first time!

[Snitz]

I'm planning on installe PC-BSD tomorrow on my pc
im using winxp, so im gonna delete it and install the pc-bsd instead...
but I have few questions.
does the pc-bsd run .exe ?
if it doesn't, then how will I be able to install my pc drivers?
or does it install them automatically?

I have a P4 - 256MB RAM - GForce2 64MB
will it go slow on my pc or it's enough?

[Weixiong]

You won't have to worry about loading the Windows drivers, PC-BSD will hopefully recognize your hardware and apply the correct drivers for you during the build.

[Snitz]

that's very good
but my winxp doesn't recognize my sound driver
I always have to install it manually rom my drivers cd
what would I do if I faced the same problem with pc-bsd?

[Razael Kane]

What sound card?

I'm planning on installe PC-BSD tomorrow on my pc
im using winxp, so im gonna delete it and install the pc-bsd instead...
but I have few questions.
does the pc-bsd run .exe ?
if it doesn't, then how will I be able to install my pc drivers?
or does it install them automatically?

I have a P4 - 256MB RAM - GForce2 64MB
will it go slow on my pc or it's enough?

I wouldn't just "delete" windows XP and jump blindly into PC-BSD. If things don't work out with PC-BSD then what? I would try dual-booting first and give it a test run before replacing Windows.

[Snitz]

if things don't work with pc-bsd, im gonna reinstall windows XP back

I need a format anyway lol

but why wouldn't it work ?

[OSlover]

if things don't work with pc-bsd, im gonna reinstall windows XP back

I need a format anyway lol

but why wouldn't it work ?

Amazing how much rubbish XP has foisted onto us. Shows you OSs have a long a way to go before it becomes noob centric.

Firstly, PC-BSD may or may not have drivers for your sound card, if it does it does, if it doesnt it doesnt, until sound card makers use PC-BSD as a target machine and start writing .PBI drivers (which shows you that PC-BSD has to become commonplace for easy use by the mass public).

Need a format? How could MS cause such stress on a poor person. With a proper UNIX file system you dont need such things after installation. BTW why not use Reiserfs as the default file system for PC-BSD? (Directed towards *NIX heads).

Kris what about selling some machines on the web site with PC-BSD on it already running all the hardware? A developers machine you might say. Buy in bulk from Dell and sell at profit. Add these machines to your store.

[Snitz]

my sound card is: ALC650 (Avance AC'97 Audio)
this is exactly what it say on the cd-drivers

is pc-bsd compatible with it?

[Snitz]

I cannot believe thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis :x
I actually went and installed pcbsd rightaway instead of winxp without trying it on my virtual machine first.
I thought while installing it, it'll give me on which folder I want to install it, but it didn't, it told me that it needs to format the partition that it needs to be installed on, so I went with the flow, knowing that I can delete it and install winxp back if anything went wrong.

pcbsd was installed but it did not load for unknown reasons
it gave me
load can't find kernel
and stopped
I donoooooo whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
why did it do this?

so anyway, I wanted to install winxp back, but I couldn't coz pcbsd locked my partitions on something, so I had to delete all partitions and recreate them, so I lost all my songs/pictures/documents..... EVERYTHING.....

and still PCBSD DIDN'T WORK!!!!!!!!! :x

ha

[Razael Kane]

If you install a new/different operating system over the same partition you will lose everything, nothing to do with PC-BSD. it would have happened with any OS.

dude, no worries. PC-BSD is still very much a work in progress.

You should have partitioned before making the full dive. For example, my desktop is fully linux (i did try pc-bsd on it but went back to linux because i am more comfortable with it and i couldn't get my printer to work in bsd). However, my laptop is partitioned so that on the 60gb hard drive i hvae:



Partition File System OS Installed Size
/dev/hda1 ntfs WinXP Pro SP1a 10gb
/dev/hda2 linux-swap n/a 1gb
/dev/jhda3 reiserfs Ubuntu Hoary Linux 45gb


i know the above chart is missing a few gigs, that goes towards the actual room the filesystem takes up as well as the discrepency that in hardware 1,000,000 = GB and in software 1, 240, 000 = GB.



by partitioning you eliminate the problem of lost files. What you can even do is create a fat32 partition that will act as "my documents" for the entire hard drive and all the OSes on it. Granted you won't be able to run some linux things in windows, and some windows things in linux, but most of the files you keep in taht partition will be runnable from both (i am talking movies, music, games...if you have cadega, test files, etc). This approach will eliminate loss of important personal files when you install new OSes. Or, if you are too lazy for taht stuff, just have an external hard drive. Drop crucial files on there and problem solved.

Just so you know just about every linux installer comes with a partitioning program for a reason. If yuo want to prepare your harddrive before you even install, programs like partition magic, or some linux live cd that contains gparted (partition program for gnome desktop) or qparted (qt based partition program...i believe its what gparted was based on) will do the trick.

But anyway, back to your original problem. I assume you got bored with windows and tried to experiment. I was just "testing the waters" for about 2 years before I made a dedicated dive to linux. First on my laptop, I would go a month without booting into WIndows, and indeed 95% of my use was linux. After that 1st month I got used to it and got linux on my Desktop (VLOS 1.1), it had Win2k3 installed.

anyway...i gotta run, i'll finish/edit this post a little later

[Snitz]

indeed I got bored of windows and still looking for a new OS such as linux of pc-bsd
but the problem im not familiar with em
I even didn't know how to make the partionning since I couldn't see "c:\" or "d:\"
it kills me really :(
how can I try pcbsd or linux without deleting my windows xp or deleting everything ?

[Weixiong]

indeed I got bored of windows and still looking for a new OS such as linux of pc-bsd
but the problem im not familiar with em
I even didn't know how to make the partionning since I couldn't see "c:" or "d:"
it kills me really :(
how can I try pcbsd or linux without deleting my windows xp or deleting everything ?

If you use the PC-BSD installer I'm pretty sure it doesn't use terms like C or D drive. You may be better off getting something like partition Magic so you can deal with it from Windows, but there's no reason you shouldn't be able to do it through the PC-BSD installer. You should be able to tell your partitions apart by size even if you don't understand the way they are designated

Just don't get frustrated and give yourself time to learn. I struggle with it too. ;)

[Snitz]

I just instaleld pc-bsd using "VMware Workstation"
and also it didn't work :?
the install was finished and everything was done correctly, but when I it restarted it kept asking me insert a bootable cd and press any key
I really give up!!!!!!!!!!!

I once installed "linux red hat 7.3" using VMware Workstation and it worked but it was too slow (donno why, maybe u can help me)
im gonnaa install it back tonight and work on it a bit to see if I can learn it!!

[munkymonkjr]

RH7.3 has many issues. Well, lets start from the top, you were running it in VMWare, so you are basically runnign 2 oses at one time, can be quite straining on your configuratioN (though i ran win2k and os x 10.3 on my p3 256mb shared graphics once at the same time via pearpc). Secondly 7.3 is OLD, i mean its older than old, the kernel did not really evolve until 2.6 late last year. Kermel 3.0 should blow windows out of the water as far as i know. Finally, its RH, all RH is the same...SLOW LIKE A DOG! They have lots of useless software on them and it makes them slow. They were built to work on maximum amount of computers, not for speed.

As a linux/bsd semi-noob i would recommend the following for you:

Ubuntu Linux (ubuntu.org) = A debian based distro with fantastic hardware recognition and easy setup. The install is in text mode, but is pretty actually easy, just read the instructions. There is a slight chance it won't work right on first reboot, you can try to fix it or forget about it. If it does work you should be happy. it uses Gnome as a Gui, there is also Kubuntu, an offspring project that is basically the same except it uses KDE. I use this distribution on my laptop and everything (even the wireless) worked out of the box, and to install the ATi driver (fxlrx.....i have a 9700 on my lappy) took all of 3 minutes.

Vida Linux OS (VLOS) - i suggest you wait for version 1.2 due out in august (got moved back from june 20). it is supposed to be the shiznit. It will ahve an option of KDE or Gnome as a gui. It is based on gentoo. There are a few benefits to it. 1) you get portage without doing the painful and very not noob-friendly gentoo install. 2) you get practice with portage so that when you move to bsd, ports is familiar to you 3)the install of software can be personalized to your computer resulting in added speed. that said, the install does take a bit longer (give it 2 hours) but it is worth it.


Mepis Linux = basically a Debian based KDEcentric distro. great hardware recognition but its a bit slower then Ubuntu from personal experience


and some cool applications you might want to install:

Cadega/p2p - Basically it is WineX, it lets you run some windows games in linux, pretty cool stuff.

K3b (if not already included) - best cd/dvd burning software for linux as far as i am aware

and the crucial internet trio (if not already included) - by which i mean Firefox, Thunderbird, and Gaim.

[Snitz]

Ubuntu Linux seems nice
but I just wanna know something, I just installed "Red Hat 9.0" and i've been told there is no way I could create a new broadband connection on it so I can access the internet, this is the only way to do so I can access the internet

so I wanna know, can I create a broadband connection using Ubuntu Linux ?

[Snitz]

I tried ubuntu and it was quiet amazing but I faced many probs like pc freezing and such

I just installed pcbsd back on my vmware workstation, the installation was done correctly but when it restarted it asked me to insert a bootable cd :?