[Kodo]

Greetings. I have recently decided to expand my knowlege into the FreeBSD world after much time spent on the decision. Vlad902 pointed me here. In his quote to me when I told him of my decision he said

FreeBSD : Get 5.1, update ports (don't get ports from CD it's old as hell)

Would any of you care to explain what he was referring to when he says "update ports (don't get ports from CD it's old as hell)"?

additionally,I have adual P3 500 box that I want to install this on and after reading this post I'm befuzzled due to a "jargon" barrier.
http://screamingelectron.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=167

can anyone liquify that post for me?

Can anyone point me to an HCL for FreeBSD?

Be gentle and use jelly please, I'm very new to this side of the fence.

[Kernel_Killer]

WElcome to SE Kodo!

The ports are is the list of available packages for your OS. If you look in /usr/ports you will see a list of catagories, and in those folders is a long list of apps in those catagories. The list is updated about everyday, and applications become obsolete. Updating the ports, or "tree", makes those packages up to date. Don't take that the wrong way though. You don't really have the apps in the ports, just the ability to retrieve and install the applications in a very simple way. Hope that cleared something up. :P

[v902]

Good to see ya man :) Alright, as you know many UNIX applications are OSS (w00t) so instead of looking online to install them the FreeBSD developers made ports. What it is is if you want a certian application you can just enter two commands in the directory allocated for that program (usually it's name is the name of the directory :)) and you enter these two simple commands and boom, it will download the program for you, and any other programs/libraries that it requires and it will install them all for you! This means you can be as lazy as you want and not have to look online. Whenever a program is updated, usually it takes a pretty short time for people to upgrade the port so that it install the new program and installs it's new dependicies, this is why I am saying don't install the ports on the CD/Floppy because they are how many weeks/months old? Instead upgrade them from the web and get fresh ones.

[Kodo]

I haven't installed it yet. I'm trying to find out how I get to the part where i can tell it to enable SMP on install.. or is it automatic?

Can I change that post install?

[Kodo]

wow..ok, I have to say that was the most rediculous install process I've encountered in a long time. Flashback to novell days. I think I'm going to try something a little more intuitive.

[opus]

What was so 'ridiculous' about it? Give me an example of something 'more intuitive' and what is the benefit?

I will admit, the install is sort-of archaic....but then again, why do you need anything more than a text-based install, it accomplishes what it intended to do.

Bottom line, once you get installed and up and running, you have a rock solid, secure O/S.

Just my 2 cents. :lol:

[Kodo]

I put about 5 hours into reading installation information as well as troubleshooting threads on this forum... I have zero tolerance for a waste of time. I have no time. To put it into a bit more perspective, I own my own company, have a baby due in 2 weeks and have a 40hr job that is requiring me to study for exams. On top of that I'm taking the initiative to learn *nix and PHP4 to expand my knowlege and increase my value in the field. I would have hoped that in the 21st century that installation procedures would be been more well layed out and less archaic (as you put it) than that. I found myself going around in circles half the time and there appeared to be no definitive end of the installation. Nothing saying "Hey newbie, you're done installing, now reboot". An installation process should be 100% linear, a definate starting point and a definite ending point that are NOTED, not assumed.

I just installed Suse and the installation procedure was 10x better than FreeBSD 5.1's install. FreeBSD may very well be a rock solid OS, but the amount of material I had to cover just to understand that installation was rediculous. I spent 10 minutes on suse's site and I'm up and running.

I'm not knocking FreeBSD as an OS, obviously, because I didn't even get a chance to boot it up. What I read and what I experiences was seemingly 2 different things. I am only making a piont on the installation.

Perhaps it's a bit over my head. I won't deny it, this is afterall, my first time in. But it seemed to be too intricate a process. I had hoped that I wouldn't ever have to deal with 100% text mode installs again. Personal pref, but I find them annoying.

The name of the game is not always "that's all you need", it's "How can we make it simple, stupid", especially if "they" want it to catch on to the rest of the newbies.

[soup4you2]

ok here are my thoughs.. it's great you want to learn a *nix and php and congrats on your baby..

but although suse might look more attractive but common their code is flaky and not that strong.. sure it may install all pretty and nice but wait till you start trying to get into installing stuff and security.

BSD's install might look a bit ugly at first but once you figure it out you love it.. i think it's a beast of a installer.. once you get good enough you can script it so it's like windows unattended install.. that and the fact once you learn it you dont have to install it again. even when a new release comes out.

it's extremely easy to install and update your installed packages and apply security patches. compiling a kernel is a piece of cake compared to linux distributions.

though setting it up and configuring is dificult.. normally i would recommend the BSD os to people once they actually learn linux.. because bsd unlike linux actually makes you learn the operating system and how it functions.. where as if you stick w/ bsd in my optinion your going to be soo much more knoledgeable than users using linux.. because you get to spend more time playing with your application that dicking w/ it trying to get it to install like you would on a RPM based distrtion.

dont get discouraged.. *NIX operating systems take a long time to learn and get the hang of whats going on.. It's no easy stuff.

[socomm]

Glad to hear that you had better success with GNU/Linux, as begineer you should 'have alot of fun' with SuSE it is a good begineer distro. Sorry to hear about the BSD install probs, guess S&M is not for everyone ;). UNIX in general has a high learning curve, specially if you come from a Microsoft background where you are not used to fiddling with the commandline interface, however the high learning curve does come with a high reward. Anywho enjoy your rump through UNIX. If you need any help pertaining to Linux join http:www.linuxjunior.org (http://www.linuxjunior.org) they usually are good at that sort of stuff.

PS Congrats on your baby.

[Kodo]

Thanks!
I'm not counting out FreeBSD yet!! I'm going to get a better foot hold using SusE and then I'll give FreeBSD a whirl again. Perhaps after a period of time using something similar I might have a better understanding. Babysteps :D

[soup4you2]

linux is a good starting point... learn the command line and how the basic configurations of things work.. then give bsd a try again.

[optyk]

I'm not sure newbie-friendly was ever a consideration in the design and implementation of *BSD. Granted it takes effort, but name something worthwhile that doesn't.

If you like SuSE Linux then have a ball. I tried SuSE long enough to have an opinion; that's one reason I'm here.

Anyone here will applaud you for trying something new, but get over the attitude that the installer isn't intuitive-it ain't *Windows* is all. Would you get bent by finding out that Main St. in a new city isn't laid out exactly like the Main St. from your old city?

[Kernel_Killer]

The name of the game is not always "that's all you need", it's "How can we make it simple, stupid", especially if "they" want it to catch on to the rest of the newbies.

Yes. That is the name of the game in some distrobutions, but not in BSD. BSD has a reputation of getting people's attention without a 24-bit GUI install. Personally, I'm greatful that BSD doesn't have that resource hog.

FreeBSD is mainly for anyone really wanting to take the time to learn it. I have to say, we all have FULL lives, but in some way we make time to make mistakes, and work with it in a trial and error sence. Reading is good, but you could read the entire handbook, and still not accomplish what you were planning to do.

If you are wanting to get the feel of it, and have the GUI install, you can always use Linux. It can get you use to some of the commands, but will have to push yourself into the CLI.

[Kodo]

I'm not sure newbie-friendly was ever a consideration in the design and implementation of *BSD. Granted it takes effort, but name something worthwhile that doesn't.

If you like SuSE Linux then have a ball. I tried SuSE long enough to have an opinion; that's one reason I'm here.

Anyone here will applaud you for trying something new, but get over the attitude that the installer isn't intuitive-it ain't *Windows* is all. Would you get bent by finding out that Main St. in a new city isn't laid out exactly like the Main St. from your old city?

really? that's not the point. I don't want this thread to turn into an os war. Personally I don't give a rats ass what I use so long as I can get the job done and get ma pay check. If I lived in a city who's main street was modern and then I went to a new city and it was like the wild freaking west, then that's where the difference comes in. So long as the installations are on the same par then there isn't an issue. However, FreeBSD is something I WILL come back to. So please don't crawl up my ass with your godliness.
Thank you.

[Kodo]

The name of the game is not always "that's all you need", it's "How can we make it simple, stupid", especially if "they" want it to catch on to the rest of the newbies.

Yes. That is the name of the game in some distrobutions, but not in BSD. BSD has a reputation of getting people's attention without a 24-bit GUI install. Personally, I'm greatful that BSD doesn't have that resource hog.

FreeBSD is mainly for anyone really wanting to take the time to learn it. I have to say, we all have FULL lives, but in some way we make time to make mistakes, and work with it in a trial and error sence. Reading is good, but you could read the entire handbook, and still not accomplish what you were planning to do.

If you are wanting to get the feel of it, and have the GUI install, you can always use Linux. It can get you use to some of the commands, but will have to push yourself into the CLI.

people didn't like the automobile at the turn of the century, but that caught on ;) OS's need progression, not stagnation. And what bloat does gui installer take up. you use it once and you're done. Aside from taking up space on the HDD (which is ludicrous to even think about given drive sizes these dasy) what's the problem?

I don't know, I"ll try BSD 6 months from now and see how well I deal with it then after some use with Linux.

[optyk]

You miss my point...IF you wanted to move to the wild west then there is no point bitching that it isn't like $HOME.

I'm not out to flame you or start/join any OS wars, either. Learn what you can where you can, but don't be disappointed that what you learn isn't what you thought it should be.

[Kodo]

You miss my point...IF you wanted to move to the wild west then there is no point bitching that it isn't like $HOME.

I'm not out to flame you or start/join any OS wars, either. Learn what you can where you can, but don't be disappointed that what you learn isn't what you thought it should be.

Depends on the level of expectation I guess. I expected come CLI from what I read but my understanding of it was obviously short of actual.

I'll be back! :DMUHAHAH!

[opus]

Congrats on the baby.....you think BSD is a learning cure (assuming this is your first)....LOL!!

For a newbie to jump into BSD and want to get 100% satisfaction....it wont happen. It didn't for me and I still have a lot to go. I have been using it for almost 2 years and feel like a newbie still!

BSD is one of thoese where you install it on an older machine and dink around with it forever. After forever passes and you are handy with it, then switch it to you main machine. If you don't have time for fussing, and it sounds like you dont, you should start with somethine like Suse or RH.....whatever. You will get used to how things flow in the *nixes* which should help you make the transition from Linux to BSD someday.

Maybe 'archaic' isnt the word I wanted.......'beast' as mentioned fits better. ;)

[Kodo]

Maybe 'archaic' isnt the word I wanted.......'beast' as mentioned fits better aye, that she is. ;)

[v902]

Nah, the reason that the install is so small and non-GUI because it's made to run on extremely slow boxes, ie. i486, right now I am running Free on 133 megahertz box with I think like 16-32 megs of RAM, with a GUI install an install would've taken days/not worked at all

[elmore]

Nah, the reason that the install is so small and non-GUI because it's made to run on extremely slow boxes, ie. i486, right now I am running Free on 133 megahertz box with I think like 16-32 megs of RAM, with a GUI install an install would've taken days/not worked at all

That maybe vlad but another reason the installer is text based is because not all boxes have the ability to run a GUI (think server with no video card) in which case the install must be done over a serial port. Even further the installer is meant to run off a floppy and use ftp, http, nfs or tape as the install medium. The BSD family as a whole is not a beginner O.S. it's actually pretty difficult, though very much worthwhile if you can take the time to learn it.

I have never actually worked much with linux, though, as has already been mentioned in this thread lunixjunior.org is an affiliate site of ours and as such you should check them out for your linux needs. We as well can help you with linux problems as there are quite a few people that run linux on this board, though *BSD is our specialty .

We're happy that you signed up for an account kodo and I wish *BSD was more your style at this point, it's really too bad that it's not what you were looking for. I think it could suit your needs quite well. Keep in mind *BSD is an Operating System for Operating System enthusiats and as such passions run high on this board when it comes to our beloved *BSD.

In any case we'll be here and ready to help the next time you'd like to install a BSD and can provide quick help via the board and instant help via our irc channel on freenode. As a matter of fact I believe if you can work past the installer you'd probably never look at linux again, that how convinced I am about the capabilities of this O.S. I'd even be willing to walk you through an install *live* via our irc channel if you'd like to give a shot.

I summarize linux vs. BSD in this manner:

linux is easier to learn in the beginning but has a high learning curve once you get into it.

BSD has a very high learning curve but once you get over it the rest is clear sailing.

That might be somewhat of an exaggeration but it's my opinion. I'd venture to guess that others here have that same opinion.

In either case it comes down to what you feel more comfortable with and if that's linux then that's the right decision for you.

Hope this helps! :)

[ealwen]

Coming off win(censored) is like going through detox. There are going to be plenty of times you will want it back just because you knew how to do something in it that you can't do in Linux. ONce you get over that and learn all the stuff you need to know for linux it will be smooth sailing. As for why I use FreeBSD it was because (a) its a true descendent of unix, (b) I don't have trouble trying to install something that someone else got running. Think you will see that after you get going in linux there will be lots of half information about how someone got it working on their distro but you can't get it to run on yours. FreeBSD eliminates all that, you learn it once you don't have to re learn it again.

And I suppose you can call hitting enter everytime the opportunity is presented as intuitive, I called it repeative which is why I got off win(censored) in the first place.

[frisco]

Hey let's talk installs. I'm biased towards loving OpenBSD's install.

RedHat 7-8 (graphical) - Feels too slow. Some parts are very lengthy, like picking out what apps you want to install, and can lead to trouble (dependencies are a bitch). Partitioning second guesses the user too much. That said, if you choose a base install of server/laptop/workstation then it's a breeze.

Solaris 7-9 (graphical and text) - very slow. Also reboots through the install. WTF?? Lots of packages to choose to install and is tricky to know what is needed vs what isn't.

Windows 95,98 (graphical) - I cant remember but i think this reboots through the install. WTF?? If you forget to install some sets, you're in trouble (like tcp/ip or sound), and it's deceptive how some sets are chosen by default and others aren't. The progress bars are so deceiving that they are only eye-candy. Otherwise a breeze.

Windows XP (graphical) - Reboots through the install. WTF?? Again with the deceiving progress bars. Otherwise a breeze.

FreeBSD (text) - menu-based. I don't lke menus. As Kodo mentions, it can be tricky knowing when you're done. Partitioning can be a bit tricky.

OpenBSD (text) - As long as you don't have any hardware problems, it's a quick install and everything proceeds in a rational order. Disk partitioning can be tricky the first time, unless you keep it simple. You're left with a very lean OS to which you may need to install lots of packages by hand afterwards.

NetBSD (text) - Only installed it once, and i don't really remember much, other than being tricked by what i was installing by default. Didn't get perl by default, i think.


My installer usability beliefs:
An installer should not reboot during the install (it's rebooting, i'm done! Oh, maybe not.).
Do not use menus. If you use menus, clearly indicate what's already been done (preferably by eliminating the option)
Make it clear what's needed for an install.
Do not second guess the user in a way that makes it impossible for the user to continue. Put up warnings, ok, but let the user do it.
Make easy things easy, difficult things possible, in that order. As a corollary, don't make the install more confusing just to make everything up-front possible, e.g. don't ask me if i have other drivers i want to load- i don't know if i do and it makes me feel like i've forgotten something when i see it. Put the option there, but make it less intrusive.
Make disk partitioning easy, intuitive, and robust. I have yet to see this problem solved.
Make it text based. I like to install via serial console for a variety of reasons.

I like OpenBSD b/c it suits the majority of those qualifications. Additionally, if you are a beginner, follow the FAQ/cd liner notes. It walks you through a simple install, step by step - why don't all OS's have this?

[Kernel_Killer]

If you still want to go the extreme way (quote: Like throwing a baby off an airplane without a parachute) , but want to go a little easy on yourself,.use Debian Linux. That way you get use to the CLI, and work your way to figuring out how to get X to work. Although, it might have changed, you can use Debian 2.2 to get that frustrated, "I HATE YOU!" feeling.

Elmore nailed it on the head on my reasoning behind the anti-GUI. It's nice to have a stack of headless systems, not have to put a video card in it, or hook a monitor up to it just to install it. Personally, I think due to the older years, ASCII is still my prefered graphics capability. Also when I use a laptop on batteries, I wish that I never turned on the GUI as I look at your battery life go down drastically.

Of course when using a desktop as a workstation, the GUI can be good for things like OpenOffice, Kmail/Evolution, and MPlayer. About the only thing you can't do in Linux or UNIX is play all the Windows games. Anything else is more than possible.

[Kodo]

Does FreeBSD have an auto installer txt? one that I can set up options in a setup file and just have the install point to it?

@ealwen: Your points are 100% my man. Though I've learned and accepted the fact that change is just that. Ex: I have learned 10 different martial art styles since I was 8 years old and each time I started out as white belt. So I'm very used to switching up and gearing up for something completely different. Now, I'm not giving up on it, I am just going to mess around with installing the OS's because the machine is not a production machine. It's for screwing around. I wasn't going to stay only FreeBSD, I wanted a Linux background as well. It's just that I'm having better luck right now with Linux so I'll start there and work my way up.

Let me tinker with Suse for a few months and I'll come back to FreeBSD because I'm genuinely excited about the OS. I chose it because of the compatibility that you mentioned. I'm sort of under the gun to learn something new because frankly I feel I can no longer rely on my knowlege of NT5.x as a viable and "safe" path for a secure job. In 6 months my employers contract ends at the facility that I am at now and so I may be laid off. My company (not my employer) isn't mature enough to bring in enough money to support a family and med insurance. So I find my self in a spot where time is of the essence. I need to learn something, anything, different soon so I can say "yes, I have experience with it" how ever little it may be. It just might save my ass.


@Kernel_Killer: Could care less about the games on the *nix box. It's the furthest thing from my mind. I guess I can see having a server farm and having a small install package. Makes sense. But honestly (not being sarcastic or rude) how many times have you installed via serial? Video cards are cheap, Kvm's are cheap. I guess I would just like the option of a gui installer and a CLI dependant upon the situation. Does that make sense?

[frisco]

But honestly (not being sarcastic or rude) how many times have you installed via serial? Video cards are cheap, Kvm's are cheap. I guess I would just like the option of a gui installer and a CLI dependant upon the situation. Does that make sense?

When i can, i use serial. Of the last 10 installs in recent memory, 9 were serial. A few reasons:
You need a network capable kvm to get the same functionality, and these are substantially more expensive.
It's less network overhead to use text vs. full gui (when you're out of town with only a shaky 14.4 connection, you'll appreciate this).
Almost all hardware/OS's you'll encounter will have a terminal emulator of some sort, so you can always access another machine's serial console, but networked kvm's require more software to connect to the target machine.
Scripting text is easier than scripting gui.
Less cables.
Less hardware == less to go wrong, more open pci slots. If it's not necessary, don't have it; a rule i enjoy in servers.

[elmore]

Less hardware == less to go wrong, more open pci slots. If it's not necessary, don't have it; a rule i enjoy in servers.

Frisco's got it right per usual kodo. In the server market, in particular in the unix world there's really no need for a video card. I have a half dozen Sun Servers at work, all running Solaris, or OpenBSD and none of them have a video card.

If you're looking at installing FBSD 5x on sparc64 the only install option at the moment is through the serial cable as the sun term is fscked and is not even a priority for the sparc team to work out since most people who want to use the port install through serial to begin with.

I do have monitors and video cards hooked up to some servers don't get me wrong, and I don't install everything via serial, the initial point about this was just to show one reason why the installer is so lean.

I will agree with Frisco on another point, of all the BSD's FreeBSD's installer is the worst. NetBSD is much better and even better than that is OpenBSD's. I remember the first time I looked at the installer's for each BSD respectively, I thought WTF is this? Over time, as my fimiliarity grew I came to like each of the installers. Trust me, after a while you will too, nothing beats installing an O.S. on a computer taking it to fully built with everything you need in under 20 minutes, and there's no other O.S. out there that can do it in quite the way the BSD's can.

Obviously that last bit's my opinion but again I'd bet others here feel the same, oh yeah my offer still stands, I'm more than happy to walk you through installing the O.S. live over the screaming electron irc channel if you'd like.

:)

[Kodo]

I appreciate the offer, but one thing I do avoid like the plague is IRC. Never liked it. Personal Pref. So you'll never see me on there even if I did need help. (at least I'm consistant ;) )

Ok, so you nailed me.. I'm picky.. very picky :D

I thank you all for your views. I guess I'm just used to small businesses that have 2, maybe 3 servers. Just so you can really get where I'm coming from. I'm not an OS enthusiast. I am a DB guy. I am moving into PHP / mySQL / Firebird DB and I want to learn the typical environments that they run on. So I'm more interested in understanding how to administer a web server more than anything else. I hope in time that I will never ever ever have to admin another network. It bores the death out of me. I don't care for designing them or maintaining them. I'm going full bore into programming for web applications on *nix and NT. So you can see that I am looking forward to having minimal intervention with only having to tinker with the web administration.


One other thing I'd like to point out is I TRULY appreciate the fact that you've not bashed me for being picky OR new and that this thread hasn't turned into a "my wang is bigger" issue.

I would recommend this site to anyone interested in BSD and as such, will definately attempt to make an early effort in installing FreeBSD once again. It's helpful people like yourselves that make it that much more pleasant in "switching". I've read a few sites that are just flame bait for every troll on the web. So far this has been refreshing.

[elmore]

thanks for the kind words kodo, all of us here are commited to helping others no matter what skill level they're at. We try to avoid flames at all costs, it's not productive and that's not what we're about, helping people learn is what we're about. If you're interested in programming another affiliate of ours is codenewbie.com which is run by revolution. They have a similar environment to us.

Hopefully though, we can still look forward to having you around. We've got a good crew around here and each member is a value added to our community. There are some programmers in our midst as well, and we do also have a programming forum which you might like to try out, as well as a php, apache and mysql forum which (if you're diving into web development) sounds like you could get some use out of.

I do hope you give *BSD another chance sometime down the road.

Regards-

[Kodo]

Don't you worry, I may admit defeat now.. but I always come back to try again ;)

[Kernel_Killer]

Don't you worry, I may admit defeat now.. but I always come back to try again

Now that's a true UNIX attitude! #1 reason people switch back to Windows, or give up on UNIX all together, is the lack of persistance in understanding. Good to have you back, and we'll see you when you get back. Congrats on the baby 2 weeks ahead! :wink:

[v902]

Hey let's talk installs. I'm biased towards loving OpenBSD's install.


*BARF* Dude, at first I hated the OBSD install, now it's just easy, but I still hate the non-automatic disk partitioning, as I hate doing it by hand...

I hate Solaris install too, Takes a looong time to install and is just annoying as hell

Never done a Red Hat install

Never done a Windows (95,98,2000,XP) install, I saw part of a w2k one :)

FreeBSD/Slackware - [n]curses interfaces 0wnz


I don't think I've ever done a full graphical install, I was staring at the Solaris screen for a long time but that got boring quickly :)



Yes, I hate the rebooting thing, I was like yes it's done! I was about 18 hours off ;) OpenBSD does not "Make disk partitioning easy, intuitive, and robust" just annoying and slow, truly FBSD auto-disk partition is nice, I only have to modify a thing or two, and it makes me get through it quicker, I would be all for a command in disklabel to do automatic disk partitioning.

[Kodo]

ok, I decided to give it another go.

When I reboot, it asks for a username.. during install i didn't select to add more users. I did enter a root password. so should I create a new user? I'm thinking yes..


[edit] ACK!! I just realized that I downloaded the miniinst.iso.. *slaps forehead*

[socomm]

so should I create a new user? I'm thinking yes..


Yes. As root run /stand/sysinstall -> Configure -> User Management -> Group
add a new group named Users( or any other name would suffice ), then add a new User
[code:1:f2b43231e4]
Login Name: Kodo Group: Users Password: K0d0
Full Name: Kodo Something Member Groups: wheel
Home Directory: /home/kodo Login Shell: /bin/sh
[/code:1:f2b43231e4]

You should only add a user to wheel if you'd like him to be able to SU, or sudo or whatever.

Good luck.

PS: Never login as root unless necessary, (IE: system updates, security patches, and system administration ). For everyday tasks login as a regular user, this will keep you from doing any permanent damage to your system.

[elmore]

miniinst is fine, it just doesn't come with many of the prebuilt packages, although these can be grabbed from ftp or made throught the ports.

Adding users is easy breezy too, just type adduser anwser the questions and you're done.


Glad to see you back again kodo! Can you do me one favor? Please start a new thread for each individual problem that you have. It will make it easier for those who come after you to search!

Thanks,

[Kodo]

sure thing ! :)

[coltrane]

Installing FreeBSD 5.1 now, the install process seemed pretty much "tab-n-drool", but Ive noted several applications thats just aborted with error code 1. That became annoying after awhile, but after a 2nd try they installed fine...I hope.

More to come

[Kernel_Killer]

Hey coltrane!!!! Good to see you here, and running FreeBSD!! Welcome!!!

[silverlokk]

Great ID, too. And suddenly, the first strains of "Ascension" run through my head.

Regards

[coltrane]

All installed, had to do it twice though, for some reason my Xserver didnt install correctly the first time. The linux stuff didnt install at all, but I will try that later......now to config apache, mysql, and samba

[stryder144]

I've d/l'd 5.1 and burned it to disc (both discs). I plan on giving it a go by installing it to my second hdd (the one I usually use for Debian). Any snafu's from my LJR buddies that I need to know about?

Since I first started using Slack I've fell in love with the ncurses based install. Whereas some people complain that Debian is a pain to install, I've found that, coming from the Slack world, it is very easy to install. Hopefully 5.1 will be a similar experience for me.

Well, wish me luck, y'all.

Cheers

[hugh nicks]

one thing i do love about open, is that they print the install instructions right on the inside of the leaflet. i did my first ever open install years ago following that guide (scared as hell i would break something), but it worked like a charm. small, quick, effective.

-hn

[rob897]

Don't give up. I had issues when I was trying to install FreeBSD at first but after a few attempts and finally getting a handle of what was going on, I swear I have a base install (minimal) down to around 15 minutes.
Once getting the base installation, thats when I was referred here, all my questions have been answered.
I originally came from running Red Hat 8, yea the installer is graphically pleasing, but I just hate how much crap is installed even with a minimal configuration.
Keep your head up, you will figure it out.