From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 27 21:28:57 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BE15016A41A for ; Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:28:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: from smtp-vbr5.xs4all.nl (smtp-vbr5.xs4all.nl [194.109.24.25]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 29AD813C43E for ; Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:28:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: from slackbox.xs4all.nl (slackbox.xs4all.nl [213.84.242.160]) by smtp-vbr5.xs4all.nl (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l8RLStXX051540; Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:28:55 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: by slackbox.xs4all.nl (Postfix, from userid 1001) id E8B5FB854; Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:28:54 +0200 (CEST) Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:28:54 +0200 From: Roland Smith To: neal Message-ID: <20070927212854.GA18018@slackbox.xs4all.nl> Mail-Followup-To: neal , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <46FC1C65.6060801@virgin.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="W/nzBZO5zC0uMSeA" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <46FC1C65.6060801@virgin.net> X-GPG-Fingerprint: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 X-GPG-Key: http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/pubkey.txt X-GPG-Notice: If this message is not signed, don't assume I sent it! User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.16 (2007-06-09) X-Virus-Scanned: by XS4ALL Virus Scanner Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: newby needing help X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:28:57 -0000 --W/nzBZO5zC0uMSeA Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, Sep 27, 2007 at 09:11:01PM +0000, neal wrote: > I've checked out all the main functions I want from FreeBSD and had them= =20 > all working (hehe, but since broke some) so I'm happy it will do the thin= gs=20 > I want so far. >=20 > First question, what is recommended regarding doing updates. Is it best t= o=20 > just do all of them? It depends. If the update of the base system concerns something that you use, I would definitely install it. The best way to keep the base system up-to-date is using csup (which is still referenced in the Handbook in =A720.3 as cvsup). For updating the ports tree I can recommend portsnap. For updating the ports themselves I use portmaster. > I have always had problems doing this e.g. with=20 > Mandrake and other Linuxs and so am reluctant, but if it is usual I'll gi= ve=20 > it a try. The upgrade tools on FreeBSD work quite well. But if you're rebuilding your own ports it can take quite some time depending on your machine. > (I'm also reluctant as I assume a full update will update xorg to=20 > 7.3 and I have 7.2 installed with the latest nvidia 9# driver and it work= s=20 > beautifully so would rather stay with that. There is a new beta driver available. > I have read the Handbook, but still have a problem understanding how to m= ap=20 > my ext2 and ext3 partitions to the UFS notation. e.g. The notation is a BSD thing, it has nothing to do with UFS. > I have a drive hda,=20 > it has a swap an unused space and four partitions one of which is my home= =20 > partition hda7. How do I refer to this home partition using ad0??? > notation=20 If you do 'ls ad0*' you'll see what is available. Remember that what DOS and Linux calls partitions are called slices in FreeBSD. Partitions in FreeBSD are subdivisions of a slice. E.g. ad0s1a is partition a of slice 1 of ad0. Customarily, slice b is used for swap, and slice c is unused. You can see this with the 'bsdlabel' command. > (as this is what I understand I need to do, if not please enlighten). I= =20 > have installed the ext2fs utilities/drivers and can mount an ext2 fs=20 > written on dvd without problems. I would recommend converting the disk to native UFS2 filesystems. I'm not sure if mounting an ext2 slice read/write is such a good idea. Make (in Linux, e.g. Knoppix) a tarball of your data and seve it to another disk= or CD,DVD. Reslice and format the disk with sysinstall, and restore your backup. You might find =A716.3 of the Handbook enlightening. > I intend to do a completely fresh install and would like to compile for m= y=20 > specific pc kit. Would I be best doing this following installation and=20 > initial setting up? Yes. Read Chapter 4 of the Handbook about ports. My FreeBSD page has some tips about setting port variables in make.conf; http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/freebsd/index.html=20 Roland --=20 R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) --W/nzBZO5zC0uMSeA Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFG/CCWEnfvsMMhpyURAlxIAJ4xczQV7ipPJ5x50qDxKBx5o0yCMACghMVV tvn7lHHZaVuHj3NyalMG8Yo= =NaXC -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --W/nzBZO5zC0uMSeA--