newbie documentation (was: Re: Contributing to FreeBSD documentation (was: Re: no ath0 on new system with good card))

[Steve Franks]

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 <stevefranks at ieee.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 1/16/07, Giorgos Keramidas <keramida at freebsd.org> wrote:
> >  On 2007-01-16 15:47, Steve Franks <stevefranks at ieee.org> 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. </soapbox>
>
>
> > 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 <it being a help option> 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