Portinstall command not found

[Ellypho]

Hello world!
I have a bit of a problem installing Ksynaptics on my DELL (hell) Latitude CPi. When i startup a shell type in my password then enter my command to get Ksynaptics " # portinstall synaptics ksynaptics " (ignore quotes) the shell tells me that there is no such command therefor i cannot setup my touchpad rendering my laptop a little useless.
So would anybody have any good links to how to use Ports and would anybody have an answer to my troubles? Thank you for the help
-Lyph

[Carpetsmoker]

The portinstall program is just a front-end to the ports system, you don't need it to install ports.

For information on how to install port and packages see chapter 4 of the FreeBSD handbook.

portinstall is part of the portupgrade package, first make sure if it is installed:
% pkg_info | grep portupgrade

If this doesn't return any results, you will have to install it, portupgrade lives in /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/portupgrade, see the link above how to fetch a ports tree and how to use it.

[Ellypho]

Thank you
Oh and just a mini question i notice that when commands are posted the # or % symboles are included. Do i include those in the syntax for the command?

[Carpetsmoker]

No, it is the shell prompt and should not be typed, a % indicates the command can/should be executed as a normal, unprivileged, user, a # indicated the command should be executed as the super user (root).

Although using two different prompts for a normal- and super user is a good practice IMO, many people don't follow it...

Sometimes other characters are also used, such as $ or >

[Ellypho]

Okay gotcha thanks ^^