From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Aug 2 23:57:53 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4BE7E1065670 for ; Tue, 2 Aug 2011 23:57:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EE36D8FC21 for ; Tue, 2 Aug 2011 23:57:52 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-103-124.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.103.124]) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8A94D3CD6A; Wed, 3 Aug 2011 01:57:50 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id p72NvnDK003099; Wed, 3 Aug 2011 01:57:49 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2011 01:57:49 +0200 From: Polytropon To: "Conrad J. Sabatier" Message-Id: <20110803015749.70218347.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20110802180606.4599d800@serene> References: <20110802180606.4599d800@serene> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 8.2-RELEASE-amd64.iso weirdness (help!) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:57:53 -0000 On Tue, 2 Aug 2011 18:06:06 -0500, Conrad J. Sabatier wrote: > As another user mentioned elsewhere, the packages distributions are > beyond minimal, consisting only of some basic documentation in a > variety of locales or languages. No software packages at all. Since the documentation has been moved out of the regular system installation and turned into packages, this is now the normal behaviour. For adding packages, it's easy when you've booted your new system for the first time and got networking up and running. Then simply use "pkg_add -r " to add things. Decide if (and how) to use ports - they are often more convenient for maintaining the installed software. > Worse still, though, is what I ran across in the > partitioning/labeling/boot record section of sysinstall; no more > "dangerously dedicated" mode (unless you go into "expert" mode, which > is rather a mystery to me), [...] This functionality has also been removed. To install a system in a dedicated layout, you'll have to use the "basic tools" (e. g. fdisk and newfs, or partitioner of your choice). > [...] and worse yet, it seems that the options to > install a plain master boot record or boot manager have no effect > whatsoever! Can you be more specific on this? > The really crucial problem I'm facing right now is that I can't get > Linux's damned "grub" off of my hard drive! This should be easy by dd'ing the beginning of the hard disk with /dev/zero's. Otherwise, overwriting with FreeBSD's standard booting mechanisms should be possible too. > I was hoping that using > "dangerously dedicated" mode in sysinstall would allow me to overwrite > the lingering copy of grub on my hard drive that I just can't seem to > get rid of. No. The dedicated layout "happens" in "further" parts of the hard disk, as far as I remember. Try to clean the relevant parts of the disk using the Fixit shell first. > The FreeBSD install works for the most part, despite the > few oddities mentioned above, but when I try to boot into it afterwards, > grub seizes control and hangs with an error code. This indicates that it is still present - in a nonfunctional state. > I've tried numerous workarounds, using boot0cfg and both FreeBSD's and > Linux's fdisk and friends, but to no avail. I'm stymied at this point, > and desperately in need of some advice here. The boot0cfg would have been my suggestion too. There is also "fdisk -BI ", if you want to use that. To stay with the "old-fashioned tools", the next step in a manual install would be "bsdlabel -w -B ", and then "bsdlabel -e " to add the partitions you want. Anyway, sysinstall should be able to do that for you. I have to admit that I'm still using this method for maximum compatibility, and I even tend to use sysinstall because I'm lazy. :-) In the slice editor, remove everything. Then add one FreeBSD slice for the whole disk. Add a standard MBR so booting gets you directly into FreeBSD. Then use the partition editor to add /, swap, /tmp, /var, /usr, /home and anything you like. > Can some sage person out there help me out of this predicament? Right > now I feel like I'm doomed to keep running Linux or nothing at all! I > am dying to get back to FreeBSD again. First try to use dd to clean the beginning of the hard disk. In _worst_ case, clean the whole disk. Then start sysinstall as usual (and as explained in the Handbook). -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...