Fun with FreeBSD

When I installed FreeBSD a month or so back, I decided to stay clear of binary packages and go for port builds only, especially considering that Arch Linux already gives me plenty of easy-to-install binaries. The good news about FreeBSD's ports is that there are a lot of them, and every single one that I've used so far has built and installed without any errors. I can't say the same for some of the other source distros that I've tried. One thing that I've found cumbersome with FreeBSD is full system updates. Otherwise, I like it quite a lot! :cool:

The problem I'm having is that FreeBSD doesn't like my laptops graphics / monitor and to my embarrassment I can't remember how to manually configure X :oops:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by elija

The problem I'm having is that FreeBSD doesn't like my laptops graphics / monitor and to my embarrassment I can't remember how to manually configure X :oops:

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I'm sure you probably did so, but I should ask anyway just in case... did you read over the xorg configuration portion of the handbook?

X11 Configuration

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oz

I'm sure you probably did so, but I should ask anyway just in case... did you read over the xorg configuration portion of the handbook?

X11 Configuration

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Yes and following the handbook gets X working at entirely the wrong resolution so I'm currently getting my head back into mode lines (remember them?)

You bet... I do remember them. Mine doesn't have any mode lines in it, but here's my working xorg.conf file if you want to try editing it for your own system:

Code:

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Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier    "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    FontPath        "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier    "Mouse0"
    Driver        "mouse"
    Option        "Protocol" "auto"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/sysmouse"
    Option        "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier    "Keyboard0"
    Driver        "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Monitor0"
    VendorName    "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync      30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh    56.0 - 75.0
    Option        "DPI" "94x94"
    Option        "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Device0"
    Driver        "nvidia"
    VendorName    "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Screen0"
    Device        "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection    "Display"
        Depth      24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

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This laptop has been dodgy with nearly everything that's been on it; even the pre-installed Windows!

Webcam and wireless mainly and now the graphics card! The only OS that mostly works on the thing is one of the buntus (and Siduction with a bit of wrestling) and even they don't handle the webcam. I think it's a Friday afternoon laptop :(

FreeBSD 9.1 is due to be released just anytime now, so maybe it will work with that release. I read somewhere that it was supposed to include some big xorg improvements. On the other hand, maybe it's always going to prove itself to be a stubborn laptop... :-o

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oz

When I installed FreeBSD a month or so back, I decided to stay clear of binary packages and go for port builds only, especially considering that Arch Linux already gives me plenty of easy-to-install binaries. The good news about FreeBSD's ports is that there are a lot of them, and every single one that I've used so far has built and installed without any errors. I can't say the same for some of the other source distros that I've tried. One thing that I've found cumbersome with FreeBSD is full system updates. Otherwise, I like it quite a lot! :cool:

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Yeah though pkgsrc isn't just binaries, it can also do source.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oz

FreeBSD 9.1 is due to be released just anytime now, so maybe it will work with that release. I read somewhere that it was supposed to include some big xorg improvements. On the other hand, maybe it's always going to prove itself to be a stubborn laptop... :-o

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Yeah, though FreeBSD is pretty good with xorg, if you compare it to the other BSD's. Though that is down to simply manpower.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lakshmipathi

Which version ?Does it have Gnome/KDE desktop ?

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I installed an older version, 7.3, to trouble-shoot a particular program. I installed a text-only environment, but I do see the GNOME packages (version 2.32) and KDE packages (version 4.8.4) in the FreeBSD repository for 7.3 here:

http://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/p...-7-stable/All/

so they should only be a pkg_add away.

I keep reading online that the BSD's are dying, and have recently found articles and posts going back to around year 2000 saying that, but I'm of the opinion that it's here to stay for a while longer. It's certainly not the right OS for everyone, but for those that want more control over their systems and user apps, it's hard to beat. The *BSD devs are also more inclined to stick with what is working already and doing it well rather than jump into the middle of any new ideas that come along, too. Having said all that, I ran across plenty of articles where people are saying that Linux is dying, too! :?