TBH, I've been typing a bunch of stuff into AI lately, and I haven't had any luck with it. By the time I know enough to type a functioning prompt in, I've already done the work to find the information in a random forum post. And, at least that way, I've also learned generally to define that specific problem, so in theory if I need to solve the same problem again, I'm a half-step closer to resolving it.
It insists on using bash in all their solutions.
Don't we have a section of how-tos here? What prevents someone from posting a "post install process to get a desktop" one?
I enjoy reading manuals. I actually search for Unix manuals from the 1970s on archive.org just to read them. Riveting stuff. You know who makes a fine manual is the Nintendo company. Man, that's some epic manual going on over there. So, anyway, just letting everyone know that "no one likes to RTFM"...well, I'm someone who loves to RTFM. So, you could say "It's common knowledge that most don't like to RTFM". But you can't say "no one".
sudo systemd install freebsdif [ ${AI} ]; then
echo 'looks like you are trying to install Freebsd using AI'
echo 'aborting installing because you are too stupid to use Freebsd installing Windows instead'
fiI was thinking along the lines of an (old fashioned) "wizard" program that asks you a series of questions and takes (or defaults) action based on that. Not all that different from bsdinstall but make it script driven so that as more options and actions can be added from various people's experiences. Of course, it will require some coding & testing....
).A lack of RTFA has been an issue for as long as I can remember. Then again, documentation in general has been in decline across many projects. I personally learned more from The Complete FreeBSD and FreeBSD Diary than just about anything. Even MS DOS used to have great manuals.I've already encountered the same mentality on the forum New users who don't read the handbook, who don't use it to install It's a real linuxism, don't read any documentation, and ask questions asking for help And now you'll have to integrate the AI, in an installation media preferably graphical and answer ok, ok, to find KDE or Gnome at the end of the day They will say in TikTok: "I installed FreeBSD"
For me, all that came as a later problem to figure out and solve
For me, this is quite simple, I'm lazy. I'm also an "old" guy myself. First used FreeBSD for years around 2000. I'm not an idiot to be spoon fed. But I'm lazy, and I want to use my computer, not configure it endlessly. Installing and configuring FreeBSD on my MacBook Air took less then one hour, having a complete os with XFCE, all features set up correctly, sound, keyboard lighting, sleep mode printing etc. This took one our because of using AI to speed up the process, not reading plenty of Handbook pages (btw it is the best documentation I have seen). So since then I can USE my computer for my work and free time activities perfectly. This is why I think that such a post install config help could be a good thing. But you, and other fellows writing here are right, there is no need for specific AI agent to be created for this, as Chatgpt was able to help in it without one mistake throughout the whole process. And its perfect capability of helping me was surely based on the informations collected in the Handbook. Seeing FreeBSD so capable of being a useful tool on a simple laptop, I think it would be good to be spread out between regular users also, like me. But for this, the "Übermensch" attitude "You don not want to spend hours to read manuals to start the wifi on your machine" = "You are an idiot, leave us alone in our wonderful castle" is not the best attitude. People are different, and those who are interested in other possibilities then Windows and Linux should not be taken as burden. Some of them would read the Handbook, others will ask help on the forum, others will use AI. There is no difference in it at all. All of them want information, and all of them getting it in their preferred way. Sorry for the long text
Windows
(so once it's set-up it's relatively boring)It took me 4 days to perfect FreeBSD 14.1 on my laptop after hearing about it, and now I can set-up in less than an hour. If your install broke completely, can you re-deploy on a whim if AI wasn't available?
I think I can set it up, because I saved all the relevant steps into a text file and uploaded it to Google driveWindows
That's kind of an interesting point for me as of recent: FreeBSD still offers a lot for me to mess with and learn while it can stand as a usable desktop. I can do more with gaming from Windows and general stuff like connecting to random wifi with GUI or Android phone MTP, but mainly everything I can do on FreeBSD from a desktop I can do from Windows. I'm not sure what else to mess with on Windows though
It took me 4 days to get FreeBSD 14.1 on my laptop comfortably after hearing about it, and now I can set-up in less than an hour. If your install broke completely, can you re-deploy on a whim if AI wasn't available?
Skipping a learning process doesn't lead to quicker results later imo.
Yep. If I'm going to use it I look at its response but then check to see what it recommends so I understand exactly what it's doing. So if it says to do something like "set sys.kern.widget to zero" I'm going to make sure I know what that does and not plow ahead. I make sure I understand what each suggestion does and treat them as suggestions alone.
Which is probably the same thing you'd do regardless of the source.
That will work for the same version (MAJOR.MINOR). Come back in the next major or in two minors and the steps may not work.I think I can set it up, because I saved all the relevant steps into a text file and uploaded it to Google drive
I still can read the Handbook if needed, so there will be no problem.
