Preparing FreeBSD for desktop use installing Xfce4

Hi, if you want to have a simple but powerful desktop environment for your FreeBSD, i prefer you to look at Xfce4. Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.

Prepare and install

You need to have port tree and Xorg configured and installed, please read my last posts about Installing FreeBSD if you don't know how.

If you have everything, time to install Xfce:

# cd /usr/ports/x11-wm/xfce4 && make && make install

If the configuration menu accours then check ""GDM", "Mixer", "XPM" and press "ENTER". Then will need to wait for a while..

After installation login as normal user and edit .xinitrc from your home directory (if it's empty create new), put this line:

exec startxfce4

Save and run:
# startx

Everything should work good, if you want to start graphical login manager on system startup put this line to /etc/rc.conf

gdm_enable="YES"

Save, reboot, Enjoy!