useless system

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

tenchu

Hi all,

I have tried about 7 times to install bsd on my old 32bit fujitsu-siemens without much luck.

I had followed the instructions given in Absolute Freebsd as much as possible (some options given on screen did not match those shown in chapter 3 of the book), but for some reason the system is unusable. I have tried installing basic software including a browser and have had nothing but error messages i.e. pkg not installed try using ports. Could not use ports (something to do with a mirror site).

I tried checking my network connection with ifconfig -a and couldnt really understand what info it put out. I'm trying to make a usable system out of an old laptop which previously had various linux distributions on it that ran fine but quite slow (booting/loading often took 5mins +). bsd boots in seconds but presents me with a system that can do basically nothing. I've tried searching forums for solutions and read the various sections of the hand book and gotten absolutely nowhere.

Is there a sensible guide somewhere that I can follow to get a usable system up and running (preferably one that does not require a degree in CS to understand it) before I bin the book and go back to linix?

many thanks from a frustrated newb.
 
Slow down.
First step first: The basic install, before GUI and XWindows. Did that work? If not, what are the exact error messages? What does "usable" mean? Telling us "something with a mirror site" is way too little information. What version did you install?

Telling us that you don't understand the output of ifconfig doesn't help us debug the problem. How about this: Using only the basic (core or shell-based) part of FreeBSD, get it up and running, describe your network setup (where you get your connectivity from, what hardware, what IP address range you should be using), and the post the output of ifconfig here.

FreeBSD comes with very good documentation. Try reading the handbook (easy to find on the web, look for "FreeBSD handbook). It does not require a CS degree to understand ... I don't have a CS degree.
 
ralphbsz said:
Slow down.
First step first: The basic install, before GUI and XWindows. Did that work? If not, what are the exact error messages? What does "usable" mean? Telling us "something with a mirror site" is way too little information. What version did you install?

Telling us that you don't understand the output of ifconfig doesn't help us debug the problem. How about this: Using only the basic (core or shell-based) part of FreeBSD, get it up and running, describe your network setup (where you get your connectivity from, what hardware, what IP address range you should be using), and the post the output of ifconfig here.

FreeBSD comes with very good documentation. Try reading the handbook (easy to find on the web, look for "FreeBSD handbook). It does not require a CS degree to understand ... I don't have a CS degree.
Click to expand...
ralphbsz said:
Slow down.
First step first: The basic install, before GUI and XWindows. Did that work? If not, what are the exact error messages? What does "usable" mean? Telling us "something with a mirror site" is way too little information. What version did you install?

Telling us that you don't understand the output of ifconfig doesn't help us debug the problem. How about this: Using only the basic (core or shell-based) part of FreeBSD, get it up and running, describe your network setup (where you get your connectivity from, what hardware, what IP address range you should be using), and the post the output of ifconfig here.

FreeBSD comes with very good documentation. Try reading the handbook (easy to find on the web, look for "FreeBSD handbook). It does not require a CS degree to understand ... I don't have a CS degree.
Click to expand...


Good afternoon,

I have taken photos of the screen to show the error messages I was getting. I had installed the basic system from scratch last night (no GUI). I tried "pkg install firefox" and got the first error message before I even hit the enter key. For the rest I have tried to include what I had typed in to generate each error message but having difficulty getting it all in each photo. I have attached the photos I took today when trying to replicate what I did last night to generate the error messages.
 

Attachments

  • first.jpg
    first.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 289
  • fourth.jpg
    fourth.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 236
  • second.jpg
    second.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 236
  • third.jpg
    third.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 244
The error you're seeing is a a syslogd(8) message printed to the console. And is a result of failure to configure DNS settings. As are all your other error messages. They all relate to same thing, a failure to resolve hostnames; which means your DNS settings are absent or incorrect. See resolv.conf(5).

This in itself can be cause of the problem but can also be a result of another problem, no IP connectivity. So check if you're actually online. Make sure TCP/IP is up and running, then verify the DNS settings.
 
SirDice said:
The error you're seeing is a a syslogd(8) message printed to the console. And is a result of failure to configure DNS settings. As are all your other error messages. They all relate to same thing, a failure to resolve hostnames; which means your DNS settings are absent or incorrect. See resolv.conf(5).

This in itself can be cause of the problem but can also be a result of another problem, no IP connectivity. So check if you're actually online. Make sure TCP/IP is up and running, then verify the DNS settings.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, however, I don't know the firs thing about TCP/IP or DNS, and therefore have no idea where to even start. I may be out of my depth with this operating system (I suspected this after writing my first post). I naively thought using BSD would help with my lack of networking knowledge, which is basic at best (the OSI model is still a mystery to me, I have read it and cannot get my head around the layers/stack thing). It seems now I may have put the horse before the cart with this one. I think I may have to format that hard drive and reinstall a variety of linux until my knowledge of networking is on par.

Thanks for all the help, and hopefully I will be back when my hardware knowledge is up to standard.

Regards,
Nick
 
tenchu said:
I don't know the firs thing about TCP/IP or DNS, and therefore have no idea where to even start.
Click to expand...
TCP/IP is pretty essential knowledge. So yes, at least learn some of the basics.

tenchu said:
which is basic at best (the OSI model is still a mystery to me, I have read it and cannot get my head around the layers/stack thing).
Click to expand...
Don't worry about that. After 25 years I still don't fully understand it either. Besides that, TCP/IP doesn't follow the OSI model any way. It helps to know the difference between layer 2, 3 and 7 but that's about the only "OSI layers" you'll probably encounter.

tenchu said:
I think I may have to format that hard drive and reinstall a variety of linux until my knowledge of networking is on par.
Click to expand...
You are likely to run into exactly the same issues.
 
SirDice said:
TCP/IP is pretty essential knowledge. So yes, at least learn some of the basics.


Don't worry about that. After 25 years I still don't fully understand it either. Besides that, TCP/IP doesn't follow the OSI model any way. It helps to know the difference between layer 2, 3 and 7 but that's about the only "OSI layers" you'll probably encounter.


You are likely to run into exactly the same issues.
Click to expand...

I have used a variety of linux distros over the years with varying levels of success. I tend to find that a particular distro either likes the hardware I've got or it doesn't, in which case I switch to another. In terms of usage I've found that I can have a working desktop i.e. internet usage and office package within a day or two at most, and there are plenty of self help books out there to get you started. With FreeBSD I havr found only one book and it seems aimed at administrators rather than users. It doesnt tell you how to install software until about chapter 15. I have skipped around the pages and looked through the BSD manual but have struggled to see how I can make a usable desktop without knowing A LOT about the system to start with.
 
tenchu said:
I have used a variety of linux distros over the years with varying levels of success. I tend to find that a particular distro either likes the hardware I've got or it doesn't, in which case I switch to another. In terms of usage I've found that I can have a working desktop i.e. internet usage and office package within a day or two at most, and there are plenty of self help books out there to get you started. With FreeBSD I havr found only one book and it seems aimed at administrators rather than users. It doesnt tell you how to install software until about chapter 15. I have skipped around the pages and looked through the BSD manual but have struggled to see how I can make a usable desktop without knowing A LOT about the system to start with.
Click to expand...
SirDice said:
TCP/IP is pretty essential knowledge. So yes, at least learn some of the basics.


Don't worry about that. After 25 years I still don't fully understand it either. Besides that, TCP/IP doesn't follow the OSI model any way. It helps to know the difference between layer 2, 3 and 7 but that's about the only "OSI layers" you'll probably encounter.


You are likely to run into exactly the same issues.
Click to expand...

It seems as though a new user would need the equivalent of A+ and network+ under their belt before getting started. I chose BSD because it looked like a more interesting way of absorbing the knowledge i.e. learn whilst you're having a go, rather than bore yourself insensible reading a 1000 page book (I'm referring to the comptia books here). What I am trying to say is that if the system worked 80% of the time it would be a massive help as you could actually enjoy getting use out of it whilst having a go at the odd error you come across (as I have done with linux to a certain extent). I wasn't expecting to hit the proverbial brick wall as soon as I installed it.
 
You should really clean your screen before taking pictures of it like that ;-) I experienced the same challenges. Installing FreeBSD results in a "useless" system in that you will have to manually configure your network using config files before you can install a GUI and do something "usefull". The major difference is that I'm a network engineer so I understand TCP/IP while you have challenges with that. Good luck with your learning experience!
 
SirDice said:
TCP/IP is pretty essential knowledge. So yes, at least learn some of the basics.


Don't worry about that. After 25 years I still don't fully understand it either. Besides that, TCP/IP doesn't follow the OSI model any way. It helps to know the difference between layer 2, 3 and 7 but that's about the only "OSI layers" you'll probably encounter.


You are likely to run into exactly the same issues.
Click to expand...

With regards the last sentence, I have had issues but rarely to the point of having a
tommiie said:
You should really clean your screen before taking pictures of it like that ;-) I experienced the same challenges. Installing FreeBSD results in a "useless" system in that you will have to manually configure your network using config files before you can install a GUI and do something "usefull". The major difference is that I'm a network engineer so I understand TCP/IP while you have challenges with that. Good luck with your learning experience!
Click to expand...

Exactly my point. My degree is in maths not CS nor do I have any certs. I was looking at having a go at some but the books are unbelievably boring (I have actually fallen asleep reading them) and the courses are eyewateringly expensive (can be more expensive than a degree to get to a certain level considering some comptia courses are priced in the thousands for a few days tuition). Hence my genius idea of installing a unix based operating system in the hopes of learning by actually having a go. I never expected it to be this difficult. Having to go back to the books to learn networking because I cant get it to do a single thing on my laptop kinda defeats the object of installing it.
 
SirDice said:
TCP/IP is pretty essential knowledge. So yes, at least learn some of the basics.


Don't worry about that. After 25 years I still don't fully understand it either. Besides that, TCP/IP doesn't follow the OSI model any way. It helps to know the difference between layer 2, 3 and 7 but that's about the only "OSI layers" you'll probably encounter.


You are likely to run into exactly the same issues.
Click to expand...

Apologies I had tried to reply to this last sentence already. I have ran into similar issues with linux but on nowhere near the same scale. Worst case scenario I would have issues with wireless but could use a wired connection to download said drivers or other software. I have used a wired connection from the get go with this opersting system and am still having draas
 
Hi,

welcome to the forums and welcome to FreeBSD. Don't worry, it's all not as difficult as it may seem right now.
FreeBSD is a great OS to learn from, since the handbook and man pages are pretty good. But you'll have to put in some extra effort in understanding everything.
I wouldn't go as far as to say you'll need to know the intricate details of TCP/IP and the like, but you'll do better becoming comfortable with command line tools and their output :)
Let's just start at the beginning and see if you actually have networking connectivity. Just post the output of ifconfig here inside code tags like this:
Code: 
em0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 9000
        options=81249b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER>
        ether 78:24:af:3b:25:40
        inet 192.168.0.29 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
        media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
        status: active
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
        options=680003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
        inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
        inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
        groups: lo
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

You will have at least the "lo0" adapter, with some luck you also have another one (like em0 in my case, which is an Intel NIC).
 
malavon said:
Hi,

welcome to the forums and welcome to FreeBSD. Don't worry, it's all not as difficult as it may seem right now.
FreeBSD is a great OS to learn from, since the handbook and man pages are pretty good. But you'll have to put in some extra effort in understanding everything.
I wouldn't go as far as to say you'll need to know the intricate details of TCP/IP and the like, but you'll do better becoming comfortable with command line tools and their output :)
Let's just start at the beginning and see if you actually have networking connectivity. Just post the output of ifconfig here inside code tags like this:
Code: 
em0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 9000
        options=81249b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER>
        ether 78:24:af:3b:25:40
        inet 192.168.0.29 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
        media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
        status: active
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
        options=680003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
        inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
        inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
        groups: lo
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

You will have at least the "lo0" adapter, with some luck you also have another one (like em0 in my case, which is an Intel NIC).
Click to expand...


Hi,

I have taken a photo as I'm posting via my windows 10 laptop. Please see ifconfigoutput.jpg

I had tried to input my ipv4 and ipv6 on the third or fouth install attempt manually and that didn't really work. I then just went back to using DHCP and slaac. The output you see in the photo is after my 8th attempt at reinstalling using DHCP and slaac.

Kind regards
 

Attachments

  • ifconfigoutput.jpg
    ifconfigoutput.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 232
Your network configuration looks good. You should be able to ping 8.8.8.8 and probably even "google.com" (or any other IP address and DNS name).
 
Ok, that's good. DHCP apparently gave you an IP address, so far so good. Most of the time your gateway address will be the .1 address, in your case 192.168.0.1. Try pinging that; ping 192.168.0.1. Look at the output from netstat -rn4. Look for a destination "default", the gateway address is probably that 192.168.0.1 address. If you're able to ping that address you know basic TCP/IP networking works. You can then check name resolving (DNS). Look at /etc/resolv.conf, there should be at least one line containing nameserver, that's your DNS server. For most home routers this is probably the same 192.168.0.1 address as your gateway (everything points to your modem/router).
 
SirDice said:
Ok, that's good. DHCP apparently gave you an IP address, so far so good. Most of the time your gateway address will be the .1 address, in your case 192.168.0.1. Try pinging that; ping 192.168.0.1. Look at the output from netstat -rn4. Look for a destination "default", the gateway address is probably that 192.168.0.1 address. If you're able to ping that address you know basic TCP/IP networking works. You can then check name resolving (DNS). Look at /etc/resolv.conf, there should be at least one line containing nameserver, that's your DNS server. For most home routers this is probably the same 192.168.0.1 address as your gateway (everything points to your modem/router).
Click to expand...

Hi,

I had tried to ping 192.168.0.1 and got the following output (see pingoutput.jpg). I had tried this previously and the same thing happened. The lines just keep appearing and I have no idea how to stop them. I ended up doing what I did last time and just powering down the laptop by holding my finger on the power button.

Just so everyone knows, I have been trying this since just before xmas. I had previously done what I normally do with linux problems and that is trawl through previous posts to see if anyone else has had a similar issue and trying out what is listed there. However, this has now gone on for weeks and I am completely at a loss. I have never posted in a forum (I have always found something that works before asking for help) so this is my first thread ever. I am only asking for help because I was ready to throw the towel in after nearly 5 weeks of hard slog and getting nowhere.

Many thanks
Nick
 

Attachments

  • pingoutput.jpg
    pingoutput.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 195
That means you get a reply from your default gateway. You can stop the ping program by pressing Ctrl+C at the same time. Also try pinging 8.8.8.8 and google.com. That way you know whether or not routing and DNS work. If so, congrats, you have a fully working network connection and you can start installing X and Firefox and...
 
tommiie said:
That means you get a reply from your default gateway. You can stop the ping program by pressing Ctrl+C at the same time. Also try pinging 8.8.8.8 and google.com. That way you know whether or not routing and DNS work. If so, congrats, you have a fully working network connection and you can start installing X and Firefox and...
Click to expand...

Hi,

would that not bring me back to square one?

If it does confirm I have network conection surely I wouldnt have issues with pkg and ports as was suggested at the very start of the thread. :S
 
tenchu said:
would that not bring me back to square one? If it does confirm I have network conection surely I wouldnt have issues with pkg and ports as was suggested at the very start of the thread. :S
Click to expand...
Well, we're trying to identify the issue you're experiencing. We generally do that by eliminating all possibilities until we've fond the culprit. Once we know for sure your network conncetivity is working, we can look at other options. But we must rule out the network first.
 
Pinging IP addresses means you have basic TCP/IP connectivity. If you can ping the gateway you know your machine is correctly connected to the network. If you can ping IP addresses outside your network, 8.8.8.8 for example, you know routing works. These things must work or else there's no point in looking further.

If you can correctly ping the gateway and beyond you can take a look at DNS settings. Without DNS you cannot resolve a hostname like 'pkg.freebsd.org' to its IP address (think of DNS as a phonebook, you look up a name to find the number to dial).

Troubleshooting means taking one step at a time and verifying that it works. Then move the next step, verify it, etc. Until you get to a step that doesn't work. Just randomly trying and modifying settings is simply not an efficient way to troubleshoot and only results in frustration.
 
SirDice said:
Pinging IP addresses means you have basic TCP/IP connectivity. If you can ping the gateway you know your machine is correctly connected to the network. If you can ping IP addresses outside your network, 8.8.8.8 for example, you know routing works. These things must work or else there's no point in looking further.

If you can correctly ping the gateway and beyond you can take a look at DNS settings. Without DNS you cannot resolve a hostname like 'pkg.freebsd.org' to its IP address (think of DNS as a phonebook, you look up a name to find the number to dial).
Click to expand...

I can ping 8.8.8.8 but not google.com

When I ping google.com I get:

ping: cannot resolve google.com: Host name lookup failure
 
SirDice said:
Ok, that's good. DHCP apparently gave you an IP address, so far so good. Most of the time your gateway address will be the .1 address, in your case 192.168.0.1. Try pinging that; ping 192.168.0.1. Look at the output from netstat -rn4. Look for a destination "default", the gateway address is probably that 192.168.0.1 address. If you're able to ping that address you know basic TCP/IP networking works. You can then check name resolving (DNS). Look at /etc/resolv.conf, there should be at least one line containing nameserver, that's your DNS server. For most home routers this is probably the same 192.168.0.1 address as your gateway (everything points to your modem/router).
Click to expand...

Also, when I try /etc/resolv.conf
I get Permission denied
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top