Re: Using boot manager with FreeBSD and Windows
Dear Jud and friends: Note: At least one of the prompts ended with: # localhost Benjamin ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: Using boot manager with FreeBSD and Windows
Benjamin Sher wrote: > Dear Jud and friends: > > OK, I finally figured out how to make OSL2000 work. In scanning all > bootable partitions, it lists FreeBSD as two partitions: the 512 MB > /boot partition (name unknown) and the FreeBSD 37 GB partition. It > will not boot FreeBSD from the FreeBSD partition but, after changing > the mode to swap, it booted at last directly into FreeBSD with the > command "startx". I first saw during bootup that it said that I named > "localhost" (for Mindspring) incorrectly. At any way, I was pretty > disheartened when I finally arrived in FreeBSD. What I saw were two > rectangular screens (with green edges): the one on the left said: > "login", the one on the right said: "xterm". Plus a tiny clock in the > upper corner. I feel completely lost. Where is KDE? What command > should I use to get into KDE or to access the Internet? You probably need to edit/create the .xinitrc file in your home directory. I dont use kde but a quick search on google reveals that this may work in your case:- exec startkde Google is definately your friend for this kind of setup question :) Danny ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: Using boot manager with FreeBSD and Windows
On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 09:45:41 -0500, "Benjamin Sher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > Dear friends: > > [Dell 8200] > > First, my thanks to everyone who was kind enough to respond to my > problem booting up to FreeBSD 6. > > I did a complete, fresh install from the CD and made sure to also > configure the FreeBSD boot manager for MBR. Everything should be working > but I still can't boot up. > > So, I downloaded and installed OSL2000 (latest version: Nov, 2005). It > is supposed to boot up as many as 100 OS's. It lists all bootable media, > including Windows and FreeBSD. Windows boots up perfectly but when I > click on FreeBSD and try to boot it, I get a simple two word error > message: "Read error". > > I would appreciate your explanation and help. Is this a fatal error? How > do I solve this problem? > > Thank you so much. Use the Dell or (preferably) the hard drive manufacturer's utility to see if there are any problems with the hard drive on which you've installed FreeBSD. If the hard drive is OK, then re-configure FreeBSD with just a 'normal' MBR (i.e., do *not* choose the FreeBSD boot manager - OSL2000 is now doing that job - or to leave the MBR as is, since it's currently in an unbootable state). Now OSL2000 (or GAG, which will do the same job for free rather than having to spend $25 at the end of the OSL2000 trial period) should be able to boot FreeBSD. Jud ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: Using boot manager with FreeBSD and Windows
Dear Jud and friends: OK, I finally figured out how to make OSL2000 work. In scanning all bootable partitions, it lists FreeBSD as two partitions: the 512 MB /boot partition (name unknown) and the FreeBSD 37 GB partition. It will not boot FreeBSD from the FreeBSD partition but, after changing the mode to swap, it booted at last directly into FreeBSD with the command "startx". I first saw during bootup that it said that I named "localhost" (for Mindspring) incorrectly. At any way, I was pretty disheartened when I finally arrived in FreeBSD. What I saw were two rectangular screens (with green edges): the one on the left said: "login", the one on the right said: "xterm". Plus a tiny clock in the upper corner. I feel completely lost. Where is KDE? What command should I use to get into KDE or to access the Internet? Thank you all so much. Benjamin Jud wrote: On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 09:45:41 -0500, "Benjamin Sher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: Dear friends: [Dell 8200] First, my thanks to everyone who was kind enough to respond to my problem booting up to FreeBSD 6. I did a complete, fresh install from the CD and made sure to also configure the FreeBSD boot manager for MBR. Everything should be working but I still can't boot up. So, I downloaded and installed OSL2000 (latest version: Nov, 2005). It is supposed to boot up as many as 100 OS's. It lists all bootable media, including Windows and FreeBSD. Windows boots up perfectly but when I click on FreeBSD and try to boot it, I get a simple two word error message: "Read error". I would appreciate your explanation and help. Is this a fatal error? How do I solve this problem? Thank you so much. Use the Dell or (preferably) the hard drive manufacturer's utility to see if there are any problems with the hard drive on which you've installed FreeBSD. If the hard drive is OK, then re-configure FreeBSD with just a 'normal' MBR (i.e., do *not* choose the FreeBSD boot manager - OSL2000 is now doing that job - or to leave the MBR as is, since it's currently in an unbootable state). Now OSL2000 (or GAG, which will do the same job for free rather than having to spend $25 at the end of the OSL2000 trial period) should be able to boot FreeBSD. Jud ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: Using boot manager with FreeBSD and Windows
On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 15:41:15 +, "Danny Butroyd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > Benjamin Sher wrote: > > Dear Jud and friends: > > > > OK, I finally figured out how to make OSL2000 work. In scanning all > > bootable partitions, it lists FreeBSD as two partitions: the 512 MB > > /boot partition (name unknown) and the FreeBSD 37 GB partition. It > > will not boot FreeBSD from the FreeBSD partition but, after changing > > the mode to swap, it booted at last directly into FreeBSD with the > > command "startx". I first saw during bootup that it said that I named > > "localhost" (for Mindspring) incorrectly. At any way, I was pretty > > disheartened when I finally arrived in FreeBSD. What I saw were two > > rectangular screens (with green edges): the one on the left said: > > "login", the one on the right said: "xterm". Plus a tiny clock in the > > upper corner. I feel completely lost. Where is KDE? What command > > should I use to get into KDE or to access the Internet? Ah, OK - what we had here was a failure to communicate. ;) FreeBSD has already booted at the point where you can enter commands. What you are asking about is how, after boot, to start the graphical user interface/desktop/KDE. The startx command is the correct one to use, but as Danny notes below, while some Linux distros automagically create the needed files for you, in FreeBSD you have to manually create the file that the startx command works on. What you apparently have done in the absence of creating your own .xinitrc file is start the bare-bones twm window manager rather than KDE. At least you know that the X server works. :) You create .xinitrc by starting a command line editor. In FreeBSD the 'easy editor,' ee, comes with the base system. Assuming you're in your home directory (/usr/home/ben or something similar, perhaps?), as root or the superuser you would enter 'ee .xinitrc' (no quotes) on the command line; once in ee, you'd type in the 'exec startkde' text just as Danny shows below; then save and exit. (If you have a different command line editor installed or are comfortable with vi, which also comes with the base system, you can create the .xinitrc file with that.) > You probably need to edit/create the .xinitrc file in your home > directory. I dont use kde but a quick search on google reveals that > this may work in your case:- > > exec startkde > > Google is definately your friend for this kind of setup question :) After creating the .xinitrc file, what does startx (as a normal user) do? Jud ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: Using boot manager with FreeBSD and Windows
Benjamin Sher wrote:
Dear Jud and friends:
OK, I finally figured out how to make OSL2000 work.
Good, I guess. :-)
In scanning all bootable partitions, it lists FreeBSD as two
partitions: the 512 MB /boot partition (name unknown)
and the FreeBSD 37 GB partition. It will not boot FreeBSD
from the FreeBSD partition but, after changing the mode
to swap, it booted at last directly into FreeBSD with the
command "startx".
That partition layout sounds a little funny. It could
just be the way that "OSL2000" names them, but in
FreeBSD /boot is part of the root partition; the "standard"
layout is / (root), /var, /usr, with swap space and maybe
a seperate partition for /tmp. Other theories exist,
and it's not unheard of to have everything in
One Big Partition, but IME there are some really
good reasons to have seperate partitions for
/var and /
A standard layout is described in the handbook,
and may be reasonably appropriated with the
"auto defaults" options during the "fdisk" portion
of sysinstall, 'though I find that I generally like
to arrange the size of /, var, and my swap partition
manually.
What is interesting is "startx". You didn't type
this? What user are you logging in as? What
shell is assigned to that user? Depending on
which shell, what's in the .cshrc, .shrc, .profile,
and .login files in this user's $HOME directory?
"startx" doesn't generally run at login, unless you
have told it to, which is not always a Good Idea (tm).
So, to go on:
I first saw during bootup that it said
that I named "localhost" (for Mindspring) incorrectly.
Should be easy to fix.
At any way, I was pretty disheartened when I finally
arrived in FreeBSD. What I saw were two rectangular
screens (with green edges): the one on the left said:
"login", the one on the right said: "xterm". Plus a tiny
clock in the upper corner. I feel completely lost.
A normal FreeBSD installation does _not_ start
a windowing system until you tell it to*. What you
got (and was "disappointed in") was twm (brush
up on your ancient history) which loads when startx
is called and nothing else is configured/can be found
(e.g., you have a blank ~/.xinitrc or .Xresources file,
etc.).
Where is KDE? What command should I use to get
into KDE or to access the Internet?
If you want KDE, you should install it (unless you
have already) and read its documentation to configure
it in the way you desire.
{It really seems like a visit to the online Handbook
would assist you in "getting your feet wet" with
FreeBSD. You're doing a good job asking questions
and interacting with the list; we're glad to have you
"aboard" but if you have to ask about every item
that comes on the screen in the next week or two,
your welcome could wear itself out, at least for some
people, you know ;-) }
FBSD doesn't force much policy on you _at all_.
If you want a web server, you install it and tell
it to run the software. If you want a fancy GUI,
you install it, and configure the system to run
it. Assuming you even choose to run a GUI at
all, the only WM that comes preinstalled is twm,
for hysterical raisins. The rest is up to you.
If you want to run KDE, I'd suggest bookmarking
http://freebsd.kde.org, too. Also, it sounds like
you're expecting FBSD to act like some kind of
"user friendly" Linuxy system (it isn't, per se**);
you might want to check out DesktopBSD, which is
in a late alpha, IIRC. They have created a GUI
front end to "sysinstall" and force KDE upon the
user by default, much like some other projects/
companies, but with FreeBSD 5 under the hood.
Thank you all so much.
Benjamin
You're welcome.
Kevin Kinsey
*there could be, of course, considerable discussion
about just what a "normal" FreeBSD installation is;
and, it's perfectly normal to have a X windowing
system run at startup, but running "startx" from
a shell resource script is only one way, and arguably/
probably not the best way, to do this.
** maxim: "FreeBSD *is* user-friendly; it's just picky
about who its friends *are*"
--
Q: What is the difference between a duck?
A: One leg is both the same.
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