Suggestions for www.freebsd.org and questions

[Chuck Swiger]

Peter Leftwich wrote:
> Hi everyone.

Hi.  Cross-posting trimmed to just doc@, there's rarely a need to crosspost 
between FreeBSD lists.

>  I was studying up on
> http://www.freebsd.org/releases/5.4R/installation-i386.html
> which I have at home on two CD-Rs and which I plan to install this
> weekend - hhooot whoot!!

OK, have fun.

> Some suggestions for the freebsd.org webmaster.  Perhaps others
> might find these useful as well?
> 
> [1] I think the URL above ought to have a sort of organized, list of
> contents at the top such as
> 
> 1.3 Topic1
> 1.4 Topic2
> 1.5 Topic-Or-FAQ-Question3...
> 
> The list would be a Table of Contents at the beginning, with each
> section **hyperlinked** for easier, faster knowledge transference.

I suspect you'll find what you're looking for in the Handbook, specificly at:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install.html

The URL you were looking at is an article intended as a brief summary, not a 
multi-chapter document.

> [2] I noticed that the links below are general instructions, but
> maybe having two very similar documents throws off some people
> 
> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/index.html
> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/install.html

The second URL mentioned here is chapter 3 of the first URL.

> [2] Lastly, some background - I came to the site seeking general
> install recommendations, such as about suggested mountpoints and
> slices (partition) ideology and sizes.  Has this been asked before?

Lots of times, actually.  :-)

> I have a 200GB HDD and no definite plan about setting up slices and
> dirs!!

OK.  Take a look at what the "automatic" suggestion is, and then adjust it as 
you please.  For example, many people make /tmp and /var bigger than the 
default of 256 or 512MB.  Some people create a /home partition rather than 
having it put in /usr via a symlink.  Others create an /opt partition.

A few people even create just a single partition, which is not recommended but 
will work okay.

> [3] Disk space required?  I realize the website gives minimum
> recommendations such as 160mb and 24mb RAM for example.  Is it a
> good idea to set up an OS-only slice / bare minimum / then have a
> separate slice for my binaries and XFree86?

It's reasonable to create a partition for your stuff, whether that is /home, or 
/usr/local, or /opt, as you wish.

You can confortably fit FreeBSD onto a 4 GB drive, although if you are going to 
be rebuilding world (aka all of the system), running a large database, website, 
or whatever, then you'll use more space as your tasks demand.

Thanks for the suggestions,
-- 
-Chuck