How to Add Startup Programs (Linux & FreeBSD)

This applies to different desktop managers (XDM, GDM, and KDM)

newemachine$ vi ~/.xsession

then put your commands to the following in the file

#!/bin/sh gnome-terminal & exec /usr/bin/gnome-session

This runs gnome-terminal after you log into a Gnome session. You can substitute 'gnome-terminal' with other commands that you want to run. 'exec /usr/bin/gnome-session' is required here; otherwise, as soon as starting gnome-terminal process finishes, you will be taken back to the log in window. The directory of window managers such as Gnome varies from distribution to distribution. If you run a different window manager, you want to change '/usr/bin/gnome-session' accordingly.

newemachine$ chmod u+x ~/.xsession

.xsession has to be executable to get this working.

Learning FreeBSD

How to Install a FreeBSD Application

• install pre-compiled applications

newemachine# pkg_add -r bash

The above command installs precompiled Bash application.


• install ports

newemachine# cd /usr/ports/www/bash newemachine# make install clean

The above command download necessary source pre, then compile and install it.

How to find a FreeBSD Application

• Option 1: (If you know the exact application name)

newemachine# whereis xclock xclock: /usr/local/bin/xclock /usr/share/man/man1/xclock.1.gz /usr/ports/x11/xclock



• Option 2:

newemachine# cd /usr/ports newemachine# make search name=xclock Port: xclock-1.0.2 Path: /usr/ports/X11/xclock Info: Analog and digital clock for X .......

How to Give User Superuser Privilege

• allow a user to sudo

newemachine# pkg_add -r sudo newemachine# /usr/local/sbin/visudo


then add the following line after 'root ALL=(ALL) ALL'


shawn ALL=(ALL) ALL

this gives user shawn the superuser privilege


• allow a user to su

newemachine# vi /etc/group

then add change 'wheel:*:0:root' to 'wheel:*:0:root,shawn', this adds user shawn to the wheel group which have the superuser privilege.

How to Configure X

• create a X server configuration file

newemachine# Xorg -configure



• test newly created configuration file

newemachine# X -config /root/xorg.conf.new

If you see a gray screen with x mouse cursor, then X is running ok. Now Ctrl + Alt + Backspace to exit X


• fine-tune X configuration

newemachine# mv /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf


Move tested configuration to the system-wide configuration directory

newemachine# vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf


Under Section "Screen", add a line DefaultDepth 24 after the line where it says Monitor "Monitor0"
then under SubSection "Display", add a line Modes "1024x768" (#change to your own screen resolution) after the line where it says Depth 24

newemachine# startx

start the X server!

How to Configure Sound Card

• load a set of common sound device drivers

newemachine# kldload snd_driver



• test loaded sound card driver

newemachine# cat /dev/sndstat

You will see something similar to the following:


FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm)
Installed devices:
pcm0:  at io 0xffa7f800, 0xffa7f400 irq 17 bufsz 16384 kld snd_ich (1p/1r/0v channels duplex default)

This means that my actual sound card driver is snd_ich; therefore, I can load snd_ich instead of snd_driver.


newemachine# kldload snd_ich



• load modules at boot

newemachine# vi /boot/loader.conf


add snd_ich_load="YES" to the file