Preparing for the desktop

Installing the graphics driver

The first thing to do before setting up a desktop is to install the appropiate graphics drivers. The following steps will differ depending on the GPU you're using.

AMD GPU

Install the required packages with:

sudo xbps-install mesa-dri vulkan-loader mesa-vulkan-radeon mesa-vaapi

Intel GPU

Install the required packages with:

sudo xbps-install mesa-dri vulkan-loader mesa-vulkan-intel intel-video-accel

If your Intel is generation Coffee Lake or older, then you must set LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME to i965. Create file /etc/profile/intelgpu.sh with contents:

export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=i965

If your Intel is generation Broadwell, and you're experiencing issues, check this link.

Nvidia GPU

Nvidia users have two choices of drivers; the open source nouveau drivers and the official propietary ones.

• If your card model is 900 or newer, try the propietary drivers.
• If your card is old and no longer supported by Nvidia, try the open source drivers.
• If you're somewhere in the middle, try either.
• And if you experience issues, you can always switch to the other by installing the other's package and then uninstalling the current ones.

Propietary

The propietary drivers have separate packages based on model:

• For laptops with both an Intel and Nvidia GPU (dual graphics), read this.

• For models 400 and greater, run sudo xbps-install void-repo-nonfree && sudo xbps-install -S, then based on your model:

  • For 800 and newer, run sudo xbps-install nvidia

  • For 600 or 700, run sudo xbps-install nvidia470

  • For 400 or 500, run sudo xbps-install nvidia390

• For models older than 400 you must use the nouveau drivers instead.

Nouveau

Simply run sudo xbps-install mesa-dri

Setting up session and seat management

Install dbus and elogind:

sudo xbps-install dbus elogind

Then enable the dbus service with:

sudo ln -s /etc/sv/dbus /var/service

You will also have to disable the acpid service that's enabled by default, as it conflicts with elogind:

sudo rm /var/service/acpid

Installing the desktop

It is time to download and install the desktop environment. The packages and instructions to follow vary by quite a bit, so this guide branches out:

• For GNOME, see Installing and configuring GNOME.
• For KDE, see Installing and configuring KDE.
• For XFCE, see Installing and configuring XFCE.
• For Sway, see Installing and configuring Sway.

The environments above are those I've personally tested, not the extent of what is supported by Void Linux.