Setting up desktop environment on NetBSD 6.1.5

Question

I have installed NetBSD 6.1.5 with full installation setting. However, when I run startx it says no screens could be found. So i tried "X -configure" and then "X -config ~/xconfig.conf.new" and I was brought to a very generic screen with a black x crosshair, but I was unable to exit this using the suggested ctrl+alt+backspace, so I had to force power off and check if my keyboard was recognized in the conf file generated, which it was. I have installed xdm, xterm, Xorg, and other X programs.

I am not familiar with setting up desktop environments from scratch. I am a newb who is used to Ubuntu esque installers doing that stuff for me.

Would someone be able to walk me though the installation or point me to a link which explains a step by step process?

Answer 1

It turns out that I could run "X -config xorg.conf.new" as root on host and then ssh using putty to manually launch windows.

Answer 2

I found that running startx from any directory with a .xinitrc file gives strange behavior in amd64 6.1.5 and 6.1.4. Delete (or rename) any .xinitrc files and try

xinit /path/to/windowmanager

Answer 3

Please read Chapter 9 of NetBSD Guide:

http://www.netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-x.html

Section 9.9 discusses installing various Desktop Managers/Environments.

Answer 4

What happens if you rename your xorg.conf.new to /etc/X11/xorg.conf? Does startx or xdm work then?

Are you running this inside a VirtualBox or other emulator?

I have NetBSD on a Thinkpad T420 which I occasionally boot into Windows, and I've setup VirtualBox to be able to run the same NetBSD install when I'm in Windows. The key difference in the xorg.conf file is in the Device section:

Section "Device"
        Driver      "vesa"
EndSection

Also I've found the free version of http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/ very handy - I use it to ssh into the virtual NetBSD box and then run X apps and have them display on the Windows desktop.

Final note - you might want to look out for the NetBSD-7 RC1 which should be out 'Real Soon Now', as there are some very handy improvements, including better support for most modern display hardware :)