Find a good config guide

[Holger Sebert]

On 3/21/22 20:09, Michael Needham wrote:
> Greetings:
> 
> I have been using Linux for over 25 years and have used FreeBSD off and on in that time.  As we speak I am running an Arch based distro and thinking of switching my daily driver to FBSD.
> 
> My experience with X despite the years using UNIX or UNIX-like operating systems, configuring X has always failed for me which is a lack of my understanding I believe.  If it is already configured by my distro (in this case, EndeavourOS) then it works the way it should.  I have been trying to install vanilla Arch Linux and the DE part never seems to work unless you use KDE or Gnome and those DEs seem to use another method for configuring the X11 server (may be ignorant here).
> 
> Anyhow, I would like to learn how to configure X in a step by step granular level tutorial.  I learn best visually, but can follow a well written guide that would do a lot of hand holding.  I think that this hole in my knowledge being filled is paramount to my ability to realize my own use cases for Linux or BSD.  Mainly, my focus in my years was on the server environment and recently (last year) it shifted to a desktop environment focus.
> 
> If someone can help here or point out a good such tutorial, that would appreciated!  I especially want to experience setting X up with nothing configured.  Example, how to what info needs to be gathered on my system and WHERE that information is put (config files) both on Arch and BSD.
> 
> Thank you in advance for help.  While not a noob to Linux or UNIX, very much one on X11.
> 
> Regards,
> Michael Needham
> 

Hi,

on modern systems, Xorg should start out of the box with no
explicit configuration needed, except maybe setting the
window manager you would like to use. But graphics output
and input devices should be detected on the fly, provided
you are using Kernel Modesetting (KMS).

E.g. on FreeBSD something like this should do the trick:

pkg install xorg
pkg install windowmaker # or any other window manager
startx

For details, consult the excellent FreeBSD Handbook.