Solved Comet Lake catch 22

Just upgraded to an Intel 10700K and I'm in an unfortunate pickle. For one, I've done some reading and see that FreeBSD 12.2 does not have driver support for Intel graphics for this chip. Additionally, what's available in FreeBSD's base for the realtek ethernet driver does not support the 2.5G NIC, so I have to pkg install the driver. Lots of problems here as you might tell. I installed the realtek driver on another machine, grabbed the module, and put it on my computer. Great, I have networking. I pulled down FreeBSD 13-CURRENT and compiled it. As you might imagine, my kernel module no longer works because it was compiled for a different kernel. Did a make install but the tgz for the driver was missing so I got it on another machine and placed it in /usr/ports/distfiles. The compile and install worked but now I'm kernel panicking. So what can I do to get my network driver working on 13? It appears a make install doesn't want to work, unless I'm missing something here. I've been a FreeBSD desktop user for 2 years, I can't go back to Linux now. Any suggestions?
 
I've done some reading and see that FreeBSD 12.2 does not have driver support for Intel graphics for this chip.
The soon to be released 13.0 should though.

I pulled down FreeBSD 13-CURRENT and compiled it.
There is no 13-CURRENT any more, so this snapshot is already old. Try the BETA1 release of 13.0. Package repositories should be available for it too.
 
There is no 13-CURRENT any more, so this snapshot is already old. Try the BETA1 release of 13.0. Package repositories should be available for it too.
Could you please tell me how to get the BETA1 snapshot in /usr/src? I've been looking for it...post-1am brain fog
 
Could you please tell me how to get the BETA1 snapshot in /usr/src?
If you're familiar with git you can use that, you just need to checkout the releng/13.0 branch. If not I would recommend net/gitup. Edit /usr/local/etc/gitup.conf, scroll down to the 'release' section, change the branch to releng/13.0. Then run gitup release.
 
If you're familiar with git you can use that, you just need to checkout the releng/13.0 branch. If not I would recommend net/gitup. Edit /usr/local/etc/gitup.conf, scroll down to the 'release' section, change the branch to releng/13.0. Then run gitup release.
Awesome this is working and compiling now. What's the best way to get all the proper ports packages I'll need? Or downloading a binary for a specific release? I have 0 networking once I install FreeBSD 13 since my kernel module only works for 12. I have a working way as I mentioned before, but I was wondering if there's a more "proper" way to do so
 
What's the best way to get all the proper ports packages I'll need?
It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem you have. You need to install the driver to have network but need network to install the driver. Which port exactly do you need? Unfortunately you can't browse the package repositories anymore but I can find the exact link for you. Then you can download the package on another system, put it on a memory stick and transfer it to the system that way. But it might be easier and quicker just to stick an old(er) network card in the machine that does work. If you have one lying around (I have a drawer full of old cards).
 
FWIW, it is quite useful to have a usb ethernet "dongle" that works with FreeBSD around. It might not give you the fastest network, but it gives you network when you bring up a new machine where existing network (wired or wireless) isn't working "out of the box".
 
It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem you have. You need to install the driver to have network but need network to install the driver. Which port exactly do you need? Unfortunately you can't browse the package repositories anymore but I can find the exact link for you. Then you can download the package on another system, put it on a memory stick and transfer it to the system that way. But it might be easier and quicker just to stick an old(er) network card in the machine that does work. If you have one lying around (I have a drawer full of old cards).

It's the realtek-re-kmod port. I did exactly as you suggested last night when I tried with 13-CURRENT. It got to the point where is showed where it was trying to fetch the files from and I was able to do as you said, get the files on a different computer and put them where the makefile wanted to se them. I'm jumping on installing 13-BETA right now so let's see what happens.

FWIW, it is quite useful to have a usb ethernet "dongle" that works with FreeBSD around. It might not give you the fastest network, but it gives you network when you bring up a new machine where existing network (wired or wireless) isn't working "out of the box".
Yeah, I suppose I never thought about ethernet not working hehe. I did have a USB wireless dongle somewhere, but it's lost amongst my clutter as I've moved.
 
It got to the point where is showed where it was trying to fetch the files from and I was able to do as you said, get the files on a different computer and put them where the makefile wanted to se them.
Fetch the package. The port may have a bunch of build dependencies. And don't forget to fetch the package for pkg(8) or you won't be able to install anything (also a bit of a chicken and egg problem; but it's fairly easy to solve).

Direct links:

Place the pkg-1.16.1.txz in /tmp/pkg-temp and extract it:
Code:
mkdir /tmp/pkg-temp
cd /tmp/pkg-temp
tar -zxvf pkg-1.16.1.txz
{ output skipped }
usr/local/sbin/pkg-static add /tmp/pkg-temp/pkg-1.16.1.txz
Note the last command, it's relative, I did not forget the leading slash, that's intentional. You want to execute pkg-static(8) from that extracted directory.
From this point on you can use pkg-add(8) to install the copied package(s): pkg add realtek-re-kmod-v196.04_2.txz
 
Fetch the package. The port may have a bunch of build dependencies. And don't forget to fetch the package for pkg(8) or you won't be able to install anything (also a bit of a chicken and egg problem; but it's fairly easy to solve).

Direct links:

Place the pkg-1.16.1.txz in /tmp/pkg-temp and extract it:
Code:
mkdir /tmp/pkg-temp
cd /tmp/pkg-temp
tar -zxvf pkg-1.16.1.txz
{ output skipped }
usr/local/sbin/pkg-static add /tmp/pkg-temp/pkg-1.16.1.txz
Note the last command, it's relative, I did not forget the leading slash, that's intentional. You want to execute pkg-static(8) from that extracted directory.
From this point on you can use pkg-add(8) to install the copied package(s): pkg add realtek-re-kmod-v196.04_2.txz
All this worked! I also got my comet lake graphics working too so now I have my system up and running today. Buttery smooth. The intel graphics is pretty nice...makes me wish I didn't have to go back to Nvidia once I get my card back. Thank you again for all the help
 
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