Some Little Issues

[Robin]

1. I have set Xfce screensaver to start after 30 minutes, but it starts at 5 minutes and requires my Login password. I'd like to change that, but even a restart doesn't keep the setting. (SOLVED)

2. LibreOffice got "uninstalled" all by itself, apparently overnight. That could be a deal-breaker. But perhaps I did something wrong?

3. Can I set GhostBSD to auto-login? There was no option to autologin when installing it, and apparently no option to change it now unless I'm just not seeing it.

4. Since I didn't wish to use a "Linux emulator" to install my first choice of a web browser, I installed ungoogled-chromium and used a hosts file to block ads, since I apparently can't add extensions to ungoogled-chromium. Is that a feature or a bug? And was I smart or silly to edit the etc/hosts file? I finally found a round-about way to get uBlock-origin working on ungoogled-chromium, using an app that installs "chromium store." It may only work for a little while, though, since Google and YouTube are fighting like crazy to make ad-blockers obsolete. Google removed adblockers from it's Chrome Web Store, and updates to Chrome render those extensions inoperative.

5. A USB headset doesn't work at all. My work-around is to use a different headset that plugs in where microphone and external speakers would go, but I'm curious about the USB issue. A feature or a bug? (SOLVED)

Thanks in advance for your thoughtful replies,
Robin

[q-pa]

@1: I had the same issue on Mate (years ago). You have 2 settings: regard computer as idle after 5 minutes (where you can activate the screen saver plus the option to lock the screen) and then the power mgt setting where you can also define when to put the display to sleep. I found these double settings confusing.

@4: I followed Method 1 from https://avoidthehack.com/manually-insta ... d-chromium

[Robin]

Changing the power management setting worked, yay! Thanks! One down... the Chromium thing didn't work when I tried to add the extension. Neither method worked. Google reeeeeally doesn't want people doing that, I guess. But I have the hosts file in place and it's doing an awesome job so far, blocking most ads.

Oh, and "Isabella " is the font I was looking for. Part of a larger package of a font collection.

[ericbsd]

@Robin for auto-login remove # to autologin-user= and add your user to it in /usr/local/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.

Did you install a package or update your packages? Maybe it was uninstalled with an update or a software installation. A package should not get removed by itself.

For your headset, did you look at /dev/sndstat

[Robin]

There have been no updates since I installed GhostBSD four days ago. I re-installed the Update Station as per your instructions in another thread, so I assume there just haven't been any updates in the last four days. If there have been updates since the 22nd of November, my Update Station is unaware of them.

I edited the lightdm.conf file, will ket you know if it has worked. The headset is a non-issue, really, since I had a spare with the proper audio jacks. What would I be looking for in /dev/sndstat?

[Robin]

Here's what /dev/sndstat looks like:

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Installed devices:
pcm0: <Realtek ALC269 (Analog)> (play/rec) default
pcm1: <Realtek ALC269 (Analog 2.0+HP/2.0)> (play/rec)
pcm2: <Intel Panther Point (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
pcm3: <Intel Panther Point (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
pcm4: <C-Media Electronics Inc. product 0x013c> (play/rec)
No devices installed from userspace.

That's with the USB headset plugged in and the other headset removed. I don't know if it changes when I plug in or unplug a device.

I'm asking because the sound from the Jack headset quit working. The only sound now is from the little PC speaker.

[Robin]

Okay, the sound issue was solved by adding the Pulseaudio plugin to the Xfce panel and then choosing the headset. I thought the headset would become the default when plugged in, but apparently that isn't the case. Nor was simply opening Pulsaudio from the menu, because it did not offer the option to make a default output device.

[ericbsd]

No, FreeBSD does not switch audio automatically.

[Robin]

No, FreeBSD does not switch audio automatically.

That's fine. Is there a way to make the setting "stick" rather than defaulting back to the computer speaker every time I reboot?

Many thanks for your answers, and for all the work that goes into this fine OS. Once we are recovered financially from three hurricanes here in 13 months' time, I intend to donate! In the meantime I'm bragging about it on diaspora and on my blog.

[ericbsd]

You can make it default like this:

Step 1: List Available Audio Devices

1. Open a terminal and run:

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   cat /dev/sndstat

   This will display the list of available sound devices. Look for lines starting with pcm.
   
   Example output:

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   Installed devices:
   pcm0: <Realtek ALC892 (Analog 5.1)> (play/rec) default
   pcm1: <NVIDIA (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
   pcm2: <USB Audio Device> (play/rec)
   

   The device index corresponds to the number after pcm (e.g., 0 for pcm0).

Step 2: Set the Default Audio Output

1. Open /etc/sysrc.conf in your preferred text editor:

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   sudo nano /etc/sysrc.conf

2. Add or update the following line to set the desired default audio device (replace X with the index of the desired pcm device):

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   hw.snd.default_unit=X

   For example, to set the HDMI audio device (pcm1) as default:

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   hw.snd.default_unit=1

Step 3: Apply the Changes

1. Apply the changes immediately without rebooting by running:

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   sudo sysctl hw.snd.default_unit=X

   Replace X with the desired device index (e.g., 1 for pcm1).