FreeBSD 7.2 Installation Manual

[Nick at Pettefar.com]

Nowhere up to that point in the Installation chapter and process (I  
didn't need to have said) did it mention X.

What is the point of having a step-by-step installation manual which  
then concludes with "If the X server has been configured and a Default  
Desktop  chosen, it can be started by typing startx at the command  
line." when up to that point it hasn't mentioned X!?  Mentioning it  
three chapters later is not really very helpful to people struggling  
to get the thing installed step-by-step!

Step-by-step guides are difficult to write, especially be people that  
know a lot about the subject beforehand as details tend to get glossed  
over.

When it doesn't work (as has happened to me) and you have to Ctrl-Alt- 
Del then you are left feeling lost and confused - a bit like Linux ten  
years ago.  (OpenSuse installed and worked graphically perfect).

Shouldn't there be an X configuration stage in the installation process?

Nick

On 12 Jun 2009, at 15:35, Bill Moran wrote:

> In response to Nick at Pettefar.com:
>
>> In www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install-post.html
>> It says: "If the X server has been configured and a Default Desktop
>> chosen, it can be started by typing startx at the command line." but
>> nowhere in the manual or the installation program is there any
>> information or options on X server configuration or choosing a  
>> Default
>> Desktop!  Help!
>
> You weren't able to find this page?:
> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11-wm.html
> Or this one?:
> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x- 
> config.html
>
> Nowhere, indeed.
>
> -- 
> Bill Moran
> http://www.potentialtech.com
> http://people.collaborativefusion.com/~wmoran/

bustard# startx
xauth:  creating new authority file /root/.serverauth.968


X.Org X Server 1.6.0
Release Date: 2009-2-25
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: FreeBSD 7.2-PRERELEASE i386
Current Operating System: FreeBSD bustard.pettefar.com 7.2-RELEASE  
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE #0: Fri May  1 08:49:13 UTC 2009     root at walker.cse.buffalo.edu 
:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC i386
Build Date: 22 April 2009  02:40:51PM

	Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
	to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
	(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
	(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Fri Jun 12 17:45:02 2009
(==) Using default built-in configuration (30 lines)
(EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)
xclock: not found