From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jan 21 20:45:21 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4DC0416A47F for ; Sun, 21 Jan 2007 20:45:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bahamasfranks@gmail.com) Received: from nf-out-0910.google.com (nf-out-0910.google.com [64.233.182.187]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D171113C45B for ; Sun, 21 Jan 2007 20:45:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bahamasfranks@gmail.com) Received: by nf-out-0910.google.com with SMTP id m19so283994nfc for ; Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:45:19 -0800 (PST) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:sender:to:subject:cc:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:x-google-sender-auth; b=gz4/dgzWJ3DGCYTZN+d8gK5wqj7aGKWNGddw1XovHyYo6FcfrCy33xn7+4wBkDCKKEGAbDoToINJ1HAUX5Qe+31+LhIoqa/4GoBOvtK7Hgilru+7S3sXdLwJUIVGwrHAa5O+BhpYk3VeH8zN05Y+CBHc/4OAlj5LE2BI/1eqwXM= Received: by 10.82.120.14 with SMTP id s14mr5163309buc.1169412319024; Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:45:19 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.82.175.3 with HTTP; Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:45:19 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <539c60b90701211245s4941d626iefa9810403c87a96@mail.gmail.com> Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 13:45:19 -0700 From: "Steve Franks" Sender: bahamasfranks@gmail.com To: "Giorgos Keramidas" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline X-Google-Sender-Auth: 3668efb5efdb65f9 Cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org, FreeBSD Users Questions Subject: Re: newbie documentation (was: Re: Contributing to FreeBSD documentation (was: Re: no ath0 on new system with good card)) 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: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 20:45:21 -0000 I have another section to add to my previous post: At some point in your dealings, you may introduce a typo into a critical startup file, such as rc.conf, loader.conf, fstab, or similar, and reach the following upon reboot: "...." "Press enter for /bin/sh:" To recover: 0. press enter 1. cd /etc 2. cat fstab (if you don't know the partitions & disks to mount already) 3. mount /dev/adXs1Y /usr (gives you the edit command) (find X and Y in your fstab file) 4. mount /dev/adXs1Z / (gives you write acess to /etc) (find X and Z in your fstab) 5. edit blah ( i.e. rc.conf) to fix the typo 6. init 6 This has helped keep me from reaching for the install disk more than once, and it took a long time to figure out intuitively - think it might give the newbie's a 'leg-up' Steve On 1/17/07, Steve Franks wrote: > > > > On 1/16/07, Giorgos Keramidas wrote: > > On 2007-01-16 15:47, Steve Franks wrote: > > > So, this is what I have so for. It was a bit late at night, so I appologise > > > if my tone is a bit silly at times...where do we go from here? Steve > > > > [snip nicely written stuff about freezes during installation and first > > post install steps] > > > > Fantastic! This looks like something that would fit quite nicely with > > the section ``Installing FreeBSD > Troubleshooting'', in the Handbook. > > > > Do you mind if I integrate this with the section? Does it look like the > > right place for you to write this stuff? Will you be able to review it > > and let me know if it looks ok? > > > Sounds good to me. > > > > You can read the current Handbook section at: > > > > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install-trouble.html > > > Hmmm. Yes, I don't think the current page provides much actual help for newbies. Can we make sure to put links to all the appropriate man pages ( i.e. device.hints) in my text when we insert it? I've found the man online to be way more useful than I expected for people who are willing to read. We also could use some driver gurus to make my list of things to disable, and things to *not* disable both longer and correct - I admit I wrote that on my windows box, because my laptop bios disables the system (on purpose) when you put a non-compaq bsd-friendly network card in it. Go big brother. This is why I want to get the whole world to run *nix. > > > > Regards, > > Giorgos > > > > It occurs to me that a new option on the boot menu of the .iso installer that opens a version of this page in links or equiv might be most useful for newbies (I'm at work, so I can't check if it's there already). It might be useful to point to that doc if the .iso installer is started in safemode as well. > > Steve > > > -- > Steve Franks, KE7BTE > Staff Engineer > La Palma Devices, LLC > http://www.lapalmadevices.com > (520) 312-0089 -- Steve Franks, KE7BTE Staff Engineer La Palma Devices, LLC http://www.lapalmadevices.com (520) 312-0089