installation configuration

[Kevin Kinsey]

Bryan E. Henning wrote:

>Is there any way to install free bsd very easily 
>just by popping in a cd rom and following prompts? 
>I tried it and got nowhere fast.
>
>bryan at klumix.com 
>  
>

May I ask if you donned your flame-retardant undies
before pushing the SEND button?  'Cause you may be
setting yourself up --- it's possible to view this question
as "trolling". ;-)

I would maintain that FreeBSD isn't terribly difficult
to install.  But if by "prompts" you mean 6.49 "Yes/No"
type questions, the answer is, "of course not."  It's
a tad more like Christmas Eve:  put the kids to bed,
collect the tools, open the box, RTFM, and put it
together before dawn.....

The reason is, FreeBSD wouldn't be so flexible with
only a dozen or so options for installation*.  The fact
is, you do a lot of configuration up front, and then
"fire and forget" to a certain extent (insofar as a server
is concerned).  The very fine FreeBSD Handbook
(www.freebsd.org/handbook) devotes a chapter
to installation, and following these directions closely
should allow you to install FreeBSD without too many
headaches.  With a little experience, one can install
FreeBSD on CDROM from scratch in a "put together"
system in much less than 15 minutes.  Using a custom
script, I can "clone" a system in about 3 seconds
of machine/human interaction and a round of drinks
wait time.

There are a few projects that attempt to put FreeBSD
into a more "user-friendly" container, with an installer
more similar to what you might be used to from interaction
with that "other OS".  Google for "PCBSD" and "DesktopBSD".

One of those is better than the other in design, by my
understanding, but I can't remember which.  You might
pop into ##freebsd on irc://chat.freenode.net and get
an opinon; IIRC, that's where I saw it discussed a few
weeks ago.

Also, IIRC, you can use the "FreesBIE" LiveCD to not only
run the OS from CDROM, but also to install the system,
but the installer is pretty much the same (in terms of questions/
options, though a good deal prettier) than FreeBSD's "sysinstall".

Kevin Kinsey
DaleCo, S.P.

*Google a tad on the phrase, "tools, not policy"; it will help
your understanding of this concept.

-- 
The last good thing written in C was Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 9.
		-- Werner Trobin