So I installed FreeBSD 8.2... now what? (noob questions)

I downloaded the FreeBSD 8.2 release for i386 and successfully installed it on my Dell desktop. So here are my noob questions...
  1. I thought there was a GUI? My install is all command prompt.
  2. If there is a GUI, how do I install it?
  3. How can get from the $ prompt to the # prompt and what is the difference?

I'm sure I'll think of more questions later. Thanks.
 
Welcome. Several websites show roundups of all the GUI's installable (twm, fvwm2, openbox, windowmaker, etc). Installing the GUI is tricky, easy once the xorg (X) configuration is done. (I'd advise customizing the prompt to show the current path, easier to avoid mistakes... depends upon your shell.) Maybe check the HowTo section here, and guides on the web, and the handbook which should be on your disk, for further configuration. Way too much to explain in one post here in the time I have left today. Maybe others will chime in; and the forum search (the bar at the top) is very efficient in this forum vs many others.
 
sysop1911 said:
I thought there was a GUI? My install is all command prompt.
You need to install a window manager (or even a desktop environment if you're into that sort of thing) seperately.

sysop1911 said:
2)If there is a GUI, how do I install it?
Start by installing X-windows, see the handbook. Then choose a window manager or desktop environment of your choice and install that. Choice aplenty.

sysop1911 said:
3)How can get from the $ prompt to the # prompt and what is the difference?
You must be kidding, but I'll bite. The # prompt is for the superuser, or administrator in Windows speak. See su(1) and/or security/sudo.

Fonz
 
hi
if you want a GUI,you need install Xorg fisrt, and then install a desktop environment or a
window manger, such as sawfish,fvwm,xfce,gnome,kde.Just pick one of them.
If you're just a beginner on *nix, i suggest you install the gonme.:)
 
The latter is more of a strong suggestion than a hint, really. I keep wondering why people simply expect a GUI on FreeBSD.
 
Probably because us noobies don't know any better. ;-)


FWIW, command line interface should not be hard for me to learn. I've done a small bit of Linux on CL before (forgot about the $/# difference) and I used to love MS-DOS back in the day. However, I would like a GUI because I can't see any reason to use a non-GUI these days.
 
sysop1911 said:
However, I would like a GUI because I can't see any reason to use a non-GUI these days.
The command line is far more flexible and useful than the gui can ever be and you'll find you will use the guy less as you learn more.
 
sysop1911 said:
....I used to love MS-DOS back in the day. However, I would like a GUI because I can't see any reason to use a non-GUI these days.
While a GUI and mouse are needed for things like GIMP, Inkscape, etc., FreeBSD is an operating system and not all applications need, or even use, a GUI. Including a GUI would be more of a problem than a benefit because anyone that does not want the included GUI will have to spend time removing it and install the one they want, if they even want one to begin with.
 
drhowarddrfine said:
The command line is far more flexible and useful than the gui can ever be and you'll find you will use the guy less as you learn more.

Even with the GUI, you can use the Xterm for command-line stuff, no?
 
sysop1911 said:
I would like a GUI because I can't see any reason to use a non-GUI these days.

How about when you don't have any video graphics adapter, like my servers? Why would you want to have a GUI there?

FreeBSD is a minimal system that you need to extend to fit your needs. It's for experts and a universal system... it's not restricted to desktop use.
 
Why would you want to have a GUI?

u wrong 'homie'!

Requirements for Success
To consider the desktop a success, the user should be able to do the following after installation:

Have a graphical login screen.
Auto-mount CD/DVD and USB drives.
Connect a USB drive and read and write to it.
Browse the web with 'whatever u want'.
Create a document with Open Office.
Play an mp3.
Play a DVD
 
d_mon said:
To consider the desktop a success, the user should be able to do the following after installation:
Says who?

Fonz (by the way: half the things you list don't require a GUI...)
 
And more than half of those have nothing to do with FreeBSD Operating System but are functions of application software that happens to be available for FreeBSD.
 
To consider the desktop a success != To consider FreeBSD a desktop.

It isn't. It has never been. It will never be. It isn't designed to be. It can be, if you do the work.

PC-BSD (KDE) is ready. GhostBSD (Gnome) is ready. There's also an XFCE version somewhere. Look at those instead of considering FreeBSD something it is not, and will never be. Unless you do the legwork which the PC-BSD and GhostBSD people have already done. But be ready to face a considerable (command-line) learning curve which will catapult your knowledge of operating systems in general. Don't expect it to be easy in any way.
 
Hi,

hehe - nice nick - inspired by 1911? :)

Hm, you did ask indeed a noob questions. Nothing wrong about that, but you should definitely browse handbook (UNIX basics) and/or even any other UNIX basics you can google.

The prompt can be set to anything, so you can't rely on what that means. But by default $ means user shell, # root one.

You can find a chapter how to install X ('core' of the GUI you are looking for) in here (handbook chapter 5). I do recommend you something easy, either GNOME or KDE. Easy in the sense it's similar to Windows®.

It's useless to comment whether to use GUI or not. It's on you. Desktop without GUI - whatever floats your boat I say. :)
 
Can you guys list some of the reasons one would use the command-line interface instead of the GUI?

If I put a GUI top of it, this is simly software that will work with FreeBSD, not a GUI version of the FreeBSD OS, correct?

I would very much like to learn the command line interface, but no one answered my question about whether I would be able to do everything with Xterm that I could do with the non-GUI FreeBSD... so would I still have all the same functionality?

Thanks for all the responses, people.

BTW, handle was inspired by Razor1911... not that I was ever in the scene or anything. :)
 
There's no GUI version of FreeBSD. The GUI you can have on FreeBSD is the same as is on Linux, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Solaris etc.

You can do with xterm everything you can do in console. Xterm is a console emulator, like many others.
 
One can "text browse" (w3m, lynx etc), restart networking (say if a wifi connnection drops), update ports, use editors, math programs (/ised/), calculators, spreadsheets, simple calendars, todo lists, etc *then* start X and intrinsically atop of it a window manager, then start xterms/Eterms/aterms etc, and start browsers from within the xterms, etc, do all the stuff you could do *before* the "desktop" within the xterms, and additionally now do "graphic" (display jpg, png, gif, avi, etc) not to mention music files (either from a gui or from the console...) your usage would probably vary year to year. (If the shell you are using is setup to save history, across reboots, and one periodically saves its history file, you are potentially saved hundreds of hours eventually, from relearning sytnax simply by searching (grepping) within the saved files. ) if need be. (Not specifically trying to supply a complete answer, just a start of one...)
 
sysop1911 said:
Can you guys list some of the reasons one would use the command-line interface instead of the GUI?

If I put a GUI top of it, this is simly software that will work with FreeBSD, not a GUI version of the FreeBSD OS, correct?

I would very much like to learn the command line interface, but no one answered my question about whether I would be able to do everything with Xterm that I could do with the non-GUI FreeBSD... so would I still have all the same functionality?

Thanks for all the responses, people.

BTW, handle was inspired by Razor1911... not that I was ever in the scene or anything. :)

Not everyone needs a gui for their servers. Some of us run them on our workstations and ultimately ssh into a non gui server. Consider what you would do with a server. Run services and automate tasks...from the command line.

Yes you can do everything in xterm that you can inside the console.

Here is a link from the docs for new people. It has tutorial on unix command interface.

http://www.freebsd.org/projects/newbies.html

Learn the command line and free yourself =)
 
jb_fvwm2 said:
One can "text browse" (w3m, lynx etc), restart networking (say if a wifi connnection drops), update ports, use editors, math programs (/ised/), calculators, spreadsheets, simple calendars, todo lists, etc *then* start X and intrinsically atop of it a window manager, then start xterms/Eterms/aterms etc, and start browsers from within the xterms, etc, do all the stuff you could do *before* the "desktop" within the xterms, and additionally now do "graphic" (display jpg, png, gif, avi, etc) not to mention music files (either from a gui or from the console...) your usage would probably vary year to year. (If the shell you are using is setup to save history, across reboots, and one periodically saves its history file, you are potentially saved hundreds of hours eventually, from relearning sytnax simply by searching (grepping) within the saved files. ) if need be. (Not specifically trying to supply a complete answer, just a start of one...)

So basically everything I do in Windows.
 
True, but usually the configuration takes longer (a second internet connection or dual boot sometimes useful...) but if one is careful ( reading guides before install... backing up files... ) and practiced, the time lost can be automated to a large degree; also reboots are usually not necc. during port (vs system) upgrades, the following command suffices
Code:
 rehash
. Trickier is upgrading, say yearly v8 > v9 > ...
 
Can someone give me advice on which GUI I should install on my FreeBSD install? Which was is regarded as the best? Thanks.
 
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