Howto get FreeBSD/Xorg/Gnome running in bhyve VM

[Bernard Mentink]

Hi,

I am trying to evaluate gnome on FreeBSD in a bhyve VM on my FreeNAS server. I have installed FreeBSD standard install in the VM and it boots fine. I then installed Xorg and gnome3 and did the usual things to /etc/rc.conf to get things going.

However when booting Xorg fails with a "Cannot run in framebuffer mode" error .... is there something else I have to load to get Xorg running in bhyve? I don't know what video driver to install ...

Cheers

 

[Bernard Mentink]

Ok, I got it going ... I had to put the following in an Xorg .conf file ..

Code:

Section "Device"
   Identifier "Card0"
   Driver	 "scfb"
EndSection

Gnome3 boots up now, but I still have an issue ... the cursor in the gnome session won't move or click with the mouse .. how do I activate that.
(I get a pointy arrow cursor that doesn't move and a small "x" cursor that I can move, but does nothing ..)

PS: I am using TightVNC to view the screen

 

[scrappy]

gnome session won't move or click with the mouse .. how do I activate that.

Have you added moused_enable="YES" to your VM's /etc/rc.conf ?

 

[Bernard Mentink]

Have you added moused_enable="YES" to your VM's /etc/rc.conf ?

Yes, no difference .. The mouse cursor is just stuck on the GDM login page, I can get into gnome with the keyboard, but can do nothing else without the mouse ..

EDIT: Maybe I need to follow this?
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/virtualization-guest-virtualbox.html
The question is, will the virtualbox driver work with bhyve, or does there need to be a new device-driver/howto to get this working ..

 

[Bernard Mentink]

I tried making my xorg.conf file look like this:

Code:

Section "Device"
		Identifier "Card0"
		Driver  "scfb"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
		Identifier "Mouse0"
		Driver "scfb"
EndSection

.. but that did not help either, however xorg log file shows sysmouse support, just looks like bhyve just hasn't passed over control to it ..

 

[nightshade00013]

Probably be easier to just install TrueOS and then switch to Gnome from whatever they are using for the GUI.

 

[Bernard Mentink]

Probably be easier to just install TrueOS and then switch to Gnome from whatever they are using for the GUI.

TrueOS installer has the same issue with the mouse !!

 

[scrappy]

Are you using UEFI option for boot method? If so, are you using the FreeNAS VNC for VMs which is built-in? I know certain VNC clients were experiencing issues with FreeNAS. I use RealVNC client on my desktop and phone. As long as image quality is set to high, it works just fine, mouse and all.

 

[Bernard Mentink]

Are you using UEFI option for boot method? If so, are you using the FreeNAS VNC for VMs which is built-in? I know certain VNC clients were experiencing issues with FreeNAS. I use RealVNC client on my desktop and phone. As long as image quality is set to high, it works just fine, mouse and all.

I am using TightVNC or RealVNC from a Linux box, both have the issues with the mouse.

However, I think it maybe a FreeBSD issue as running Alpine Linux in a VM, mouse works just fine ...

On another issue: I have the resolution of the VM set to 1920x1080 but I only get an actual resolution of 1024x768, how do I change that ..?

 

[scrappy]

I am using TightVNC or RealVNC from a Linux box, both have the issues with the mouse.

However, I think it maybe a FreeBSD issue as running Alpine Linux in a VM, mouse works just fine ...

On another issue: I have the resolution of the VM set to 1920x1080 but I only get an actual resolution of 1024x768, how do I change that ..?

Hmmm... I enabled moused on one of my FreeBSD VMs, rebooted and...NO MOUSE CONTROL. I think you're right that this has something to do with FreeBSD since my Linux VMs also have functioning mouse cursors. I suppose you could file a bug report.

About your resolution: Are you running FreeNAS 11.1-U2? I thought that issue was fixed in the latest release.

 

[Bernard Mentink]

I am using FreeNAS 11.1-U1, I will try the latest updates ..

EDIT: Still same issue with -U2, from the release notes, it looks like just some extra resolutions supported ..
EDIT2: Resolution change does work now .. had to restart the VM ..