Date: Sat, 23 May 2020 13:27:23 -0700 From: Donald Wilde <dwilde1@gmail.com> To: David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: installation of 12.1R and 11.3R fails Message-ID: <CAEC7390f3b6iwwjV9Zpv5hsRbv=t81_WnFDbePwDG4V66A1z0w@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <f4a4889a-1e7f-b951-3d67-35994cbcf2a6@holgerdanske.com> References: <CAEC7393CTQGQ=zQ7fM63iSkpdvO8R0q-q6iLWUOx4=XaYanO1A@mail.gmail.com> <d760435a-af0d-8a84-b350-43311c8e321e@holgerdanske.com> <CAEC73938_0co-Sk3JzZz10gP%2BVg6%2Bk1jWj87KJbU3_XkLU2Spg@mail.gmail.com> <f4a4889a-1e7f-b951-3d67-35994cbcf2a6@holgerdanske.com>
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Mine (the laptop) is not quite 2007 vintage, although my Dell i7 tower is. :) IIRC it's about 2012 or so. Still going fine although it's just a HDD-based mule. Upgrading it now to 12-STABLE. I am using it as a "refresher" on FreeBSD; I was paid by Bob Bruce 1998 to 2000 to do "advocacy" for FreeBSD. I orchestrated the 3-way press conference between the FreeBSD and NetBSD projects and Apple at the release of DARWIN... time does pass... I have a relative who's asked me to make a specialized social network for his business, and I've decided to return to using FreeBSD. Not all hosting corps will support FreeBSD servers, but since I intend to purchase and support everything through the business, that isn't an issue. I'll buy Intel's fancy Optane caching boards when I buy servers for the project, and every "drive" will be SS except for a portable boot drive. On 5/23/20, David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> wrote: > On 2020-05-22 21:43, Donald Wilde wrote: >> Service tag 5K8W162 >> >> I will try using MBR instead of GPT, as you suggest. I did that once >> the first time and no joy. Other than that and using the USB instead >> of DVD, the only other delta in your procedure is zeroing the disk and >> ensuring that all settings in BIOS are set to default. >> >> Do I need to erase my USB key and only put the key-version ISO on it? >> Why would that be superior to using a DVD, other than the waste of >> plastic? >> >> The only other possible problem I can see is that I simply named the >> machine, and did not create a meaningless FQDN (in my NAT). >> >> Thank you for your answer, and I WILCO. > > > > On 2020-05-22 22:20, Clay Daniels wrote: > > I would second all of David's suggestions, but would like to also > recommend > > using GParted to clear & write a new partition table, be it MBR or GPT. > > GParted lets you take control of the drive. It's Gnome Partition Editor > & > > free: > > > > https://gparted.org/ > > > > On 2020-05-22 23:03, Manish Jain wrote: > > I think we are using a nuclear missile to kill a mosquito ! > > > > The FreeBSD installer can do everything needed by itself. > > > > 1) Boot from the FreeBSD CD/DVD > > > > 2) Choose Install > > > > 3) At the disk setup page, choose Manual > > > > 4) Remove all existing partitions. When done that, press 'd' again (for > > delete) with ada0 selected. That will delete the partition table itself. > > > > 5) Press 'c' (for create) to create a new MBR (DOS) partition table. > > > > 6) Create partitions as needed and install. > > > > That should be it. > > > > On 2020-05-23 02:01, D'Arcy Cain wrote: > > [Zeroing the disk] is exactly what I found when going from Linux to > FreeBSD. Just run > > dd(1) with input file /dev/zero on the raw disk before starting your > > installation. You have to completely wipe out the Linux boot blocks. > > > > On 2020-05-23 08:06, Donald Wilde wrote: > > The MBR boot after wiping the disk was successful. YAY, Beasties! TYVM > > for all the advice. :D > > > > Taking your thought to heart, D'Arcy, I'm going to try again with GPT > > now that Linux is gone, gone, gone! :D > > > I'm glad the BIOS/ MBR install worked. :-) > > > That looks like a decent daily driver laptop, especially if you maxed > out the RAM and installed a good SSD: > > > https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/servicetag/0-aUlCTHJhMTkzWUs5S1dMQjN2WGdIdz090/overview > > > My 2007 Inspiron E1505 gave me many years of service (with repairs and > upgrades). It still works. > > > I zero my USB flash drives before burning them with an installer image > out of sheer OCD, but it should not be required. (I wrote a Perl script > to only write zeros to dirty blocks, to conserve write cycles.) > > > Most every x86 computer made in the last 30 years will have a USB port. > Many newer computers, especially portable computers, do not have optical > drives. > > > It is easy to make changes to an installer on a USB flash drive, and you > don't have to burn a disc for every edit-compile-test cycle. I hacked > my FreeBSD USB installer to slice and partition system disks the way I > like them. > > > I have boogered installs many ways, including the hostname, FQDN, > network name, and/or network settings. The FreeBSD installer offers you > a root shell into the installed image near the end. If you know what > file(s) to edit, you can fix those mistakes. Alternatively, some > installers let you re-run specific steps. TIMTOWDI. > > > I image my system disks regularly. Zero-filling them before an install > saves image storage space. Partition editors within installers > typically do not zero-fill. (I need to figure out how to zero unused > blocks beneath GELI and ZFS prior to imaging; does anyone know how?) > > > David > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to > "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" > -- Don Wilde **************************************************** * What is the Internet of Things but a system * * of systems including humans? * ****************************************************
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