my experience

B

BeautifulFish

hello guys,

i am new to the forum and to freebsd too, i installed freebsd 7.2 a couple of weeks ago on virtualbox to give it a try, it looked very similar to linux so i wanted to give it a try as a real operating system, i was expecting something better than linux, i have to say i am very disappointed..

my usb mouse didn't work out of the box, fortunately after configuring "Xorg -configure" and copying xorg.conf to /etc/X11/xorg.conf Option AllowEmptyInput" "off" did the trick

the next challenge was getting my wireless usb device to connect to my router, here is what i did:

Code: 
shell> wpa_passphrase ssid password > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
shell> wpa_supplicant -i re0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
shell> 
ioctl[SIOCGB80211]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCG80211, op 16]: Invalid argument
Failed to initialize driver interface

that was it, no internet, no available solution :(
i never had a problem with my wireless device in linux or even in windows

lastly, another big disappointment, i run kde:
shell> /usr/local/kde4/bin/kdm
i can't do anything without moving the mouse :\ i write something and it doesn't show up unless i move the mouse, i click on an icon of a program and it doesn't run, again i have to move the mouse..

what is wrong with FreeBSD? :(
 
the problem with moving the mouse is solved by disabling the mouse daemon in sysinstall :)

other problems:
no sound :( "oss not working falling back to ."

no nvidia driver, i understand that it is still being developed

can't mount ext4 drives:
Code: 
mount -t ext2fs /dev/ad0s5 /mnt/mydrive

GEOM_LABEL: Label ext2fs//home removed .
WARNING: mount of ad0s5 denied due to unsupported optional features
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider ad0s5 is ext2fs//home .
 
BeautifulFish said:
what is wrong with FreeBSD? :(
Click to expand...
There's nothing wrong with FreeBSD, you just need to get your hands dirty. This means configuring everything yourself.

Start by reading the handbook, all your questions are answered there.

Wireless:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/network-wireless.html

Xorg:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x-config.html

KDE:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11-wm.html
 
thanks for your reply :)

i don't have a problem configuring everything providing that they will work after configuring them :)

thanks for suggesting the manual, very classic lol

unfortunately i don't think the manual covers everything
reading the manual won't make me run the OS with nvidia driver because it is just not finished yet, it won't get ext4 to work, i read a few minutes ago it isn't supported by FreeBSD

i read the wireless page of the manual yesterday, then i spent hours trying to find an answer to the error i put above:
Code: 
ioctl[SIOCG80211, op 16]: Invalid argument
Failed to initialize driver interface

regarding sound, i have a similar problem in linux, a notification pops up in kde, but i still get sound which is not the case in FreeBSD
 
BeautifulFish said:
thanks for your reply :)

i don't have a problem configuring everything providing that they will work after configuring them :)

thanks for suggesting the manual, very classic lol

unfortunately i don't think the manual covers everything
reading the manual won't make me run the OS with nvidia driver because it is just not finished yet, it won't get ext4 to work, i read a few minutes ago it isn't supported by FreeBSD

i read the wireless page of the manual yesterday, then i spent hours trying to find an answer to the error i put above:
Code: 
ioctl[SIOCG80211, op 16]: Invalid argument
Failed to initialize driver interface

regarding sound, i have a similar problem in linux, a notification pops up in kde, but i still get sound which is not the case in FreeBSD
Click to expand...

I think this is a typical expectations problem. FreeBSD is not Linux nor Linux is FreeBSD.

It's not supposed to be configured through point and click. It will require pro-activeness from the user, i.e. reading the FreeBSD Handbook, FAQs and man pages. Do not expect hand walking.

Ext4 is a Linux filesystem but honestly are there any compiling reasons as to why should FreeBSD support it? Especially when ZFS is becoming more and more mature.

Regarding you hardware / driver problems you failing to provide any details on which hardware do you have.
 
yes i know linux and freebsd are not the same, they are both operating systems though and i expect them to support my hardware.

i am not looking for a point and click operating system, i already have that, i needed something more stable and more mature, that is what is always being said about FreeBSD..

why shouldn't FreeBSD support everything? i am not sure how hard it is, ext4 is the next filesystem for linux, why not support it and make everybody making the transition to FreeBSD happy?

regarding my hardware:
wireless device:
Realtek_RTL8187
RTL8187 Wireless Adapter

sound card:
Realtek ALC885
 
Have a look at FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE Hardware Notes to see if your hardware is supported or not.

According to snd_hda(4), Realtek ALC885 have been verified to work. Just follow the steps explained in the man page and you should get sound working.

The FreeBSD Handbook also has a chapter on Setting Up the Sound Card. Have look here for more info.

Regarding the wireless adapter investigate:
http://freebsd.markmail.org/search/?q=realtek+8187
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-current/2009-January/002416.html
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=1378
 
thanks very much :D in /boot/loader.conf snd_hda_load="YES" did the trick :)
some videos don't have sound though, maybe some codecs are missing? i will look into that later or provide info..

back to my biggest problem, the wireless device, i rebooted my pc dozens of times to check the internet for solutions that would make it work and then try them in FreeBSD..

Code: 
/etc/rc.d/netif start
Starting wpa_supplicant.
ioctl[SIOCG80211, OP 16]: Invalid argument
Failed to initialize driver interface
re0: no link .............. giving up
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
	inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
	inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
	inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
re0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_UCAST,WOL_MCAST,WOL_MAGIC>
	ether 00:1a:4d:5e:1b:f1
	media: Ethernet autoselect (10baseT/UTP <half-duplex>)
	status: no carrier
 
BeautifulFish said:
no nvidia driver, i understand that it is still being developed
Click to expand...
There is. x11/nvidia-driver. It just doesn't work on FreeBSD-amd64 (yet). Unless you have more then 3-4GB I highly recommend sticking to FreeBSD-i386.

i am not sure how hard it is, ext4 is the next filesystem for linux, why not support it and make everybody making the transition to FreeBSD happy?
Click to expand...
And how many linux users are currently using ext4?

back to my biggest problem, the wireless device, i rebooted my pc dozens of times to check the internet for solutions that would make it work and then try them in FreeBSD..
Click to expand...
Please post the relevant parts of /etc/rc.conf and /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf.
 
Regarding the video issue check your compile options, you're probably missing codecs or something. Personally I use mplayer for video playback and it works great.

Also check the Handbook Video Playback.

As for the networking issues, judging from the code you've pasted I don't think you've understood how FreeBSD names network interfaces.

Linux usually names network interfaces incrementally, i.e. eth0, eth1, ..., ethn.

FreeBSD however names them according to the driver that supports the NIC. For instances my NIC is RTL8139C+ which is supported by the re(4) driver and goes by the name of re0.I also have a D-Link DFE-528TX NIC that is supported by rl(4) driver so it goes by the name of rl0.

I doubt that a wireless device is supported by re(4) which is what you have in your output.

That said take a look at Wireless Networking and probably Using Windows® NDIS Drivers.
 
SirDice said:
There is. x11/nvidia-driver. It just doesn't work on FreeBSD-amd64 (yet). Unless you have more then 3-4GB I highly recommend sticking to FreeBSD-i386.
Click to expand...
i downloaded amd64 because i am used to downloading the amd64 version of operating systems, maybe i was too optimistic when i thought the nvidia driver would be ported soon..

SirDice said:
And how many linux users are currently using ext4?
Click to expand...
i am not sure, but i am one of them lol

SirDice said:
Please post the relevant parts of /etc/rc.conf and /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf.
Click to expand...

rc.conf

Code: 
hostname="beautifulfish.bsd.local"
defaultrouter="192.168.1.1"
ifconfig_re0="ssid HomeNetwork inet 192.168.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.0"
ifconfig_re0="WPA DHCP"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK


wpa_supplicant.conf

Code: 
network={
	ssid="HomeNetwork"
	scan_ssid=1
	proto=WPA
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	pairwise=CCMP TKIP
	#psk="my password"
	psk=64 numbers and letters...
}

tangram said:
Regarding the video issue check your compile options, you're probably missing codecs or something. Personally I use mplayer for video playback and it works great.

Also check the Handbook Video Playback.
Click to expand...

i use mplayer with my linux installation and it is great, i will install it and run the video again.. i hope it is in the dvd

tangram said:
As for the networking issues, judging from the code you've pasted I don't think you've understood how FreeBSD names network interfaces.

Linux usually names network interfaces incrementally, i.e. eth0, eth1, ..., ethn.

FreeBSD however names them according to the driver that supports the NIC. For instances my NIC is RTL8139C+ which is supported by the re(4) driver and goes by the name of re0.I also have a D-Link DFE-528TX NIC that is supported by rl(4) driver so it goes by the name of rl0.

I doubt that a wireless device is supported by re(4) which is what you have in your output.
Click to expand...

sysinstall - configure - networking
it says it is re0 :\

tangram said:
That said take a look at Wireless Networking and probably Using Windows® NDIS Drivers.
Click to expand...

i read them :)

tangram said:
If using i386 and NVIDIA have a look at HOWTO: Install and configure NVIDIA drivers.
Click to expand...

i will give it a try hopefully the wireless problem is solved, i am still hoping for an amd64 driver :D
 
Don't hold your breath while waiting for the amd64 nvidia-driver ;)
The needed changes in the kernel have only recently been included in 8.0-CURRENT. It will take a while to get everything sorted.

As for your "wireless". The re0 refers to your wired (probably onboard) ethernet, not the Wifi. Hence the wireless setup won't work.

AFAIK your realtek wireless card isn't supported and you probably need to use ndis(4) to get it to work.
 
BeautifulFish said:
i use mplayer with my linux installation and it is great, i will install it and run the video again.. i hope it is in the dvd
Click to expand...

If it isn't in the installation DVD just install using the ports tree or packages. Ports provide control over compile options which is very important in ports that have tons of options like mplayer.

sysinstall - configure - networking
it says it is re0 :\
Click to expand...

AFAIK re(4) is wired only. Sysinstall doesn't pick up everything, especially in the case of NICs that need ndis(4).

Do read the wireless link I gave, especially http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=1378.
 
installed totem from the dvd and it installed the required codecs and now the videos have sound :)

yes you are right guys, that was n00bish of me lol re0 is my onboard ethernet, so how can i get the device name?

i did read the links tangram :D

i don't have windows installed but i have the device driver cd somewhere :) it seems it won't work though:
http://www.nntpnews.net/f4025/rtl8187-drivers-freebsd-usb-wlan-device-605774/

so is this the end? no internet :(
 
i don't have an msi motherboard and i don't know what ndiscvt is..

i searched realtek site, but i am not sure which driver i should download and what i should do after downloading it
Code: 
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/searchView.aspx?keyword=8187

is RTL8187 already supported by FreeBSD 8.0? if it is then maybe i should give it a try..
i am not sure which debugging options i should disable in 8.0, i read somewhere that it has them
 
I am running KDE4 on my laptop right now, i'm using it to post this. It took some setting up to get everything working right but it was worth it. It FEELS faster than linux, especially network related stuff. Firefox doesn't crash as much (for some reason firefox3 locks up a lot in linux, don't ask me why) On ubuntu i'd have problems with pidgin suddenly loosing sound or crashing and would require a complete reboot to fix. This has never happened on freebsd. I admit it does take more work to get a usable desktop but once you take the time to do it, it's much much more stable.. The only thing is that there are FEWER options on freebsd right now but i see that changing in the next couple years. My progression has been like this:

Windows => Ubuntu => Debian => Gentoo => Freebsd

Every step along the path brings me closer to where i want to be, The thing i like about freebsd more than the others is how logical it's set up.
I love the idea of a /etc/make.conf file and an /etc/sysctl.conf and /etc/rc.conf
It's just great stuff.
 
i am not sure what you mean, also 8187SE is a chipset not usb, maybe my device is 8187B, i am not sure, i am not sure what the exact command of ndiscvt is, i am not sure which windows driver i should use, xp or vista or NT64... :\

15 hours now since i woke up, still no internet with FreeBSD, i think it is time for me to give up :(

i wonder what will happen if i connect my printer, my mobile phone or my digital camera :r

thanks very much for your help, i hope i didn't waste your time :)
 
BeautifulFish said:
i am not sure what you mean, also 8187SE is a chipset not usb, maybe my device is 8187B, i am not sure, i am not sure what the exact command of ndiscvt is, i am not sure which windows driver i should use, xp or vista or NT64... :\

15 hours now since i woke up, still no internet with FreeBSD, i think it is time for me to give up :(

i wonder what will happen if i connect my printer, my mobile phone or my digital camera :r

thanks very much for your help, i hope i didn't waste your time :)
Click to expand...

what type of internet device is this? a usb wifi device?

If this is a desktop you can pick up an atheros based wifi card for 10-20 dollars and all of those work amazingly under freebsd.

What device is this?
 
hello wonslung, thanks for sharing :)

my progression is:
Windows > Mandriva > Sabayon "gentoo based"

Sabayon is very good, the emerge/equo utility is very similar to ports which i find is the best way to manage packages and software, but Sabayon isn't very stable, it is easy to get conflicting packages, for example emerge world is broke for me and i can't get it to work, also i don't think i every heard a sound coming out of pidgin lol

yes my device is a usb wifi, i googled it and finally i can provide you with a link :)
http://www.azwave.com/product_AW-GU210_1.asp

btw i downloaded FreeBSD 8.0 :D, how can i remove the debug options and how can i use the urtw driver?
 
BeautifulFish said:
hello wonslung, thanks for sharing :)

my progression is:
Windows > Mandriva > Sabayon "gentoo based"

Sabayon is very good, the emerge/equo utility is very similar to ports which i find is the best way to manage packages and software, but Sabayon isn't very stable, it is easy to get conflicting packages, for example emerge world is broke for me and i can't get it to work, also i don't think i every heard a sound coming out of pidgin lol

yes my device is a usb wifi, i googled it and finally i can provide you with a link :)
http://www.azwave.com/product_AW-GU210_1.asp

btw i downloaded FreeBSD 8.0 :D, how can i remove the debug options and how can i use the urtw driver?
Click to expand...

it would be a lot more helpful to find out what hardware it uses.

Theres a lot of those no name devices floating around but they all have realtek, intel, atheros....or some other actual named hardware inside

once you know THAT it'll be easier to track down the correct way to make it work.


as far as freebsd 8 goes, i don't use it....i stick to 7-stable...thats' the extent of my daring.
 
from kinfocenter in linux:
Code: 
Vendor ID	0xbda	(Realtek Semiconductor Corp.)
Product ID	0x8187	(RTL8187 Wireless Adapter)
Revision	1.00

i just installed 8.0 in virtualbox, it is much faster than 7.2 regarding boot time, i can't install packages though..

sysinstall - configure - packages
Code: 
Unable to get packages/INDEX file from seleted media.

also something is wrong with the up/down cursors, they skip choices and sometimes they don't move :/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top