Jozef Baum wrote:
... to install FreeBSD, one needs already a lot of knowledge about the
system. To acquire that knowledge, one needs experience on an installed
system. But to have an installed system, one needs already a lot of
knowledge about the system. That's the problem.
The handbook doesn't tell you that, at the "last chance" message, you have
to take out the boot CD and to insert CD 1. But if you don't do so, nothing
gets installed.
1st: I don't think I have ever installed an unknown system and got it
right the first time: OS/2, RedHat Linux, OpenBSD and FreeBSD.
I have always installed the system, used it about a month and then
reinstalled.
So you install the system the best you can, then start learning your way
around it and figure out what went wrong. First time, don't worry about
things getting messed up, just don't throw it directly into production.
You might find yourself reinstalling a few times, but that's just part
of the game.
2nd: It's true that the FreeBSD developers have not gone out of their
way to make a sleek installer, but unlike other OS's, the installer is
something you'll hardly ever use. I installed my laptop with 5.2.1 two
years ago, since then I have continuously upgraded everything and run
6.0 now, but I haven't used the installer at all.
So, there is a catch, those who use the installer has yet to get the
experience to make it better and those who know how just don't have that
itch scratching.
3rd: If there is an error or something missing then you can file a
problem report for the documentation and explain what you find missing.
I configured a German ISO keyboard, but many keys don't work correctly. One
has to look with Google to find additional information about configuring a
German keyboard.
Getting keyboards right is a science and one of the most frequently
asked questions. The thing is that you have to deal with both keyboard
and character sets, and further some programs let the user change the
keyboard for that program only: emacs, pine, thunderbird.
While not particularly for german keyboard, there is an article about
setting things up and you should be able to figure out the needed
changes - heck the examples are for german!
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/euro/index.html
The locate command did not work, as the locate database seemed to be
corrupted. I had to figure out how to rebuild this database.
An all system you need to build/rebuild the locate database regularly.
The root user had a csh, while ordinary users had a sh shell. I had to
figure out how to provide the same shell to the root user and the other
users, as all those virtual users are all one and the same person, me.
There is one principle you should adhere to on any system: Let root keep
default settings. This is challenging at first, but in critical
situations an advantage.
I tried to setup an X Window environment (nVidia Geforce video adapter), but
the horizontal and vertical refresh rates of the manufacturer didn't work, I
had to experiment to find out the one X likes. Then I could startup X, only
to not having configured at all my German keyboard.
see the above article, it also have the part covering X11.
I tried to install emacs during installation, but it didn't succeed.
Returning to the post-installation tasks after having installed the system
resulted in a successfull installation of emacs (working only after a system
reboot).
Well, this is where sometimes you install, gain some experience and
reinstall. Anyway, there is no reason you have to get everything
installed at install time.
I have learned to prefer a lean system at install and then add stuff as
needed. Otherwise I allways end up with lots of crap that I don't need.
Why is it that FreeBSD people, who seem to be perfectly able to formulate
correct algorithms for implementing UNIX concepts, and translating them into
code, don't care at all about a novice user, providing him with an
installation program that doesn't work as it should, even without a GUI?
As another stated this: It seems you want the system to think your way -
which more or less requires the developers to think your way.
This is obviously unrealistic and unreasonable to require - but your
luck is that unlike other operating systems, you can make FreeBSD behave
as you like it.
I know UNIX is all about solving problems, but is it really interesting to
make it apparently deliberatly so difficult for a newcomer? Is it really the
policy of those guys to make the entry level to UNIX difficult, only to
avoid a breakthrough of UNIX (FreeBSD) to the desktop users?
I don't think anyone makes things difficult on purpose. but as above
statement, their brain might just not work like yours. Not better, nor
worse, just different.
And there is no "avoding breakthrough to desktop" - I have used FreeBSD
on my desktop, laptop actually, for three years. Before that I used
RedHat for 4 years.
I cannot
imagine that people capable of developing such a complex operating system as
Unix are unable to offer newcomers a correct and easy install procedure. But
probably, that's not their concern.
Exactly - as mentioned above.
Please, guys, if you want FreeBSD to survive and to become not only a server
OS, but also a desktop OS, realize that you are going the wrong way by
annoying newcomers with a puzzle.
Actually I think FreeBSD is the best desktop system ever! It's long been
a myth that FreeBSD is only for servers.
Cheers, Erik
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