Installing a FreeBSD from Scratch From a Linux Box?

[Dave Cottlehuber]

On Tue, 21 Mar 2017, at 00:12, Hunter Jozwiak wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am curious as to whether or not this is actually possible. The idea
> is to install FreeBSD from scratch using a Linux live disc akin to how
> one would install Gentoo. That means that I would create the
> filesystems, mount them on partitions, download and build the sources,
> chroot in, and do configuration that way. The main reason is that
> since there is no talking live installer for the visually impaired, it
> would be difficult to get an install going without sighted assistance.
> Any thoughts/ideas are welcome.
> 
> Hunter

What about this approach?

- make a usb stick or CD of mfsbsd http://mfsbsd.vx.sk/
- boot the computer from that
- from another computer that has "talk functionality" available, connect
via ssh to mfsbsd
- run mfsbsd inbuilt zfsinstall from this terminal session

While I've not tried it recently, I believe its also possible to run the
FreeBSD installer from within mfsbsd too, so this would give a partially
sighted person the ability to use the normal installer via a supported
speaking terminal. I have no idea whether curses style applications work
in this scenario, maybe you can share some experiences with that.

IIRC one needs to download the .txz files to /usr/freebsd-dist/ and also
the MANIFEST file from an ftp mirror, then run bsdinstall.

A+
Dave