A bit of Freebsd home computin for noobs

Free BSD on you home computer

Tired of paying big bucks for software? Want to learn ? Looking for a fun challenge? Do you want a fast,stable
and powerful puter with an awe inspiring desktop? well then Free BSD is for you so read on !

PREINSTALL

The first thing you need to do is goto http://www.freebsd.org/ and make sure your hardware is supported.It probably is, but check to be sure. Next you need the handbook, you will worship it for it is an essential reference.Now go get it!!
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...k/mirrors.html
I would suggest using ISO's (download and burn or buy) for installing 1st timeThen if you mess something while installing or on your journey it is easy and fast to fix or reinstall .Choose the newest "stable" version ,support will be better and you will be less likley to have problems later as others will have already worked out any problems you may encounter. (If you dowload it only get the 1st ISO you won't need the second.) -----> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...k/mirrors.html

INSTALL

The main thing to do whilst installing is read carefully and be familliar with the process by reading the
relevant chapter in the handbook. As a newbie I would also suggest:
-Be familiar with your hardware
-Use the defaults when setting up the Xserver and then tweak it later once you have a feel for what you are doing.
-for desktops I find KDE to be more functional than Gnome (but it does look absolutely horrible before you customize it IMHO) Really the decision is a personal preference so try both if you have lotsa space
-When setting up your user account make sure to put "wheel" (without the quotes) under group or you will be sorry later
-when you hit installing "distributions" take "all system sources,binaries and x window system"
-Surely install the "ports tree" when asked
-linux compatibility is pretty cool too , then you get the best of the best two worlds
-As far as "packages", well whatever suits your fancy. If you have lots of space go nuts. For sure install portupgrade and cvsup

ALL DONE (at least you thought you were)

Now smile and pat yourself on the back.You have installed ,post configured and are sitting at a command prompt.logged into the user account you created "what next you say" well...
To get a gui(desk top) you type startx <Enter> ,it works yeahh . If it doesn't and comes back with an "unable to open dev/dsp for extended io" all you have to do is type su (it won't work if you didn't include yourself in the wheel group while setting up you user account) then your root accounts password. Now type edit /etc/rc.conf now what you need to do is use your arrow keys and make your way down to the line that says kern_securelevel="1" and use ^d while your cursor is over the 1 to delete it then put a 0 where 1 was ,next on
the line that says kern_securelevel_enable="YES" change the YES to NO now press <ESC> then <Enter> , <Enter> .Now for the changes you made to take effect you need to restart so type shutdown -h now <Enter> Your computer will shutdown ,and reboot,login and type startx and off you go

ADDITIONAL HINTS

-By now you will realize your mouse wheel probably doesnt work to fix it add to /etc/X11/XF86Config file option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" and option "Buttons" "6"
-To get sound you will have to load a kernel module or rebuild your kernel (see your very precious handbook)
-The command man is very important so try typing man man <Enter>
-check out the ports system you have 8900+ programs available at the touch of a few keys ,it is absolutley f***king amazing. There is a program for pretty much anything you could ever imagine.
- need to find something try locate ????? or find ??????? or whereis ??????

SECURITY

-type sockstat -46 and you will see ports being listened to. If you are not setting up a mail server change in /etc/rc.conf sendmail_enable="NONE" If you are not checking your logs remotely add syslogd_enable="YES" and syslogd_flags="-ss"
-If you are not logging in remotely edit /etc/login.access and edit/uncomment -:Wheel: ALL EXCEPT LOCAL

STUFF YOU YOU MUST OR SHOULD DO EVENTUALLY (better sooner than later)

-learn about and use cvsup it is as awesome as the ports system
-customize your kernel , it optimizes and speeds stuff up
-edit/create your make.conf file to optimize compiling (once you do this, deinstall all your large packages and recompile them from ports)
-install big proggys through ports although it takes along time to compile and install from source it will be optimized too your computer (if you do as above) rather than an old 386 processor.
-use portupgrade ,its another amazing proggy
-support open source programmers and give one a hug if ya get a chance
-forsake micro$oft forever cause the Daemon owns (and of course Tux is pretty darn cool too)
-have fun
-donate $ to BSD and or GNU/Linux

RESOURCES (the stars mean musts)

http://www.freebsdtips.com/ ***
http://www.freebsd.org/projects/newbies.html ****
http://www.daemonnews.org/new2bsd/
http://www.freebsd.org/ ******
http://www.onlamp.com/bsd/ ***
http://www.bsdforums.org/forums *******RTFM (handbook) and search them BEFORE posting please :)
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/index.html ****
http://freshmeat.net/
http://www.bsdtoday.com/
http://safari.oreilly.com (downloadble, free two week trial of computer books, 2 on freebsd)
http://www.freebsddiary.org/
and of course your handbook (the faq from the same site is worth dl too)

I have far from covered it all as you need a whole book to. But i have covered many probs i have run into along the way .A BIG thanks to the giants who's shoulders i stand on and aspire to emulate!!
And ya my grammer and such sucks ,thats just the way it is ,so there
Any additional hints/constuctive criticism are always welcome
And did I mention to read the handook?
and there a sceenshot attached to encourage ya