Free BSD installation tutorial

[Byung-Hee H.]

Fri, Dec 10, 2004 at 09:52:17PM -0500
Allen <gorebofh at comcast.net> wrote:

> 
> This is something I wrote and it seems to have helped a lot of people get 
> passed that first installation of Free BSD, so I'm going to post it here so 
> others can share it to.
> 
> If you'd like to change just let me know. I wrote it and you can use it if 
> you'd like, all I ask is that I'm given credit, that's all. And if someone 
> changes anything it would be nice to see how it was changed to I can improve 
> my writing skills to, so I'd like to know.
> 
> I don't think I've ever posted here before but sometimes people post what I 
> wrote as me so if this has shown up before, well, sorry.
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------
> 
> Installing Free BSD 5.0
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Installing Operating Systems with gore
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Free BSD 5.0
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Introduction:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Free BSD has the same reputation as Slackware Linux does for not being an easy 
> to install OS. Well, So far I've installed it 30 times, and I haven't used a 
> manual yet.
> 
> 
> This tutorial will be the same as my Slackware tutorial was, in that it will 
> provide a step by step installation tutorial for Free BSD.
> 
> 
> 
> Free BSD is actually quite easy to install. Hopefully this will show that. For 
> right now I'm only going to show the installation, but maybe in another 
> tutorial, or paper, I'll show you how to configure it, but first things first 
> right?
> 
> 
> This will work on a number of machines. I've installed it this way on two 
> machines, with very different hardware, and the install works fine, so you 
> should be fine. Even if you have an integrated video card you can at least 
> install it, but setting up XFree86 is different, and so for the time being, I 
> won't be showing the configuration.
> 
> Mainly because the machine I usually use for free BSD is currently being used 
> to type this with Slackware Linux 9.1. This tutorial is being typed on Emacs, 
> the non X version, and the install should only take you a few minutes unless 
> you have terribly slow hardware.
> 
> 
> 
> Assumptions:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You have a CD-ROM drive
> 
> You won't be sharing the HD with another OS (If you are, when it comes time to 
> partition, you're on your own :) I won't be showing you how to partition to 
> use another OS with it, as I don't, and don't feel the need to, as there is 
> enough documentation to get you through this anyway, and besides, you have to 
> partition to use Free BSD anyway, so if you can do that, you can do it to 
> allow another OS to reside on disk with Free BSD too.)
> 
> 
> You will be setting up a network connection. (If you are not, then skip that 
> section).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> X86:
> 
> 
> 
> The GUI for free BSD is the same as Linux uses, but you do have to set it up 
> by hand. If you plan on using X, I recommend that before you begin, you go 
> into the current OS on your computer and get all the information about your 
> hardware, you'll need it.
> 
> I've set up X a few times, and it's not hard, but you have to set it up to 
> your own hardware configuration, and I'm NOT going to show you how to do this 
> with every possible configuration, so that is why I'm not adding a section 
> for X.
> 
> 
> After you use it for a while and read books, you'll learn more by doing this 
> yourself, than you will if I just tell you how. So I'm not skipping X 
> configuration to be mean, but just because there are to many possible 
> combinations of hardware.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The installation:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To start the installation, take the CD-ROM, and insert it into the CD-ROM 
> drive of the computer you are installing on, and shut the machine down. Wait 
> a few seconds, and then hit the power button. As the machine boots up you'll 
> see text scrolling, and a little warning saying it will boot in 10 seconds, 
> you can either watch the count down with excitement, or press "ENTER" on your 
> keyboard.
> 
> 
> After the count down, the text gets a brighter white color, scrolls, and then 
> you see something that may remind you a little of Slackware Linux:
> 
> 
> 
> Sys Install:
> 
> 
> The Free BSD installation is done by "SysInstall" which is a nice non GUI 
> program that's fairly easy to use. After the machine has booted up you'll see 
> it, and can begin the installation.
> 
> 
> When Sys Install is loaded on your screen, press the DOWN arrow key once, and 
> press "ENTER" to begin a standard installation. For the most part, the 
> install of Free BSD looks the same as far back as 4.0 which was my first 
> version. 5.1 and so on look a bit different, but besides a few screens, it's 
> the same.
> 
> 
> I'm using the Free BSD 5.0 disk that came with my book "Free BSD Unleashed, 
> second edition". I highly recommend This book, and "the Complete Free BSD" 
> for anyone using BSD.
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" to begin a standard install, you come to a screen 
> saying you are going into Fdisk. Press "ENTER" to say "OK" and then you see 
> the Fdisk screen.
> 
> 
> Don't worry, this is simple!
> 
> 
> Press the letter "A" on your keyboard, to allocate all of the disk to Free 
> BSD, then, press the UP arrow key once to highlight the partition named 
> "freebsd" and press "S" to set it as bootable.
> 
> 
> You'll see a little "A" after pressing "S" to confirm it was set as bootable.
> 
> 
> After you press "S" and have it set as bootable, press "Q" to quit.
> 
> After you have pressed "Q" you come to the screen to select a boot manager. If 
> you plan on dual booting, I recommend the Free BSD boot manager. If you have 
> a partition and boot manager already installed that you need to keep, then 
> you will want to leave the MBR alone!
> 
> 
> To leave the MBR alone and use whatever boot manager you have installed:
> 
> 
> Press the DOWN arrow key twice to highlight "NONE" and press the "ENTER" key.
> 
> 
> 
> If you're like me and don't have any other OS you need installed on the 
> machine, then press the DOWN arrow key one time, to highlight "Standard" and 
> then press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> After you have done this, you see a screen saying you are going to be playing 
> with Fdisk again. Press "ENTER" to say "OK", and you are taken back to Fdisk 
> for round 2.
> 
> 
> Now, this part looks very intimidating to a newbie, but it's actually very 
> easy. All you have to do here, is press "A" for auto defaults, then press "Q" 
> to finish. Easy huh?
> 
> After you press "Q" you come back to the Sys Install screen to select 
> software.
> 
> 
> This screen is fairly straight forward for coders and Kernel Developers, but 
> for newbies it's not.
> 
> The easiest way to get passed this screen, is to press the DOWN arrow key 
> once, which will select all, and pressing "ENTER".
> 
> 
> After you press "ENTER" you are taken to a new screen asking about the ports 
> collection. There is no reason you should not install the ports unless you're 
> installing on a VERY small disk.
> 
> 
> The default highlight is "Yes", so go ahead and press "ENTER" on this window, 
> and after doing so, you come back to the same screen you were just at asking 
> for software to install.
> 
> 
> At this screen, press the UP arrow key once, to highlight "EXIT" and then 
> press "ENTER". After you have done so, you come to a new screen that is 
> asking where to install from.
> 
> 
> It's already highlighting the CD/DVD method, so just press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" you have to tell it which CD-ROM it's in. Usually if 
> you have more than one CD drive in your machine, you pop it in the top one, 
> so the already highlighted top "ATAPI/IDE CDROM" Option should work fine. If 
> not pick the other ;)
> 
> 
> After you have pressed "ENTER" and selected the CD-ROM drive the Free BSD 
> installation media is in, you come to a screen warning you that this is your 
> last chance to turn back.
> 
> 
> If you forgot to do something, this is the time to select "No".
> 
> 
> If you took care of everything you may need, and are ready to finally actually 
> begin the installation, then press "ENTER" as the "YES" option is already 
> highlighted.
> 
> 
> 
> After you select "YES" you see the screen go blue and showing you the current 
> task it is performing. It's currently making File Systems on the HD, so relax 
> for a minute while it does this.
> 
> 
> After the File Systems are done, you see a new little window on the screen 
> showing you a progress bar. It's now loading things from CD, so it can take a 
> while on a slower system.
> 
> 
> After a few minutes, you see it starts adding packages. This doesn't usually 
> take that long, but again, just relax.
> 
> 
> After a few minutes, you see a message saying how Free BSD is now installed. 
> Don't stop yet though, you're not done.
> 
> 
> Press "ENTER" on the screen telling you the main install is done, and then it 
> will ask you if you want to configure a network.
> 
> If you have no network, then don't select "Yes". But if you DO have a network 
> and want to set it up now, press "ENTER" as "Yes" is already selected.
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" you see various options. Free BSD has picked up my 
> integrated NIC, so I press "ENTER" as it's already selected on the screen.
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" You see a message pop up asking if you want to use IPV6 
> with this device....Unless you are sure you need this, then you will NOT need 
> it. "No" is already preselected, so just press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> After you press "ENTER" be careful not to just hit it again, as the same 
> message window then asks if you want to use DHCP.
> 
> I'm on a LAN, so I press the LEFT arrow key once, and press "ENTER" on "Yes". 
> It scans for DHCP servers, and it finds my DHCP servers, and now I can fill 
> out information.
> 
> 
> For host, you can type pretty much anything, and the domain is already filled 
> out as my DHCP configuration on the router sent it to Free BSD already.
> 
> 
> Type in a host name you want, and then press "TAB" to pop over to the next 
> box. You may notice that pressing "TAB" made more information pop up, this is 
> fine, so don't worry. Press "TAB" until you have "OK" selected at the bottom.
> 
> 
> After you have "OK" selected, press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> 
> Network configuration continues as the next screen has another window asking 
> you if you want to use Free BSD as a network gateway. If you are, then go 
> ahead, but for me, I'm leaving the already selected "No" answer and just 
> pressing "ENTER".
> 
> 
> After you have pressed "ENTER" another window asks about InetD. For now, I'm 
> just going to leave the answer "NO" that is already selected, and press 
> "ENTER". You can always configure this later anyway.
> 
> 
> After you have pressed "ENTER" you have another window asking about FTP. If 
> you're not setting up an FTP server, leave this screen alone, and just press 
> "ENTER" as you can do this later if you need it, and "NO" is selected by 
> default, so just press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> After you have done so, you get asked about an NFS server. Just press "ENTER" 
> here too.
> 
> 
> After you hot "OK" on this screen, you come to another screen, which asks 
> about an NFS client. If you are setting up Free BSD as a server or client on 
> your network, you may want to set this up, but if it's just going to be on 
> your LAN, then just keep hitting "No" for these, and as always, you can set 
> these up later on.
> 
> 
> After you have pressed "ENTER" you come to another screen asking for the 
> security profile of the system.
> 
> 
> This screen is your choice. If you're like me, you'll be pressing "ENTER" as 
> the default selection is already on "No". This way I can configure the system 
> myself.
> 
> 
> After you made a choice and hit "ENTER" you are taken to the next screen 
> telling you about the security selection. Just press "ENTER" after reading 
> the message on the screen.
> 
> 
> After you press "ENTER" you come to another screen asking to customize the 
> console settings. Just press "ENTER" here for the already selected answer 
> "No" as you don't need to do this unless you really want to.
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" you will come to another screen, asking for the time 
> zone.
> 
> 
> Press "ENTER" here as it is already on "Yes".
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" the next screen tries to confuse you, so just press 
> "ENTER" again. Unless of course you're sure of the answer.
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" select your Country.
> 
> 
> I'm in the US, so I press the DOWN arrow key until I have "America -- North 
> and South" selected, and then I press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> Now, after you have "ENTER" pressed, press the DOWN arrow key until the 
> Country you're in is selected. I'm in the "United States" so I press the DOWN 
> arrow until that is highlighted.
> 
> 
> I then press "ENTER" and go to the time zone selection screen. I'm in 
> "Michigan" so I press on the DOWN arrow key once to select "Eastern Time - 
> Michigan - most locations" and press the "ENTER" key.
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" a little window pops up asking if an abbreviation looks 
> OK. Just press "ENTER" here. The next question it asks is about Linux 
> compatibility. Go ahead and say "Yes" here, as it can be nice to use Linux 
> Applications on Free BSD.
> 
> 
> After you press "ENTER" it adds the packages needed, and is also a great time 
> to smoke. So I'm going to smoke while this is installing, and when I get back 
> it will be done.
> 
> 
> The Linux compatibility install finishes, and then you come to another screen 
> asking you if you have a NON USB mouse attached. My mouse is not USB so I 
> press the LEFT arrow key to highlight "Yes" and press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" you come to a screen to set up the mouse.
> 
> 
> Press the DOWN arrow key one time, and press "ENTER".
> 
> Move the mouse around and see if it shows up. This should work without 
> problems, and if you see the cursor moving press "ENTER". Now press the DOWN 
> arrow key to select the mouse protocol.
> 
> 
> In this, "AUTO" is already selected, so just press "ENTER" unless you're sure 
> of the mouseyou have and see it here.
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" press the DOWN arrow key and press "ENTER". This mouse 
> is a PS/2 mouse, so I just press the little "ENTER" key, and then when I'm 
> back on the original screen I press the UP arrow key until "EXIT" is 
> highlighted, and press "ENTER" again.
> 
> 
> 
> The next window asks about configuring X, but as I said already, I'm not 
> walkign you through this because you have to set options for each video card. 
> I don't have the same card as everyone else, so it wouldn't be all that 
> helpful. So for this screen, just press the RIGHT arrow key to select "No" 
> and press "ENTER". You can set this up at a later time, so don't worry.
> 
> 
> After you finish that screen you come to another screen to install more 
> software. "Yes" is already selected, so just press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> 
> After you have pressed "ENTER" the easiest thing is just pressing "ENTER" as 
> "ALL" is already selected. This will install everything, and makes it easier 
> than going through every package. You can do that when you have learned more 
> about Free BSD.
> 
> 
> After you have gotten to the next screen, you should see a software selection 
> screen, and you can choose some things to install for X. You can select 
> whatever you want here, and any dependencies will be added automatically.
> 
> 
> After you have selected what you want, press "TAB" to select "OK" and then 
> press "ENTER" on the keyboard. You now come back to the screen you were at 
> earlier, and now you just press "TAB" to highlight on the button saying to 
> "Install" and press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" the packages you selected are installed, and then you 
> come to a new screen some time later. this screen asks for setting up user 
> accounts, so press "ENTER" as "YES" is already highlighted.
> 
> 
> After pressing "ENTER" press the little "DOWN" arrow on your keyboard, and 
> press "ENTER" to add a user.
> 
> 
> It asks for a log in ID, so whatever you want to use to log in should be 
> entered. I enter "GORE" then hit "TAB" 3 times to enter in a password, then 
> hit "TAB" again to enter a full name.
> 
> After you have entered the name, press "TAB" until you are on "OK" and hit 
> "ENTER". After pressing "ENTER" you go back to the screen to add users or 
> groups. Enter as many users as you need to, and then, select "EXIT" and press 
> "ENTER" when you finish adding users.
> 
> 
> Now it's time to set the Root password. Press enter at the screen telling you 
> about it, and then enter in a Root password. You have to enter it in twice. 
> Then you can read the window asking if want to go to the main window for any 
> more options.
> 
> 
> "No" is already highlighted here, so just press "ENTER". After you are done, 
> you see the first screen again. Press "TAB" and that will highlight the 
> "Exit" option. Press "ENTER" and a little screen asks if you're sure. Press 
> the LEFT arrow key to highlight "YES" and press "ENTER".
> 
> 
> Make sure you pop out the CD-ROM first, and if you can't for some reason, just 
> wait until it's rebooting and pull it out then. The machine reboots, and 
> boots up for the first time. Now, have fun.
> -- 

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