n00b questions

[James Earl]

On Tue, 2005-01-18 at 01:09 -0500, Jason Trickett wrote:
>    Hi. I'm just learning to use FreeBSD and have a few questions. I
>    noticed during my reading that a list of available packages for
>    freebsd is at [1]ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/packages/ and
>    by using pkg_add -r packagename I can install new packages. I just
>    noticed that some of the versions available are newer than the ones
>    currently installed on my system. I tried to get the newer versions
>    using pkg_add but it said I already had the latest, which I know isn't
>    true (according to pkg_info). So how do I get the latest versions of
>    my fav apps? I'd also like to get the latest gnome2 desktop (2.8, I
>    believe) thru the packages system. I'm using the 5.3 Release.
>    Also, as a n00b I was wondering if there are any customization guides
>    available to help people like me get the most out of their systems,
>    pertaining to graphics cards, etc. Because some of the screensavers I
>    have aren't working so I assume I am missing something somewhere.
>    Eye-candy info like that, for instance.
>    Thanks.

You may want to read up on the FreeBSD "Ports Collection":

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ports.html

That's a nice short read... see Package Benefits, and Ports Benefits,
and especially "Using the Ports Collection."

I can still remember back to when I first started using FreeBSD.  I
would always using the pre-compiled packages, mainly because I didn't
know about the ports collection and how to use it.  It took me awhile,
but eventually I saw the light!

The packages you may have installed from the FreeBSD CD or using pkg_add
-r <pkg_name>, are simply a snapshot of a moving target, which is the
ports collection.

To upgrade your installed packages, you'll want to look into
portupgrade.

In regards to your other question about customization, there are alot of
resources out there.  The FreeBSD Handbook, FreeBSD GNOME
(www.freebsd.org/gnome/), this mailing list, Google, etc.

James