Gnome on NetBSD

pfr

I'm just wondering if anyone has gnome running and would care to give a brief install/setup guide?

I've tried installing the gnome3 meta package oin a NetBSD-9.2_STABLE Virtual Machine and while it does install, I cannot seem to get it to run. This might be an issue with the VM not having enough video memory but I cant be sure. I also don't quite know the correct way to launch Gnome. startx would be my preferred way, although I have other window managers installed so I'd need to bypass the .xinitrc for the .xsession file instead. I'm not opposed to using a login manager though.

I remember some time ago @qik posted about Gnome on NetBSD. I'd be interested to know if any progress has been made.

Ultimately, If I can get gnome up and running I may well ditch linux for good. My wife doesn't know what OS she's using on the laptop we share, she just knows how to navigate gnome to get to her browser, writer and files etc. She'll never know! (except trackpad scrolling still doesn't work yet?)

Cheers.

Jay

pfr I think suggested way for now is build using pkgsrc

For more info https://wiki.netbsd.org/GNOME/

pfr

Jay Thanks Jay!

qik

@pfr So.. there's no more gnome3, but there's meta-pkgs/gnome. As mentioned above, it would take a while to compile. Fortunately, it should be available in the next pkgsrc stable release as binary packages.

Unfortunately the binary packages from the previous release are incomplete. You might have some luck getting GNOME to run if you install x11/libgdm from pkgsrc-current.

Jay Ramiferous I think suggested way for now is build using pkgsrc

For more info https://wiki.netbsd.org/GNOME/

Correct. I maintain the packages and the above wiki page.

Regarding running it in a VM - I don't think driver support is good enough to have a smooth experience. But it runs pretty well on bare metal if you have a supported GPU.

neubaer

Works on my machine 😉

Well, sort of.

I tried it in a 9.2 VM running on Linux/KVM, with current pkgsrc. meta-pkgs/gnome eventually compiles (lots of patience with that one, multiple runs of make), and runs with startx. Then it's anything but smooth and there are a lot of graphical glitches, which I'm ready to blame on the VM.

So you might want to try it on real hardware just to be sure it all runs well, because I can't get anything more out of the VM.

pfr

neubaer I will hopefully be inheriting a couple of low spec laptops soon which will be testing machines. Hopefully they can manage it.

rgeorgia

I have gnome running on my Mac Mini 2014 (NetBSD 9.2), but I can't change the desktop. Gnome-tweaks is not available in ports, but it is in wip. Also, the settings panel is missing.

pfr

rgeorgia Nice! Feel free to share some screenshots (here or in the screenshots thread)