Options for beginners installation on old kit

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I have been trying to install FreeBSD 8.0 RELEASE on a 1GHz machine with 512MB of memory and CD (not DVD) drive. I have installed several times from the only CD iso that I can find on the download site for i386. When installing, I have chosen the "User" distribution (number 6) from the install menu.

Since I am new to FreeBSD I thought I would start with a simple system with console only so that I don't have to use a mouse or try to understand the X system right away. Although networking with FTP, SSH (in/out) etc works very well, other things don't.

Installing a port is much too slow to attempt to do any larger program and when I type "pkg_add -r name" I get "Error: Unable to get ftp ://.... etc." Are there other CDs available? Is there a better, or more suitable iso? In short, what should I do?

PS: I normally use Linux and have installed numerous distros on this box before. I have also read the FreeBSD install docs. I am just not getting something here. :)
 
What exactly are you trying to install? There are a lot of ports marked NO_PACKAGE (not available on ftp as packages) for various reasons (licence, doesn't work when packaged, etc.)
 
try adding more ftp mirrors to /etc/make.conf

Code: 
MASTER_SITE_BACKUP?=    \                                                      
        ftp://ftp1.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/distfiles/${DIST_SUBDIR}/ \
        ftp://ftp2.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/distfiles/${DIST_SUBDIR}/ \
        ftp://ftp3.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD//ports/distfiles/${DIST_SUBDIR}/
MASTER_SITE_OVERRIDE?=  ${MASTER_SITE_BACKUP}

for me i usually start with minimal installation

then to install kde for example, it is very easy

Code: 
sysinstall
configure
packages
cd/dvd
x11

xorg-7.4_2
kde4-4.3.1

edit:
no dvd, so
Code: 
pkg_add -r xorg
pkg_add -r kde4

in /etc/rc.conf
Code: 
dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"

after reboot start kde by:
/usr/local/kde4/bin/kdm

to make kde start its login at startup, edit /etc/ttys
Code: 
ttyv8 "/usr/local/kde4/bin/kdm -nodaemon" xterm on secure
 
crsd said:
What exactly are you trying to install? There are a lot of ports marked NO_PACKAGE (not available on ftp as packages) for various reasons (licence, doesn't work when packaged, etc.)
Click to expand...
That's helpful to know. I tried ne-2.0.3 and links-2.2. Both are in my /usr/ports. I also tried mc-4.6.2 which is not in my ports dir.

Looking at distinfo in my ports directory, and also the FreeBSD site's ports search, I cannot find where "NO_PACKAGE" would be listed. Where can I find that information?

@BeautifulFish: My /etc/make.conf file only has one entry and that is for perl.* which came with the (failed) ne port install. Thanks for the X and KDE installation instructions. I'll get back to trying that after I get the basics working. :)
 
Carpetsmoker said:
Can you post the full error you're receiving with pkg_add -r?
Click to expand...
Here it is. I'll just let it wrap in case it stretches the code box like I've seen on other vBulletin sites.

Error: Unable to get ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-8.0-release/Latest/mc-4.6.2.tbz: File unavailable (e.g., file not found, no access)
pkg_add: unable to fetch 'ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-8.0-release/Latest/mc-4.6.2.tbz' by URL

This is exactly the same message I get from the other package requests.

- Ole
 
Most ports are available as packages though.

/etc/make.conf has nothing to do with packages.

If you don't have a connection on your machine, you can always download the packages and all their dependencies, and then install them locally with pkg_add, without the -r option of course.

The /Latest/ directory contains symlinks to the real packages, and these symlinks don't have package versions. So doing # pkg_add -r mc should work.

The /All/ directory contains the packages themselves, so you'd have to add the version: # pkg_add -r mc-n.n.n,n.

Note that the port version might be different from the package version since ports are up to date while STABLE packages are built once in a while and RELEASE packages are only built once (~ FreeBSD RELEASE date). But don't worry about the version if you use the Latest directory.
 
@Beastie: I used the full name with version number found in the ports search results. You mention the /Latest and the /ALL directories. Where are those located?

The FreeBSD archive search returns "Nothing found." when I search for "packages". Google has not been able to dig up any FreeBSD package repository either. What is it called?

The bottom line is that "pkg_add -r pkgname" does not work on my installation, but going to the /usr/ports/rellevantapp directory and typing "make" does. However compiling on this low resource machine is painfully slow, so I would like to see how it works with packages.

Carpetsmoker: Did you set any environment variables? What's the output of # env?
Click to expand...
No, I have not set any variables. All I have done is set up networking like SSH and AnonFTP. All networking works very well and the way I would expect.

Code: 
USER=root
LOGNAME=root
HOME=/root
SHELL=/bin/csh
FTP_PASSIVE_MODE=YES
BLOCKSIZE=K
MAIL=/var/mail/root
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/root/bin
TERM=cons25
HOSTTYPE=FreeBSD
VENDOR=intel
OSTYPE=FreeBSD
MACHTYPE=i386
SHLVL=1
PWD=/home/ole
GROUP=wheel
HOST=GIN.cgs
REMOTEHOST=
EDITOR=vi
PAGER=more
 
I solved the pkg_add problem. I guess I don't need to know exactly where the packages are located if, as Beastie says, "pkg_add -r mc" should work. That is indeed correct, and my problem was that I was adding the version numbers. In the FreeBSD handbook, I found this gem:
When the remote fetching feature is used, the version number of the package must be removed. pkg_add(1) will automatically fetch the latest version of the application.
Click to expand...
I tried it and it works!
As a newbie, I never would have guessed, but it makes sense now that I see it.

I just installed midnight commander (mc) and the package worked like a charm. It appeared to be faster than the port method. Now I can at least compare the two methods and make a choice.

I am still wondering if the CD which is labelled 8.0-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso is the best choice for low resource hardware. Is there anything else available?
 
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