drhowarddrfine (Nov 11, 2020)

First, you must invent the universe.


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## a6h (Nov 11, 2020)

drhowarddrfine said:


> First, you must invent the universe.


After that, install x11-wm/i3


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## Beastie7 (Nov 11, 2020)

SuperuserRoot said:


> some time ago I installed FreeBSD with GNOME but I was not satisfied with this graphical interface, and I also do not want to install KDE, I wanted to make my own interface, would that be possible? If possible, how could I do this?


Before you reinvent the wheel. Ask yourself what exactly it is that you’re missing from GNOME or KDE. You could probably mold either of the two to your liking. If not, I’d probably start with learning Qt and go from there. It’s not easy, however, and by the time you learn how much work is involved for one person; you’ll probably give up. I wouldn‘t bother with GTK; it’s a mess. 

BSD is ripe for it’s own toolkit though, IMO.


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## matt_k (Nov 11, 2020)

This thread is probably a waste of time, but I'll try.
OP: try installing, patching and ricing x11-wm/dwm to your liking. Or try to do something like this with it:







You'll learn a bit C and you'll get a bit into the mindset of how window managers work. And basically, when you customize your own DWM, you are creating your own graphical enviroment and you are free to do anything with it. The source code is nicely readable, the basic DWM is very simple, etc.


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## SirDice (Nov 11, 2020)

My spidey senses are tingling...


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## Mjölnir (Nov 11, 2020)

SuperuserRoot said:


> some time ago I installed FreeBSD with GNOME but I was not satisfied with this graphical interface, and I also do not want to install KDE, I wanted to make my own interface, would that be possible? If possible, how could I do this?


No, you can't do that alone.  Yes, you can do that in a team.  Consider to join the LxQt or Lumina projects?


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## tedbell (Nov 11, 2020)

SuperuserRoot said:


> some time ago I installed FreeBSD with GNOME but I was not satisfied with this graphical interface, and I also do not want to install KDE, I wanted to make my own interface, would that be possible? If possible, how could I do this?


You have to make your own web rendering engine first. Don't worry, that's the easy part.


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## drhowarddrfine (Nov 11, 2020)

Not to dissuade a first-time poster (how many caught my earlier Carl Sagan reference?) but it's certainly possible cause it's programming and the things needed to create one are at your fingertips. After all, the Gnome and KDE and others have done it. I once did it for a medical product in assembly language years ago but not anything along the lines of Gnome or even i3. 

It's a fair bit of work but a lot of libraries are built into the system or readily available that you don't have to make everything from scratch but from scratch some things will need to be done. You just need to take the first step.


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## hruodr (Nov 11, 2020)

mjollnir said:


> No, you can't do that alone.  Yes, you can do that in a team.  Consider to join the LxQt or Lumina projects?



He himself does not know if he can, but how do you know that he cannot?


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## kpedersen (Nov 11, 2020)

Some steps 

- Decide on an underlying UI toolkit
- Create a Window Manager (for X11 or other)
- Create lots of utilities
- Profit!

It isn't really a hard thing to do but it will take time, especially with small teams or single developers. Whilst this is still very possible, the current state of GUI toolkits is almost as crap as existing desktop environments. This means for a really nice desktop solution you will be writing your own widget toolkit and then the scope of the project basically explodes. Unfortunately this can't really be done in a staggered or iterative approach either.


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## msplsh (Nov 11, 2020)

Just install this if you want to be different






						FreshPorts -- x11-wm/enlightenment: Artistic and fast X window manager
					

A very artistic and fast X window manager.




					www.freshports.org


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## Zvoni (Nov 11, 2020)

drhowarddrfine said:


> First, you must invent the universe.


Don't forget to enable debugging symbols......
Debugging just by looking at the output is a PITA....


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## hruodr (Nov 11, 2020)

Zvoni said:


> Don't forget to enable debugging symbols......
> Debugging just by looking at the output is a PITA....



You mean debugging the universe?!


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## Zvoni (Nov 11, 2020)

hruodr said:


> You mean debugging the universe?!


Of course!
have you taken a look at its source-code?

C-code looks clean and beautiful compared to it....


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## Mjölnir (Nov 12, 2020)

[FONT=courier new]goddess@blackhole:/usr/src % make -j 5 universe
--- upgrade_checks ---
--- universe_prologue ---
echo "--------------------------------------------------------------"
echo ">>> make universe started on Thu Nov 12 12:28:01 CET -6452"
echo "--------------------------------------------------------------"[/FONT]
[...]


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## hruodr (Nov 12, 2020)

The chemical industry can debug the universe without seeing its source-code.


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## Mjölnir (Nov 12, 2020)

hruodr said:


> The chemical industry can debug the universe without seeing its source-code.


Not shure... but for shure they can mess up a small part of it.


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