Switching from Linux & need setup advice 5.2

[Lowell Gilbert]

"Victor L. Davis" <victor.l.davis at sbcglobal.net> writes:

> I decided to switch from Gentoo Linux to FreeBSD recently after  
> becoming disenchanted with stability problems in it and several other  
> Linux distributions.  Unfortunately, the handbook with the 5.2 Current  
> release seems outdated for 5.2.

There are still some places where that is true; by the time 5.x is
recommended for production use, they should all be filled in.

> I was accustomed to running Portage on Gentoo and having the apps  
> compile and the scripts configure and install software from source and  
> then just hitting the GUI tools in KDE to configure printers on CUPS  
> and compiling a modular kernel with emu10K1 support.  It appears to be  
> a bit more complex on the setup for FreeBSD.

Not much.  I don't know much about CUPS, really, but FreeBSD's ports
system will install it by:

cd /usr/ports/print/cups && make install

> I don't mind some RTFM's, but the instructions in the handbook do seem  
> to be more targeted to the stable branch.  

Of course.  That's part of the downside of running a "technology
preview" instead of a "production release".  Please feel free to
submit updates that may be needed.

>                                            What do I need to do or  
> where are the FAQ documents with more detailed instructions to get CUPS  
> with Gimp Print or the better FreeBSD solution working and more detail  
> on setting up sound?

I find that apsfilter sets up my printer quite nicely; it's a bit
different from CUPS, but it might fit your needs more simply.  On the
other hand, installing CUPS is fairly easy; configuring it might be
another story, but apparently you've done that before.

>                      I'm not getting /dev/sound/mixer created and need  
> this for Gnome audio to work.

There's no sound support in the generic kernel.

Does "kldload snd_pcm" create an audio device support for you?