# adding packages - not on your life



## momo33 (Oct 19, 2011)

Ok so apart from the other problem I am having that i will return to sorting out later today, I had to install FreeBSD 9 in order to try and sort that problem out, well that like 8 is all well and good untill you try adding packages via sysinstall, easy isnt it, NO, not when the servers keep telling you it cannot find the release you are trying to use, so you do as directed and drop into options and change the release name and try again and again and again and finally give up, it doesn't matter what I type in that box it will not give me my packages from a server that keeps saying it can not find the release, ok so lets try adding "Any" as directed into the box, nope you can put that in at the end of the release name, on its own, upper case, lower case, mixed case, it still refuses to budge. I don't expect much,and I don't expect it to be easy,  but I don't expect this to be locked up tighter than a nuns virginity and near as impossible to break open.

can someone please somewhere tell us what in gods name we are meant to put in that darn box for each relevant version that has been released. Life surely doesn't have to be that hard. I am currently running version 9-BETA3. 

Thank you to those that can help and DO know and those guru's that can see to a novice this is a large problem.


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## SirDice (Oct 19, 2011)

Stop using sysinstall. Only use it for the initial install and then forget it ever existed.

Handbook: Chapter 5 Installing Applications: Packages and Ports


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## Beastie (Oct 19, 2011)

Am I misunderstanding or are you trying to install packages for 9 Beta?

Maybe it's just that the packages are not yet available. There are currently only ~7,000 packages (out of +22,000 ports) for 9-current.


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## momo33 (Oct 19, 2011)

Not just for 9 I had / have the same problem with 8.2, whilst many that know what they are doing prefer or rather find it more expedient not to use sysinstall, I like the graphic part and to be able to see the packages at this stage of my learning.

However as someone who is under a deluge of problems re installation and a newbie that has a number of books he finds contradictory to each other as well as man pages that in many parts make no sense to him I am looking at it from that perspective, when asked by a box to input the desired release only to find it refuses to budge a myriad of times, I tend to get frustrated after a day or so and think ....sledge hammer time. At that stage I find it easier and somewhat more of a relief merely to input the information the box keeps telling me it wants than reading a book for a further two days becoming more frustrated. 

After I have relieved the stress of the immediate situation I can then read the book for future reference. My prime target at this point whilst trying to learn about this OS is to get a minimal install with kde running so I can at least feel I am achieving something and going somewhere rather than merely meeting obstacles and being left to feel that it is a waste of my time to even try from constant failures, be it through hardwaare, the system itself or my own faults, after all if you want something to spread and be prolific you (not personally you) can't expect those who do not know how to use or learn something to be met with merely obstacles to that goal. Do I want PCBSD thrown at me because its much easier, lock n load style, NO, I want to learn this way, but I want some rewards at the end of my days toil, not a box that keeps refusing to help me with whatever I type in it.....

Dare I say it, this is why that garbage "Windows" is so prolific, they made it so it was user friendly on install, even if it crashes a few hundred times thereafter and requires god knows how many patches. It's carp and we all know it, but it left you with a feeling of immediate gratification that you had achieved something usefull that day !. Oops a bit OTT methinks. time to shut up. 

Sorry about that, but thank you for your assistance, it is very much appreciated.


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## Sebulon (Oct 19, 2011)

[GIGGLE]You said "minimal" and "kde" in the same sentence[/GIGGLE]

/Sebulon


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## phoenix (Oct 19, 2011)

Install the OS via CD, DVD, USB, network, whatever.
If needed, edit /etc/rc.conf to enable networking (this should be done by step 1, but sometimes people have weird setups):`# ee /etc/rc.conf`
Then install whatever software you like via packages:`# pkg_add -r kde4`
Finally, do whatever configuration is needed to make the GUI work, and carry on with your day.

If you are using a beta, then there won't be binary packages available, and you'll have to use the ports tree to install the software:

Install the ports tree:`# portsnap fetch extract`
Install a ports management tool (I prefer portmaster):`# cd /usr/ports/ports-mgmr/portmaster``# make install clean`
Use portmaster to install all future ports you may want.  For example:`# portmaster x11/kde4`
Finally, do whatever configuration is needed to make the GUI work, and carry on with your day.

But, for the love of pete, forget about sysinstall.  Do not use it to modify your system.  Do not use it to install software.  Do not use it for **anything**, except to do the very first, initial install of the OS.  Trying to use it for anything else is just asking for trouble, will lead to ulcers, and will most likely kill a kitten somewhere in the world.

Just. Don't. Do. It.  Period.


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## phoenix (Oct 19, 2011)

Sebulon said:
			
		

> [GIGGLE]You said "minimal" and "kde" in the same sentence[/GIGGLE]



KDE can be as minimal as you want it to be, and can run on some fairly pokey hardware without issues.  For example:

KDE 4.4 using plasma-netbook runs nicely on my Asus eeePC 701-4G (600 MHz Celeron, 512 MB RAM, 4GB SSD internal + 2 GB SDCard, very crappy Intel graphics), at least until an Intel Xorg driver update screwed things up.
KDE 4.6 using plasma-netbook runs even better on my Asus eeePC 1005HA (1.6 GHz Atom, 1 GB of RAM, 160 GB SATA HD, crappy Intel graphics)
KDE 4.something using plasma-netbook runs well on my ancient Toshiba laptop (2.8 GHz Celeron 512 MB RAM, Radeon 7000 graphics, IDE harddrive)
KDE 4.6 using plasma-workspace runs well on my ancient no-name desktop (3.0 GHz P4, 2 GB RAM, crappy Intel graphics, 22" 1800x1050 monitor)

You just have to turn off all the unneeded eye-candy and background services, same as you do for any OS/DE on any system.  The beauty of KDE is that you do not *need* a super-fancy, bleeding-edge, uber-OpenGL-monster of a graphics card (unlike Unity? Gnome3? one of those two).  If you have one, KWin can use it.  But it'll still run fine without it.


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## Sebulon (Oct 20, 2011)

phoenix said:
			
		

> KDE can be as minimal as you want it to be, and can run on some fairly pokey hardware without issues.  For example:
> 
> KDE 4.4 using plasma-netbook runs nicely on my Asus eeePC 701 (600 MHz Celeron, 512 MB RAM, 2 GB SDCard, very crappy Intel graphics), at least until an Intel Xorg driver update screwed things up.
> KDE 4.6 using plasma-netbook runs even better on my Asus eeePC 1005HA (1.6 GHz Atom, 1 GB of RAM, 160 GB SATA HD, crappy Intel graphics)
> ...



Yeah yeah, I know, I was just jerking around.

Although, I got the impression that one of the points was to get a complete desktop environment, that has minimal requirements without any fiddeling. If that is desirable, I would instead recommend XFCE. I know momo33 said KDE specifically but perhaps any DE would do, as long as it fulfils those requirements.



> KDE 4.4 using plasma-netbook runs nicely on my Asus eeePC 701 (600 MHz Celeron, 512 MB RAM, 2 GB SDCard


Impressive! What did you think of the SDCard, performance-wise? And was it hard to fit it all in just 2GB?

/Sebulon


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## phoenix (Oct 24, 2011)

Sorry, it's a 4 GB disk built-in, with an extra 2 GB SDCard installed.

Disk performance isn't that great, but good enough for the overall speed of the machine.  I just went with one big / partition on the 4 GB and put /home onto the 2 GB.  Had to do a minimal install of Debian and then manually add just the packages needed to get KDE4 up and running (basically just the base/libs/network packages).

It was done more as a "what's the most current OS/DE I can't get running on this thing" project than anything else.  Debian 5.0 and Kubuntu 10.something were usable on it, as was Lubuntu 10.something (LXDE).  Then the Intel driver for Xorg got updated and things went to pot.    Haven't used it since (moved on to the eeePC 1005HA running Arch Linux).

We have about 100 of the eeePC 701-4G units in the district, all running that horrible Xandros abomination, so I was looking for something to replace it that provided a better experience.  But now the schools are moving to tablets, so haven't followed through with the upgrades.


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## momo33 (Oct 25, 2011)

Ok sorry to resurrect this one, but I thought I would let you guys know how it's going for me. After losing the plot last week and throwing my toys out of the pram at a manual that seems to have the answers only to those who wrote it and therefore understand its terminology or point, I calmed down, took a deep breath and went back to the books, as well as Wblock@'s help, whilst the manual is still in double dutch to me (sorry DutchDaemon, no insult intended) in the main, I set to trying to resolve my problems.

I can now let you all know that I use FreeBSD 90% of the time I am on a pc, I have 2 boxes running 8.2-release and have kde on both, I got my sound card running tonight (ok so that infernal manual works sometimes) which was a pig as I couldn't see the driver, I have one of those that loads after the video card with hdmi involved, scroll down the manual page and there was the answer, so I am particularly pleased tonight, I have got my hard drives sorted out obviously and a lot of other stuff done like pure-ftpd and mysql databases running now, I also have apache22 and php5 running, but for some reason I cant seem to get to my own web site, I think, but am not sure, this may be a problem elsewhere outside the box though. My only bugbear at present is that I can't seem to get the new dvd drive I installed yesterday to auto mount or an icon on kde desktop regardless of the manual, so I think I am going to have to try a crowbar on it.

Anyway, I thought I would say a big thanks to those who helped me out  (including the sarcastic sods !!) and I am loving this OS a lot more than Windows. To those who read this at the beginning of your journey into BSD, I feel your pain and frustrations, and though I am new to it myself, stick with it, dont give up, sooner or later you will get a feeling of joy as it sometimes gels together, it's a grand feeling as my old grandad used to say. My journey continues.

Garry


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## SirDice (Oct 26, 2011)

Not sure about KDE but auto-mount on XFCE and Gnome doesn't work because they depend on Linux' udev these days.


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## momo33 (Oct 26, 2011)

My Apologies SirDice It was an error on my part, I thought erroneously as it seems that this line 
	
	



```
/dev/acd0       /home/user1/cdrom       cd9660  ro,noauto       0       0
```
 in my fstab meant ALL CDs were mountable from my desktop icon, and I was trying to use an audio CD that would not mount, I put a data CD in it today and it mounted fine and showed me all the files on it. I can only presume that audio CDs are not ISO9660 as I have always believed. Incidently I followed the tutorial on this page: http://www.bsdguides.org/guides/freebsd/beginners/kde_cd_icons.php


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