Installation

Hi there

As a relatively inexperienced user of FreeBSD I have little
input to offer  
the community as a whole save to suggest that offering a DVD
iso image  
 from which to install would save the sometimes extreme
tediousness of disc  
swapping when adding packages. If I knew more about it I
would make such  
an image myself, however, having never had to do it before
it is something  
I will have to pen in for a later time.

Just a thought.

Thanks,

David.

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On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 05:37:25PM +1100, dajaasge wrote:
> Hi there
> 
> As a relatively inexperienced user of FreeBSD I have
little input to offer  
> the community as a whole save to suggest that offering
a DVD iso image  
> from which to install would save the sometimes extreme
tediousness of disc  
> swapping when adding packages. If I knew more about it
I would make such  
> an image myself, however, having never had to do it
before it is something  
> I will have to pen in for a later time.

I believe there are a few people/organisations who provide
DVD
images - I'm sure Google will help you locate them.

I think it fair to say that most people will use ports to
compile and
install software, rather than relying on the packages on the
release
ISOs, for the simple reason that the ports tree is a moving
target -
the packages included with any particular release are out of
date
(as a set, if not individually) quite quickly, because the
porters
do a fantastic job of adding new software and updating
existing ports.

So, my suggestion (as an old hack who's been around for
almost a 
decade  would be
to familiarise yourself with the ports tree 
and all its magic - you'll probably find yourself using it
in
preference to precompiled packages. The handbook is the best
place
to start, as ever.

Dan

-- 
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On Wednesday 12 March 2008, dajaasge wrote:

> As a relatively inexperienced user of FreeBSD I have
little input to offer
>   the community as a whole save to suggest that
offering a DVD iso image
> from which to install would save the sometimes extreme
tediousness of disc
> swapping when adding packages. If I knew more about it
I would make such an
> image myself, however, having never had to do it before
it is something I
> will have to pen in for a later time.

Creating a DVD from the official FreeBSD CD isos (disc[1-3])
is quite 
straightforward. Take a look at the instructions on 
<http:/
/www.pa.msu.edu/~tigner/bsddvd.html>. It describes
creating a DVD from 
a 2 CD set but the process is the same for 3, just include
an extra step to 
mount and copy disc3 in the same way as he describes disc2,
then continue 
with the instructions for disc2 and disc1 in that order.

-- 
Mike Clarke
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On Wednesday 12 March 2008, Daniel Bye wrote:

> I think it fair to say that most people will use ports
to compile and
> install software, rather than relying on the packages
on the release
> ISOs, for the simple reason that the ports tree is a
moving target -
> the packages included with any particular release are
out of date
> (as a set, if not individually) quite quickly, because
the porters
> do a fantastic job of adding new software and updating
existing ports.
>
> So, my suggestion (as an old hack who's been around for
almost a
> decade  would be
to familiarise yourself with the ports tree
> and all its magic - you'll probably find yourself using
it in
> preference to precompiled packages. The handbook is the
best place
> to start, as ever.

I agree that there are advantages in using ports to ensure
things are kept up 
to date but using the packages supplied with the release can
be an advantage 
for a newcomer to FreeBSD.

The ports system can be quite daunting until one has become
familiar with the 
system especially if even just one of the ports fails to
build. A new user 
probably won't have the expertise to recognise and fix the
cause of the 
problem. Installing packages from the CD's pretty well
ensures that the new 
user can get a new system up and running without
complication. Many new users 
would prefer a slightly out of date system that works
instead of struggling 
to fix problems in a totally unfamiliar system. When I first
started to use 
FreeBSD I relied on the packages on the CDs, as I gained
more familiarity I 
was much more confident in using ports for the applications
that weren't 
available as precompiled packages.

Although I'm now quite comfortable building from ports I
still use precompiled 
packages where they are available because I've got a
relatively low powered 
PC which makes very heavy going with the bigger ports (e.g.
gcc, firefox, 
KDE)

-- 
Mike Clarke
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Mike Clarke wrote:
> On Wednesday 12 March 2008, dajaasge wrote:
>
>   
>> As a relatively inexperienced user of FreeBSD I
have little input to offer
>>   the community as a whole save to suggest that
offering a DVD iso image
>> from which to install would save the sometimes
extreme tediousness of disc
>> swapping when adding packages. If I knew more about
it I would make such an
>> image myself, however, having never had to do it
before it is something I
>> will have to pen in for a later time.
>>     
>
> Creating a DVD from the official FreeBSD CD isos
(disc[1-3]) is quite 
> straightforward. Take a look at the instructions on 
> <http:/
/www.pa.msu.edu/~tigner/bsddvd.html>. It describes
creating a DVD from 
> a 2 CD set but the process is the same for 3, just
include an extra step to 
> mount and copy disc3 in the same way as he describes
disc2, then continue 
> with the instructions for disc2 and disc1 in that
order.
>
>   
Or, if for some reason you don't want to build it yourself,
download 
this torrent:


http://www.tuxdistro.com/torrents-details.php?id=921
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On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 05:37:25PM +1100, dajaasge wrote:

> Hi there
> 
> As a relatively inexperienced user of FreeBSD I have
little input to offer  
> the community as a whole save to suggest that offering
a DVD iso image  
> from which to install would save the sometimes extreme
tediousness of disc  
> swapping when adding packages. If I knew more about it
I would make such  
> an image myself, however, having never had to do it
before it is something  
> I will have to pen in for a later time.

I think most people install over the net and so only need
the CD (DVD) 
to boot and set up sysinstall.    Then there is no swapping
of disks
and you get the latest in ports.    So, people tend not to
feel the
need for a DVD ISO.

But, if you do not have an adequate internet connection,
this becomes 
less practical, unfortunately.

////jerry

> 
> Just a thought.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> David.
> 
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-que
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> To unsubscribe, send any mail to
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DAJAASGE WROTE:
> HI THERE
> 
> AS A RELATIVELY INEXPERIENCED USER OF FREEBSD I HAVE
LITTLE INPUT TO
> OFFER THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE SAVE TO SUGGEST THAT
OFFERING A DVD ISO
> IMAGE FROM WHICH TO INSTALL WOULD SAVE THE SOMETIMES
EXTREME TEDIOUSNESS
> OF DISC SWAPPING WHEN ADDING PACKAGES. IF I KNEW MORE
ABOUT IT I WOULD
> MAKE SUCH AN IMAGE MYSELF, HOWEVER, HAVING NEVER HAD TO
DO IT BEFORE IT
> IS SOMETHING I WILL HAVE TO PEN IN FOR A LATER TIME.

AS OTHERS SAID, MOST EXPERIENCED PEOPLE INSTALL A
MORE-OR-LESS BAREBONES
SYSTEM AND ADD PACKAGES OVER THE NET. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU
MIGHT TRY AN
EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM SUCH AS
HTTP://BLOGS.FREEBSDISH.ORG/IVORAS/2008/02/11/FINSTALL-ALPHA
3/ .

On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 10:09:12AM +0000, Mike Clarke
wrote:
> On Wednesday 12 March 2008, Daniel Bye wrote:
> 
> > I think it fair to say that most people will use
ports to compile and
> > install software, rather than relying on the
packages on the release
> > ISOs, for the simple reason that the ports tree is
a moving target -
> > the packages included with any particular release
are out of date
> > (as a set, if not individually) quite quickly,
because the porters
> > do a fantastic job of adding new software and
updating existing ports.
> >
> > So, my suggestion (as an old hack who's been
around for almost a
> > decade  would be
to familiarise yourself with the ports tree
> > and all its magic - you'll probably find yourself
using it in
> > preference to precompiled packages. The handbook
is the best place
> > to start, as ever.
> 
> I agree that there are advantages in using ports to
ensure things are kept up 
> to date but using the packages supplied with the
release can be an advantage 
> for a newcomer to FreeBSD.

Of course, a point I realised I missed in my original
reply.

> The ports system can be quite daunting until one has
become familiar with the 
> system especially if even just one of the ports fails
to build. A new user 
> probably won't have the expertise to recognise and fix
the cause of the 
> problem. Installing packages from the CD's pretty well
ensures that the new 
> user can get a new system up and running without
complication. Many new users 
> would prefer a slightly out of date system that works
instead of struggling 
> to fix problems in a totally unfamiliar system. When I
first started to use 
> FreeBSD I relied on the packages on the CDs, as I
gained more familiarity I 
> was much more confident in using ports for the
applications that weren't 
> available as precompiled packages.

Yes, of course; you make several good points, Mike. I hope
my suggestion
didn't come over as sounding like ports is the only way - as
you point
out below, packages are the sane option for most of us
mortals for huge
collections of software like KDE.

Speaking for myself (it's all I'm qualified to do, after
all), I will
say that I found the learning process in FreeBSD to be on
the whole
straight forward and very enjoyable - I emigrated from
Linuxland after
a particularly frustrating problem for which I got nothing
but scorn for
being a n00b on the newsgroups (I know most Linux
communities these days
are not like that - but back then, the one I went to for
help most
certainly was). All I wanted to do was learn about something
other than
Windows. So at the recommendation of a couple of colleagues,
I tried
4.0-RELEASE, joined this mailing list, and never looked
back. From the
first day, I can remember being blown away by how easy it
was to install
from the ports - it resolves dependencies for you? Yeah,
right... wait,
it's resolving dependencies for me! After wrestling with
RPMs, who
wouldn't love that? (Again, I know a hell of a lot of work
has gone
into the various software management tools available for
Linuxes, but
I still haven't found one I like as much as our own ports.)

I could bang on for hours about how much I enjoy using
FreeBSD (it has
been my primary desktop OS since 4.2, my business is based
on FreeBSD
VPS services, I supply FreeBSD Internet appliances to my
clients, blah
blah blah) and about how elegant and well thought out it is.
It has
its glitches, sure, but it's a huge evolving system.  Such
an immense
amount of intelligence and talent has gone into making
FreeBSD what it 
is, and a good proportion of that intelligence and talent is
available 
at first hand for free on the lists - in my experience, you
just don't
get that very often.

Anyway - to the OP - my apologies for hijacking your thread,
and welcome
aboard. Keep at it, you'll love it, I'm sure. Keep asking
questions - 
this list is a fantastic resource for newcomers and more
experienced
users alike.

> Although I'm now quite comfortable building from ports
I still use precompiled 
> packages where they are available because I've got a
relatively low powered 
> PC which makes very heavy going with the bigger ports
(e.g. gcc, firefox, 
> KDE)

Indeed. I'll never get back those days waiting for KDE and
OO.o to
build...

Right, that's me done 

Dan

-- 
Daniel Bye
                                                            
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campaign ( )
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                                - proprietary attachments in
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