FreeBSD is possibly an uninstallable OS

[Bavaria]

So, I wanted to give new life to a previous Windows machine. I decided to give FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE ISO a try, because I am masochistic I suppose. I couldn't figure out in the FreeBSD installer how to do full-disk encryption, but I found a tutorial on the Internet saying:

simply choose "ZFS" at the "Partitioning" menu and toggle the "Encrypt disks?" prompt with the enter key.

OK, so I did that, but the installation stalled at 32% at the "Extracting Distribution Files" progress screen. I run the installer again. Again, stalled at 32%. I run the installer deselecting some of the default items. The installer stalled earlier. At this point, I gave up on full-disk encryption, and I tried installing normally using the Guided Installation. It worked.

OK, I got a FreeBSD shell, but how to get a Desktop environment? According to the handbook, to install Gnome, one must type:

pkg install gnome2

Well, sorry, but this gives a "No packages matching gnome2" error. I had to read the "man pkg" documentation and figure out that "pkg search gnome2" gives the correct package name. OK, I installed Gnome, but how to run it? Again, the handbook gives false information. It says (on a couple of places) to type:

echo "#!/bin/sh" > ...

Well, sorry, but this gives a "/bin/sh: Event not found" error. After searching on the Internet, I found that this command should use single quotes instead of double quotes. OK, but after completing all the steps and rebooting, I still don't see Gnome. The handbook says that to manually start the Desktop, one can type:

startx

Well, sorry, but this gives a "Command not found" error. In fact, I can't even locate a "gnome-session" binary on my hard-drive. I tried:

pkg install gnome-session

but I got a whole bunch of errors, like:

"CAM status: ATA Status Error
ATA status: 51 (DRDY SERV ERR)...
(null)-(null)..."

Very frustrating.

 

[Beastie]

Hello and welcome to the FreeBSD forums.

I don't use GNOME so I can't really help you with that in particular. But the following usually means you've installed an X client (e.g. GNOME) but are missing the server side (Xorg):

startx

Well, sorry, but this gives a "Command not found" error.

A few sections back, the Handbook shows you how to install it.

Also, try to run the rehash command (1, 2) or logging out and re-logging back in to your user account.

Again, the handbook gives false information

It's the open-source. Feel free to report problems if you want them fixed or even better contribute a fix/patch.

By the way, echo "#!/bin/sh" > ... works fine if you're using sh(1). If you're using csh(1) instead, you have to escape the "!" symbol (echo #\!/bin/sh > ...).

I got a whole bunch of errors, like:

"CAM status: ATA Status Error
ATA status: 51 (DRDY SERV ERR)

Maybe it's a false alarm, but consider checking your disk for errors with sysutils/smartmontools.