Booting bsd

A

a_sandweech

Hello, completely new to bsd, and I actually don't know what to do after logging in. I type in my login name and password and then it pops up with a screen that says some stuff about getting familiar with the os and what to do when support is needed. After that it loads up the command line with the prompt being a $. What do I do to boot? I running 64 bit free bsd, the latest version. Sorry if this is incredibly simple.
 
You are booted and running the operating system. What you do now is up to you. You could install www/apache22 and serve web pages, or you could set up nfs and use it as a file server, or install x11/xorg and a window manager, and a passel of applications and use it as a desktop computer. Or frankly all three at the same time, if that floats your boat.
 
And there's always PC-BSD .. I do keep wondering with which expectations people come to FreeBSD.
 
DutchDaemon said:
And there's always PC-BSD .. I do keep wondering with which expectations people come to FreeBSD.
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Freebsd is a nice and versatile operating system and many people do not know about PC-BSD and variants. And BTW, it is nice they come to Freebsd, whatever are them expectations.
 
As pointed out, you have the system booted up and running as expected. What did you want to try to accomplish? Unlike Windows, MacOS X, and several Linux variants, FreeBSD does not come with a GUI by default. If you are completely new, a more end-user friendly version of FreeBSD (PC-BSD comes to mind) may be a better experience for you.
 
If you've got the money, I'd recommend picking up a copy of Absolute BSD or The Complete FreeBSD, both are excellent books that'll get you through the basics. I personally used The Complete FreeBSD for many years while I was cutting my teeth, doing things which made it crash and generally running amok on my system. But it did provide me with all the information I needed to get started.

IMHO probably the best way to learn an OS is to use it as your primary OS and play with it, probably even crash it a few times and start over. Sure it's not efficient, but it will teach you a lot about what to do to fix it. Also if you've got the time, read the scripts and files under /etc.
 
Alternatively, FreeBSD works great under something like VMWare Player (which is what I use). This gives a stress-free easy throwaway OS install when you want to try something out. It also has the advantage of being free.
 
gordon@ said:
Alternatively, FreeBSD works great under something like VMWare Player (which is what I use). This gives a stress-free easy throwaway OS install when you want to try something out. It also has the advantage of being free.
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Hadn't occurred to me, but then again, virtualization wasn't something that I had available when I was learning things.

Personally, I'd recommend using Virtualbox instead, mostly because once the OP has learned how to do things, he'll have it available for other situations under FreeBSD. Last I checked VMware didn't really work under FreeBSD. Other than that I used it in the past, and found it to be quite good.
 
hedwards said:
Last I checked VMware didn't really work under FreeBSD.
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That's correct. It does however run great as a guest, which is what gordon@ meant.
 
SirDice said:
That's correct. It does however run great as a guest, which is what gordon@ meant.
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Sigh, you didn't notice that my rationale was that it's silly to learn one VM then not really get to use it again? It's in my view a bit silly to use VMware and then have to learn another VM system or be stuck dual booting to use it again.
 
hedwards said:
Sigh, you didn't notice that my rationale was that it's silly to learn one VM then not really get to use it again?
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It's never silly to learn how to do the same thing with some other piece of software.
 
Everytime I start xorg with thte command startx, it displays to windows, login and xterm, and locks up. I can't type anything move the cursor or anything. I have to reset the machine. Whats going on?
 
Also your xorg.conf may not be correct.

+ if you want other window manager then twm (3 xterm windows&clock), you should install one with
Code: 
pkg_add -r xyz
where xyz is gnome2-lite, kde3 or kde4 (kdebase), xfce4, e17... what ever you like.

Have a look at freshports.org for available FBSD software.
 
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