Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2020 22:33:29 -0700 From: David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Trying to install FreeBSD 12.1 on Librem laptop Message-ID: <00be91c7-5bb8-5a7f-22b5-5fad5237c135@holgerdanske.com> In-Reply-To: <6155f5a2-4f0a-1828-481a-e1b6090816a0@cisek.email> References: <b0977dd7-1b12-3286-0069-7fa03461e5c3@cisek.email> <90d59a0b-4399-ccd7-5c6e-af6463ba43ad@holgerdanske.com> <11544df2-e8e4-d02c-ce64-9ffbf7ff792e@cisek.email> <c47b2951-5a42-d180-14f3-a99a95f35fb9@holgerdanske.com> <6155f5a2-4f0a-1828-481a-e1b6090816a0@cisek.email>
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On 2020-07-14 16:09, Patryk Cisek wrote: > > > On 2020-07-14 3:12 p.m., David Christensen wrote: > >> If your motherboard firmware is current, there are no configurable CMOS >> settings, and the 12.1-RELEASE installer does not work, I suggest that >> you get a (used) server with ECC memory and several drive adapters/ >> bays/ racks, install FreeBSD, install services that you need and use, >> and run it 24x7. This will give you the best "real world" FreeBSD >> experience. After that, you will be in a much better position to do >> development on or for FreeBSD. > > Thanks for suggestion David, but I'm not interested in running FreeBSD > in a server-like scenario. Saying that full blown server is the best > "real world" experience is a subjective -- and therefore false for many > people (including myself) -- opinion. In the long run, I intend to focus > on end-user experience running FreeBSD as a daily driver on their > laptops/workstations. And help resolving similar problems, that the one, > I'm having right now. This is, what interests me, thus for me this is > the most important use-case. Then your choices would seem to be: 1. Debug the FreeBSD installer when it runs on your laptop. I use the "memstick" version, burned to a USB flash drive. Run the installer in text mode and switch back and forth between the installer and another virtual console (Alt+F1 and Alt+F2). The memstick filesystem(s) will be mounted read-only. I can and have crawled the installer shell script code. I have also remounted the memstick filesystem(s) read-write, and hacked /usr/libexec/bsdinstall/zfsboot so that the system disk is partitioned to my liking. (I can and do mount the memstick filesystem(s) read-write in a working FreeBSD machine, when I want my development tools.) 2. Find a compatible computer, install FreeBSD, and install packages and/or ports as required to meet your definition of "daily driver". Understand that there is a common set of knowledge and skills in running a FreeBSD server and running a FreeBSD graphical workstation/ desktop/ daily driver. I am not suggesting that you set up a "full blown server", which I would define as a server on the public Internet. My idea was that you set up a small server for your LAN, using services that you are already familiar with (I chose Samba and CVS). This will allow you to learn the common set and cover well-trodden ground. All of my experiences using FreeBSD as a daily driver have been a struggle, especially on the one laptop I tried (Dell Inspiron E1505). I did run FreeBSD-11.1-RELEASE and Xfce as a daily driver for several months, but it was clunky, missing features, and brittle. I went back to Debian stable and Xfce for my daily driver. David
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