Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 11:35:29 -0700 From: "Thomas Connolly" <tpconnolly@frii.com> To: "'Lars'" <lars@gmx.at>, <freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org> Subject: RE: FreeBSD installation and config experience Message-ID: <001801c2f558$cff348f0$5608a8c0@ceesi.com> In-Reply-To: <20030328113509.GA693@gmx.at>
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Good Information Lars! Thanks. Thomas P. Connolly Senior Development Engineer Colorado Engineering Experiment Station Inc. Phone: (970) 897-2711 Fax: (970) 897-2710 Email: tconnolly@ceesi.com =20 -----Original Message----- From: owner-freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org [mailto:owner-freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org] On Behalf Of Lars Sent: Friday, March 28, 2003 4:35 AM To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Subject: FreeBSD installation and config experience Hi all, I want to share some experiences I've had buying, reading about, installing and configuring FreeBSD 4.7. I am, not for much longer though, a W2k user. I mainly use my home pc for games, dvd viewing and ripping and mp3 = encoding and listening. So nothing serious on that side. Three months ago I bought FBSD 4.7 from bsdmall.com and the book = "Absolute BSD" in my local bookshop (which, fortunately enough, has a well selected O'Reilly/UNIX section). <general life and stuff> 2.5 months later </general life and stuff> Two weeks ago I bought a new HDD and after a lot of reading of the = FreeBSD handbook=20 on freebsd.org, Absolute BSD and other sites and mailing lists I = actually installed FreeBSD 4.7. My hardware: P4 2.4 GHz 512 1066 RAM 3*120GB HDD Samsung=20 NV GF4 Ti 4200 Hercules FortissimoII soundcard Logitech MX300 optical mouse (USB) 3com 905TX NIC EIZO L565 TFT monitor connected per DVI System is behind a DSL router with dynamic domain name auto-update functionality. I began the installation with the "Standard with X software suite". After the surprisingly fast installation, basic network configuration = and creation of a user, I rebooted and the system started up nicely. After unsuccessful DNS resolution and some subsequent reading I edited = the resolv.conf file and=20 tested name resolution by using lynx -worked. Following the foolproof instructions in Abolute BSD and the online docs=20 I upgraded my system to 4.8. Email: Now that was a tricky one ;-) 1. configure mutt -3h; 2. configure sendmail -6h; 3. configure fetchmail -3h; 4. set my hostname to the my dynamic domain name =3D> email works. XFree86: Several unsuccessful configuration attempts at getting a nice GUI. Replaced the DVI cable with an analogue one -GUI works; ask in forum why -"use Nvidia driver!"; download driver; consult Absolute BSD and onlamp.com for multimedia kernel options -compile new kernel -sound works ;-); install nvidia driver and plugin DVI cable -X works per DVI too -nice. consult google and freebsd.org; install wrapper -$user can startx; next tasks:=20 -enable mp3 playback from kde or cli; -enable DVD playback and ripping; -setup additional PCs as fileservers and web presence; Time spent configuring other stuff in FreeBSD, learning about UNIX, vi, fetchmail, mutt, sendmail, XFree and other more general stuff like SMTP and DNS, approximately 20h. Being something like a "poweruser", whatever that means, on my W2k = system and supporting w2k at work, I thought I had some clue about IT, = protocols and other principles of networking.=20 I was wrong. In fact I learned a lot more in the 35h of mucking around on my machine than in a few months of supporting w2k! At times rather frustrating, setting up my little box has been an = extremely=20 rewarding experience. The community is very supportive and if you manage = to formulate your question in a halfway informative and intelligent way the answers = come in quick. I've still got a long way to go and am not allowed to be tempted by my = nice windowsmanager, but I'm confident it's the right way to go. So to all newbies out there:=20 DO NOT GIVE UP! RTFM and maybe buy a book on FreeBSD. You'll learn a lot more about the information _technology_ using FreeBSD than you'll ever do using a MS product. Use "good" hardware (not some Winmodem or other cheapa.. crap); use a dedicated HDD; get a good book or two (e.g. Absolute BSD by Michael Lucas and UNIX = Power Tools from O'Reilly); use the command line; then use a windowmanager (windowSmanager?); try using ONLY FreeBSD to force yourself to immerse yourself=20 and make an effort configuring the system; use RCS to track changes you made; write down what you did in a notebook; check freebsd.org, onlamp.com, bsdforums.com periodically and try to emulate the examples, especially the BSD articles on = onlamp.com. Ok, that's it. Thanks for your time. Kind regards, Lars. _______________________________________________ freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-newbies To unsubscribe, send any mail to = "freebsd-newbies-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
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