installation of 12.1R and 11.3R fails

[Donald Wilde]

I had to remain with the MBR-based system. GPT just flat-out did not
work for me but I have got a working system and successfully updated
it to 12-STABLE.

I did have a glitch that led to a recursive stack crash, though,
forcing a reinstall. Updating the Handbook required me to build both
graphviz and vala, but neither of them would work without already
having a graphviz and vala on the system. Install with 'pkg install'
worked.

Thanks! Happy Beastie here.

On 5/23/20, Donald Wilde <dwilde1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Mine (the laptop) is not quite 2007 vintage, although my Dell  i7
> tower is. :) IIRC it's about 2012 or so. Still going fine although
> it's just a HDD-based mule. Upgrading it now to 12-STABLE.
>
> I am using it as a "refresher" on FreeBSD; I was paid by Bob Bruce
> 1998 to 2000 to do "advocacy" for FreeBSD. I orchestrated the 3-way
> press conference between the FreeBSD and NetBSD projects and Apple at
> the release of DARWIN... time does pass...
>
> I have a relative who's asked me to make a specialized social network
> for his business, and I've decided to return to using FreeBSD. Not all
> hosting corps will support FreeBSD servers, but since I intend to
> purchase and support everything through the business, that isn't an
> issue. I'll buy Intel's fancy Optane caching boards when I buy servers
> for the project, and every "drive" will be SS except for a portable
> boot drive.
>
>
> On 5/23/20, David Christensen <dpchrist at holgerdanske.com> wrote:
>> On 2020-05-22 21:43, Donald Wilde wrote:
>>> Service tag 5K8W162
>>>
>>> I will try using MBR instead of GPT, as you suggest. I did that once
>>> the first time and no joy. Other than that and using the USB instead
>>> of DVD, the only other delta in your procedure is zeroing the disk and
>>> ensuring that all settings in BIOS are set to default.
>>>
>>> Do I need to erase my USB key and only put the key-version ISO on it?
>>> Why would that be superior to using a DVD, other than the waste of
>>> plastic?
>>>
>>> The only other possible problem I can see is that I simply named the
>>> machine, and did not create a meaningless FQDN (in my NAT).
>>>
>>> Thank you for your answer, and I WILCO.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2020-05-22 22:20, Clay Daniels wrote:
>>  > I would second all of David's suggestions, but would like to also
>> recommend
>>  > using GParted to clear & write a new partition table, be it MBR or
>> GPT.
>>  > GParted lets you take control of the drive. It's Gnome Partition
>> Editor
>> &
>>  > free:
>>  >
>>  > https://gparted.org/
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2020-05-22 23:03, Manish Jain wrote:
>>  > I think we are using a nuclear missile to kill a mosquito !
>>  >
>>  > The FreeBSD installer can do everything needed by itself.
>>  >
>>  > 1) Boot from the FreeBSD CD/DVD
>>  >
>>  > 2) Choose Install
>>  >
>>  > 3) At the disk setup page, choose Manual
>>  >
>>  > 4) Remove all existing partitions. When done that, press 'd' again
>> (for
>>  > delete) with ada0 selected. That will delete the partition table
>> itself.
>>  >
>>  > 5) Press 'c' (for create) to create a new MBR (DOS) partition table.
>>  >
>>  > 6) Create partitions as needed and install.
>>  >
>>  > That should be it.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2020-05-23 02:01, D'Arcy Cain wrote:
>>  > [Zeroing the disk] is exactly what I found when going from Linux to
>> FreeBSD.  Just run
>>  > dd(1) with input file /dev/zero on the raw disk before starting your
>>  > installation.  You have to completely wipe out the Linux boot blocks.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2020-05-23 08:06, Donald Wilde wrote:
>>  > The MBR boot after wiping the disk was successful. YAY, Beasties! TYVM
>>  > for all the advice. :D
>>  >
>>  > Taking your thought to heart, D'Arcy, I'm going to try again with GPT
>>  > now that Linux is gone, gone, gone! :D
>>
>>
>> I'm glad the BIOS/ MBR install worked.  :-)
>>
>>
>> That looks like a decent daily driver laptop, especially if you maxed
>> out the RAM and installed a good SSD:
>>
>>
>> https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/servicetag/0-aUlCTHJhMTkzWUs5S1dMQjN2WGdIdz090/overview
>>
>>
>> My 2007 Inspiron E1505 gave me many years of service (with repairs and
>> upgrades).  It still works.
>>
>>
>> I zero my USB flash drives before burning them with an installer image
>> out of sheer OCD, but it should not be required.  (I wrote a Perl script
>> to only write zeros to dirty blocks, to conserve write cycles.)
>>
>>
>> Most every x86 computer made in the last 30 years will have a USB port.
>> Many newer computers, especially portable computers, do not have optical
>> drives.
>>
>>
>> It is easy to make changes to an installer on a USB flash drive, and you
>> don't have to burn a disc for every edit-compile-test cycle.  I hacked
>> my FreeBSD USB installer to slice and partition system disks the way I
>> like them.
>>
>>
>> I have boogered installs many ways, including the hostname, FQDN,
>> network name, and/or network settings.  The FreeBSD installer offers you
>> a root shell into the installed image near the end.  If you know what
>> file(s) to edit, you can fix those mistakes.  Alternatively, some
>> installers let you re-run specific steps.  TIMTOWDI.
>>
>>
>> I image my system disks regularly.  Zero-filling them before an install
>> saves image storage space.  Partition editors within installers
>> typically do not zero-fill.  (I need to figure out how to zero unused
>> blocks beneath GELI and ZFS prior to imaging; does anyone know how?)
>>
>>
>> David
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>
>
> --
> Don Wilde
> ****************************************************
> * What is the Internet of Things but a system *
> * of systems including humans?                     *
> ****************************************************
>


-- 
Don Wilde
****************************************************
* What is the Internet of Things but a system *
* of systems including humans?                     *
****************************************************