Installation of FreeBSD .

Dear Sirs ,


(1)

The installer may be allowed to make an installation diskette or USB stick
to store installation options .
When a new installation is tried on the same machine or in another similar
machine ( especially for multiple installations ),
allow user to use such an aid to use input of options .
As an example : Mandriva Free 2008 .

(2)

I know FreeBSD for a long time , but now more than six months I am using it
to learn it properly and
utilize it as a secure operating system and a platform for program
development ( especially with Free Pascal ) .
I am not fluent in C/C++ as much as Pascal and actually I am not using them
..
This means that I am not able to suggest any solution about mentioned
improvements at present other than
inform you about problems .

(3)

I want to inform you about a problem of booting of FreeBSD .

I copied "/boot/defaults/loader.conf "as "/boot/loader.conf ".

I have changed the following parameters :

usb_load="YES"
ukbd_load="YES"
ums_load="YES"
umass_load="YES"
umodem_load="YES"
uscanner_load="YES"


After these changes when started to boot FreeBSD , it is locked in detecting
( or probing ) keyboard controller .
Any one of the boot option selected from the initial boot menu did not
worked .

I am using Intel 965WHMKR mainboard , and Intel 6450 processor , 2 GB main
memory , Seagate 250 GB SATA hard disk .

I attached (i) USB keyboard (1) only ( worked to give initial parameters )
(2) with PS/2 keyboard ( worked to
give initial parameters )
(ii) PS/2 keyboard only ( worked to give initial parameters )
..

I removed hard disk and attached it to an ASUS mainboard . It could NOT
booted due to lock in detecting ( or probing ) keyboard
controller .

Since initial boot could not be achieved it could not be possible to correct
related configuration file , and
all of my works have been wasted due to a new install .

In FreeBSD installs , there is a very important missing feature : Boot and
re-configure configuration files .
Install ALWAYS insisting partition of disks without checking whether there
are valid partitions or not , and
it is not suggesting repair of existing configuration files in hard disk .

If live file system CD or only boot CD is used , it is also starting to a
new install .
In any way it is not possible ( or I do not know how ) to mount hard disk
partitions or directories to
edit the configuration files .

There is no any rescue CD ( let's say ) to repair the above mentioned parts
( configuration files ) .

I think this is a very important point to consider .

(4)

During installation , if a list of ports collection is selected , it is
continuously asking interchange of CD's .
Instead of this , all of the CD contents may be copied into a temporary
directory and then they may be installed
from this directory .
OR ( I do not know internal workings of pkg_add command ) a list of selected
packages may be made and
first all of the packages in CD 1 may be added , and then CD 2 packages may
be added , etc .

I copied all of the packages into a DVD , but it did NOT worked because the
installer is requesting CD with its
NUMBER by checking the number in a file .
Instead of this , it may check presence of package and if the package is
present it may be added ,
if it is not present the installer may request the CD which it contains the
requested package .
In that way a DVD containing all of the packages may be used .


There no DVD *.ISO files for installations . If it is NOT diifcult to
generate DVD *.ISO files ,
it may solve this CD interchanging difficulty .

(5)
(6)

The above points show that installation steps of FreeBSD should be
re-considered carefully
when compared to other operating system installations .
Personally I am a computer professional since 1974 and I have a PhD on
Computer Engineering ,
and I find the install of FreeBSD difficult , but
there are many MORE difficult other Operating Systems installations.

(7)

During an upgrade of FreeBSD , because of inability of boot due to a
configuration file error ,
the installer is installing only the programs and leaving the configuration
files unchanged .
Since inability to boot is resulting from the error(s) in configuration
file(s) ,
upgrading the FreeBSD is not solving the problem .
On such a case it is becoming to commit a full re-install by re-structuring
, re-partitioning ,
re-installing everything .

To prevent such an install it would be very useful to include an item to
upgrade menu to allow
the installer to re-new or edit the configuration file(s) .
With this facility sometimes it may not be necessary to re-install the
programs .

(8)

During install , in the menus or action selection points , there is NO a
"Back" option to go back and
re-select an option .
Approximately all the menus are advancing forward to a new step .
If "Back" step is included in the menus it will make possible to correct
errors .

(9)

In network card configuration , there is no a new re-start to configure
another network card . In this part ,
repetition is necessary to configure multiple cards until an exit is
selected .

(10)

Easiness of usage is NOT a GUI interface or text based interface , but the
ability to follow steps to apply
easily and to find information required to understand the step .
In this regard help information may be displayed
at the side of the install menus related to high-lighted items .




Thank you very much ,



Mehmet Erol Sanliturk
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