Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 02:02:18 -0700 From: Gregory Sutter <gsutter@pobox.com> To: Nicole Harrington <nicole@nmhtech.com> Cc: advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Interesting article in an unlikely place Message-ID: <19990512020218.X55051@001101.zer0.org> In-Reply-To: <XFMail.990511205747.nicole@nmhtech.com>; from Nicole Harrington on Tue, May 11, 1999 at 08:57:47PM -0700 References: <XFMail.990511205747.nicole@nmhtech.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
<http://www.aceshardware.com/articles/how-to/freebsd.shtml>; Home UNIX Boxen FreeBSD Ace's Hardware By Brian Neal 5/5/99 There are a number of freely available UNIX varients online, and a number of reasons to use one. From platform support requirements (from a developer's standpoint) to just plain curiosity, more and more people these days are choosing to use a free UNIX operating system on their home PCs. Previously, I discussed using Solaris 7 x86 on a home PC, now I'd like to introduce you to FreeBSD, a completely free, non-GPLed, reliable freeware UNIX OS based on Berkely UNIX 4.4 (BSD). FreeBSD and not Linux? They're both free, but why choose FreeBSD over Linux, with it's popularity and support growing everyday, or even Solaris x86, a well-established player? It comes down to heritage. There are essentially two fundamental versions of UNIX, AT&T System V and BSD (Berkely System Design). All the decendants of UNIX available today (Solaris/SunOS, AIX, HP-UX, Digital UNIX, *BSD, etc.) are based roughly on either of these two systems, though many combine elements from both. Though both UNIX implementations can perform the same tasks and generally perform equally, BSD and SysV have different ways of going about doing things (internals). Nowhere is this more apparent than in the configuration files, which means it can be quite a nuisance if an administrator has to administer both styles at a single site. FreeBSD stays true to it's BSD heritage, even though the FreeBSD team has made a number of improvements and modifications. Linux, though it is somewhat unlike other UNIX operating systems internally (since it was developed from the ground up), primarily resembles System V. Solaris 7 (SunOS 5.x) is derived from System V as well, though it additionally has numerous similarities with BSD systems since earlier SunOS 4.x versions were BSD. The FreeBSD project is also generally considered to be more cohesive than most Linux distributions, as there is a single version of FreeBSD, and it's growth is monitored and supervised by a tight-knit group of developers. With Linux, only the kernel remains unchanged, the rest of the core software is up to the distributor, which is why it's very possible to find incredibly good Linux distributions as well as very poor distributions. Installation Where to Get FreeBSD The main ftp server is ftp.freebsd.org, and the FreeBSD home page is at www.freebsd.org. The ftp server will always have the most up-to-date version, freebsd-current, which is compiled daily. The FTP site also stores "RELEASE" and "STABLE" versions, which support various features and components based on the overall stability/reliability of the system (STABLE is more conservative). There are also several mirrors, you can get a list from the web page. Take notice that FreeBSD is quite large! If you just want a taste, download only the binary distribution or order the entire thing on cdrom from Walnut Creek: Walnut Creek CDROM 4041 Pike Lane, Suite D Concord CA 94520 1-800-786-9907, +1-510-674-0783, +1-510-674-0821 (fax) Or via the internet from orders@cdrom.com or http://www.cdrom.com. Their current catalog can be obtained via ftp from: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/cdrom/catalog. Installing FreeBSD First you must download the needed files. Only the `bin' distribution is truly required, but I recommend all of the following: Bin All the binaries necessary to run the system (no source), this is mandatory. Manpages The FreeBSD manpages. They form the `manual' for the system. Doc FreeBSD specific documentation (very useful). Floppies The boot floppy images for the installation, currently you need two floppy disks for an installation (boot.flp and mfsroot.flp). Ports The FreeBSD ports library, a collection of Makefiles used to simplify the installation of ported software by automatically downloading, compiling, and patching the source code. Tools Some DOS utilities to help with the installation. In particular, the `rawrite.exe' utility can be used to write the boot images to a floppy, while the FIPS program can be used to safely resize partitions (like Partition Magic). XF86333 XFree86 3.3.3, freely available X distribution, provides support for graphical interfaces and software. Xbin Required binary X distribution. Xcfg Configuration files for XFree86 (required). Xdoc Documentation for XFree86 Xfnts Standard fonts for X (required) Xlib X libraries (required) Xman Manpages for X and the included sofware Xset XFree86 graphical configuration utility, needs XF86VG16. XSVGA SVGA server that supports most modern video boards. XVG16 Generic VGA16 server, 640x480 with 4-bit color Please remember, there are many other files to be downloaded for a truely complete distribution of FreeBSD and XFree86, these are just the basic requirements! Make a boot floppy. Use the `rawrite.exe' utility you downloaded from the `tools' directory to write the `boot.flp' and `mfsroot.flp' images to a blank 1.44MB floppy disk. Fortunately, the installation program contained on the boot floppy is quite intuitive and contains a good deal of documentation once you reach that phase of the installation. Insert the disk and reboot. Once your system reboots, you'll see a boot prompt, just press enter and the kernel will uncompress. You will be presented with a choice configuration or to skip the configuration. Kernel configuration will allow you to select what kind of hardware FreeBSD will probe for upon boot up. If you know what hardware you do and don't have, go ahead and enter the kernel configuration in `visual' mode (much easier) to remove the drivers you don't need. When finished, press `q' and the installation will continue. The installation program should automatically start, you will be presented with several choices, including different levels of installation (novice, expert, or custom), documentation, configuration, etc. It's generally recommended to choose `Novice' even if you aren't one, since the installation is simply easier. You're first task is to select and partition a disk for FreeBSD to reside on. If you have more than one hard disk you will be presented with a choice: [ ] wd0 [ ] wd1 These are your hard disks, the display might vary slightly depending on how many disks you have and whether or not you use SCSI devices (if so, the device names will be different. Essentially, disk 0 is the boot disk, and the others follow. To allocate space for installation, select a disk with the space bar. You can select and create partitions on as many disks as you like. Once you've selected a disk, fdisk will start. This is pretty self explanatory, select some free space (unallocated disk space) and hit `c' to create a partition. You will be asked for the size, if you want all the free space to be used by FreeBSD then just press enter, else enter a value for the size. You can append the suffix `M' to denote megabytes when entering your size values. After the size dialog, a type dialog will be displayed, it defaults to `165' (FreeBSD), just hit enter here. Then press `q' to exit. You will be asked to install a boot manager, it defaults to install to the master boot record. If you need to use another os (dos), then hit enter. Your next task is to divide the partition you created into slices. Slices are like sub-partitions of the primary partition. They form your primary UNIX filesystems, like /, /usr, /opt, and so on. In the disklabel program (which is run by the installation when fdisk is done), you will be able to select which partition to configure and view which slices you have made. Select your FreeBSD partition and hit `c' to create a new slice. You will need to enter a size, since this is your root, it should be 50M or greater in size (I use 150M, but it depends on the size of your partition (don't go under 30M)). Make sure you choose `Filesystem' when asked what type. Enter `/' (foreward slash) for the mount point. You have now created you're first FreeBSD slice, now for more. Hit `c' to create another slice, make this one larger as it will store your applications and X. The mount point will be `/usr'. Next you must create a swap slice. Hit `c', choose type `swap', and the size should be roughly twice that of your physical ram. Then hit 'q' once you've finished. You may also want a separate `/var' filesystem if you require space for mail, and log files, but it's not required. The slices will be created and you will be prompted to select which distributions you wish to install and where they are located. If you downloaded the distributions from the internet they generally need to be on a DOS partition under the `\freebsd' directory, with a separate directory for each distribution. For example, `c:\freebsd\bin' holds the binary distribution. If this is where your files are located, then the source media is `DOS'. You will have to select which distributions to install. `Minimal' installs just the `bin'. If you have downloaded just the distributions you want, then use `custom' to select them all. This is also true of XFree86, merely select what you've got, and choose a server for your monitor. When done, hit enter until you arrive at the main distribution menu, and then hit enter to install what you have selected. If everything went smoothly you will be asked to configure your system. This is all self explanatory. When complete, the system will reboot, and the boot manager will appear: F1... dos F2... BSD F5... disk2 Use the function keys to select the appropriate system (BSD), or the second disk, if that is where FreeBSD is located. FreeBSD will start and you will be presented with a login prompt. If you login as `root', you can configure the system using the included `sysinstall' utility: # /stand/sysinstall Getting Around in FreeBSD Getting around in FreeBSD is just like getting around in any other UNIX operating system. By default, however, FreeBSD doesn't launch X for a graphical interface. If you wish to start X up, you can type the following from the command line: # startx This starts up XFree86 and executes any commands contained inside your .xinitrc file. If this is your first time running FreeBSD, however, you'll need to configure Xfree86 first. # XF86Setup XF86Setup will launch the graphical configuration tool, but if you haven't installed the VGA server (XVG16 listed above), you can't use it. If this is the case, then you need to use: # xf86config Using the Ports Library FreeBSD contains a convenient group of ported applications that you can build right on your FreeBSD machine. You may also download precompiled binaries for the ports, but often find it more convenient to just keep the makefiles around for the entire ports library. Assuming you installed the ports library, you can use it very easily: # cd /usr/ports This will take you into the ports directory, which is subdivided by software categories (like archivers, www, net, etc.). You can `cd' to any of these subdirectories and then use the make command to build a specific program. Here's an example: # cd /usr/ports/net # cd radius # make # make install The commands above download, compile, and install the latest version of the RADIUS remote authentication port for FreeBSD. However, what if you didn't know exactly which piece of software you were looking for? You could easily search the ports library like this: # cd /usr/ports # make search key="tcp" Make will then display a list of all ports with "tcp" contained within the description. FreeBSD for Non-x86 Machines? Although porting projects are underway, unlike it's brothers NetBSD and OpenBSD, FreeBSD has no complete non-x86 ports at this time. However, ports to Alpha and SPARC architectures are underway and you can monitor their progress with the links below. FreeBSD for Alpha FreeBSD for SPARC More Information on FreeBSD As I'm barely scratching the surface here, and this article is by no means the only piece of FreeBSD information available online, I'd like to link a few points of reference. The FreeBSD Project Web Site Frequently Asked Questions About FreeBSD FreeBSD Handbook FreeBSD Mall Daemon News FreeBSD Powers Visual Effects in Matrix If you haven't done so already, take a look at my first article in this series, Home UNIX Boxen, Solaris x86. There's more to come soon, as I'll also be reviewing Linux shortly. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?19990512020218.X55051>