Some people like to play with FreeBSD and to use it like a desktop operating system. Normally, FreeBSD is a text mode server OS with full packages.
How do you install a desktop environment like KDE and GNOME on FreeBSD? In my example, I will explain how I have installed KDE 4.8.4 on FreeBSD 9.1.
First, login to FreeBSD under root and run sysinstall > Pre-packaged Software > Install from FTP server > X11 > KDE and Xorg:
root@FreeBSD-Unixmen:/root # sysinstall
The setup will take some time to download and install the packages and dependencies required.
Now add some extra line to /etc/rc.conf to avoid freezing keyboard and mouse:
dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"
kdm4_enable="YES"
local_startup="${local_startup} /usr/local/kde4/etc/rc.d"
dbus_enable=”YES”
hald_enable=”YES
Please reboot, login and enjoy!
