Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 12:29:25 -0700 From: Matthew Hunt <mph@astro.caltech.edu> To: Marty C <lalala@globalserve.net> Cc: FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Many stupid Questions about UNIX and FreeBSD Message-ID: <19990623122924.B71855@wopr.caltech.edu> In-Reply-To: <3770D143.41C67EA6@globalserve.net>; from Marty C on Wed, Jun 23, 1999 at 12:21:23PM %2B0000 References: <3770D143.41C67EA6@globalserve.net>
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Marty, I'll address the questions that I can provide some sort of usefull response to. On Wed, Jun 23, 1999 at 12:21:23PM +0000, Marty C wrote: > 1) Who uses FreeBSD? Students, proffessionals, etc? > -- At whom is it targetted? Do the developers want the whole world to > use some day or is it more of a "best OS possible for task X" (I really > like FreeBSD and I'm not trying to dis' it, but I don't see my mom > configuring her own kernel)? That is a difficult question, and even among the FreeBSD developers is likely to produce many different answers. I would say that the the OS is well suited to almost any sort of general computing, but the currently provided interfaces and applications might not make it practical for Mom. The primary development focus of FreeBSD is the server market; we have especially good networking and reliability. OTOH, the only FreeBSD machine I'm in charge of is my little desktop box. I'm not your average desktop user, though. > 2) When I install and try to run the Netscape 4.51 on my CD's > (FreeBSD3.2) I get an error about "ld.so"... Is this because A) I need I think this is a relic from FreeBSD changing from one type of file for executables, called a.out, to a new type called ELF. Netscape still ships as a.out, which should be fine, but I think 3.2 was missing some of the compatibility code that is necessary. You should consult the mailing list archives at www.freebsd.org; I'm sure it's been addressed before. > 5)When configuring one's KERNEL file, is the GENERIC file the one that > is used to build the start kernel I am booting with now (having not yet Yes. I'm not sure specifically about adding sound; the LINT file contains all of the possible devices and options, and may be more useful. > can I assume the irq values are good? failing that, are the ones spewed > out by the booting process necessarily right/complete? shift+PgUP in a If the device in question is working properly (e.g. if your IDE disks are working, then wdc0 is OK) then the values spouted by the kernel are certainly correct, and probably the same as in the GENERIC config file. BTW, the bootup messages are stored in /var/run/dmesg.boot for your convenience. > console doesn't seem to work from outside X... Anyone know how to get to > the messages that have already scrolled by? In the console, you can scroll back by hitting Scroll Lock and using the Page Up/Down keys. Hit Scroll Lock again to escape. > -- if, while I am looking inside of KERNEL (the kernel compilation > directives file), I don't know what something is, don't think I have it > and certainly have never actually used it, but have NO clue what it is, > is it better to leave it or remove it? If it's in GENERIC and your system is running OK, then leaving it in will only use up a little more memory. Deleting something that turns out to be necessary will probably be more annoying. > -- assuming I go as far as "make" but not "make install", can compiling > a new kernel mangle mr. computer? If it compiles OK, is that good proof > that will boot OK? That is sure to be safe, but provides no guarantee that the kernel is going to be right for your computer. Check to see if there is a /kernel.GENERIC on your system. If not, copy /kernel to /kernel.GENERIC. Then, if you "make install" and you can't boot the new kernel, you can tell the boot loader to boot /kernel.GENERIC instead. Also "make install" will copy your present kernel to /kernel.old. Hopefully some of this is helpful to you. :-) Matt -- Matthew Hunt <mph@astro.caltech.edu> * Science rules. http://www.pobox.com/~mph/ * To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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