DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Any BSD users?

50 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/any-bsd-users.83862/

Renny
Renny Original post #1
Mar 29, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Well the title says it,

Anyone here who uses FreeBSD, DesktopBSD, PCBSD or the likes?

Could you guys share your experience and throw light on how different it is from linux?

Well I could've searched wikipedia but I wanna first hand account of how it is.
M
Mar 30, 2008 at 4:15 PM
I have used PC-BSD. I use FreeBSD and used to, and will return back to, Gentoo/FreeBSD.
Only thing common between linux and a BSD is that they all are Unix like/compliant systems.
Linux is more poised towards System V and BSD's towards BSD4.4, AFAIK.
There's a lot of difference at the core like different kernel, file system, support for hardware, binary types, c library, make system and more.
Two issues that I faced are, flash support is really bad due to adobe not having native flash for BSD's so you have to rely on linux compat for that. Secondly, support for virtualisation is really pathetic.
Things to look out for - FreeBSD jails, zfs support, pf firewall got from OpenBSD.
V
vaithy #3
Mar 30, 2008 at 8:18 PM
To Day I installed the PC BSD 1.5 in my desktop which has sabayan already installed.. after installation while reboot it
a option lines appear in the screen
F! Linux
F2 Linux
F3 ?
F4 PC BSD when I press F4 I directly go to PC BSD then when I want to try my other Linux in the system again I rebooted go to boot menu.. this time pressing F1 F2 no reaction but F4 is working for PC BSD...

If some body tell me how to multiboot with Linux, and BSD I'll be thankful to them

vaithi
M
Mar 30, 2008 at 9:12 PM
Install GRUB on your root partition instead of MBR. Or if you want to boot from GRUB, then install GRUB on your MBR and chainload PC-BSD.
V
vaithy #5
Mar 30, 2008 at 10:49 PM
thanks mehulved!!
chainloaded the PC BSD partition in Sabayan ...Now I can both booted Linux as well as BSD.. This posting is from PC BSD konquerer ...despite its ease of use BSD is still long way to go to naturalise Linux influence on the FOSS supported base..
Renny
Renny #6
Mar 31, 2008 at 6:53 PM
I installed FreeBSD 7.0 on my system,

Even after running "xorgconfig" when I type "startx" I get an error saying:-

"Fatal server error
No screens found".



+



I have installed XP on the primary partition, after installing FreeBSD I get 2 options:-
F1 - DOS
F2 - FreeBSD

But it never loads windows plz help.
Renny
Renny #7
Apr 4, 2008 at 6:16 PM
Bump.
mediator
Apr 4, 2008 at 7:54 PM
Do u have gnome installed? If not try to install it via the freeBSD Cd => "sysinstall" => install additional packages=>"gnome" !!
M
Apr 4, 2008 at 8:54 PM
run xorgconfig to correct X issues
Renny
Renny #10
Apr 7, 2008 at 8:19 PM
I'm currently using DesktopBSD since FreeBSD did'nt work at all,

X starts up fine with KDE, but my PS/2 mouse doesnt work even after xorgconfig,

plz help.
praka123
praka123 #11
Apr 7, 2008 at 8:20 PM
Code:
Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Configured Mouse"
    Driver        "mouse"
    Option          "CorePointer"
    Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "Protocol"      "ImPS/2"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"  "4 5"
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "true"
EndSection
^make sure u have these lines uncommented :)
Renny
Renny #12
Apr 7, 2008 at 8:22 PM
Wow dat was a really quick reply, thnx praka,

will checkout my xorg.conf,



PS - What do u mean by uncommented :).
M
mehulved #13
Apr 7, 2008 at 9:11 PM
As root type the following command
Code:
cat /dev/sysmouse
Now move your mouse. If it writes junk characters on your screen then your mouse is working fine, just need to edit mouse device to /etc/sysmouse in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
To stop the junk characters after testing, press ctrl + c
Renny
Renny #14
Apr 7, 2008 at 9:49 PM
Did'nt work, after typing the command and moving the mouse I dont get any characters at all.
M
mehulved #15
Apr 7, 2008 at 11:17 PM
then you'll have to figure out at which port is the mouse getting detected.
praka123
praka123 #17
Apr 8, 2008 at 10:37 AM
^cat /dev/input/mice
or
cat /dev/psaux
Renny
Renny #18
Apr 8, 2008 at 1:03 PM
^cat /dev/input/mice
or
cat /dev/psaux

It says "No such device or directory".

Code:
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "Mouse"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2" #PS/2 Mouse
Option "Device" "/dev/sysmouse"

^^^This is the Input Section of my xorg.conf.
praka123
praka123 #19
Apr 8, 2008 at 2:07 PM
@rahul:
post the o/p of
Code:
ls -l /dev
in *pastebin.ca and post the link here.
Renny
Renny #20
Apr 8, 2008 at 4:19 PM
Output of "ls -l /dev"

*pastebin.ca/976671






I'm also including my xorg.conf:-

*pastebin.ca/976673
M
mehulved #21
Apr 8, 2008 at 4:51 PM
Also post output of fstat.
Renny
Renny #22
Apr 8, 2008 at 5:14 PM
fstat of \bin?
Renny
Renny #23
Apr 9, 2008 at 2:50 PM
Cmon man some help needed,

where is this frikkin file located?

F*!kin mouse:mad:.





My xorg.conf:-
*pastebin.ca/976673
M
mehulved #24
Apr 9, 2008 at 3:28 PM
Try /dev/psm0
Renny
Renny #25
Apr 9, 2008 at 4:58 PM
Try /dev/psm0

I did so from root, I get the following output:-





When I type "/dev/psm0" I get:-

Code:
Permission denied


When I type "cat /dev/psm0" I get:-

Code:
Resource Temporarily Unavailable
M
mehulved #26
Apr 9, 2008 at 9:30 PM
fstat | grep psm0
Renny
Renny #27
Apr 10, 2008 at 9:55 PM
I get this output for "fstat | grep psm0" :-

Code:
root   moused   957   3 /dev   67   crw-rw-rw-   psm0 rw
M
mehulved #28
Apr 10, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Try editing xorg.conf and use /dev/pcm0 as your mouse. Restart your X server after editing the config file. See if you're able to use the mouse then.
Renny
Renny #29
Apr 10, 2008 at 11:30 PM
It works but only "temporarily" meaning in the Login screen it doesnt work,

After exiting X and using "init 1" and running xorgconfig and editing the lines in xorg.conf to "/dev/psm0" it works,

but after restarting my pc it doesnt work.
M
mehulved #30
Apr 10, 2008 at 11:39 PM
better to ask on desktopbsd.net/forums people out there should be able to help you better then. I think it could be cos of GPM but not sure.

Also, try this. After logging in, if the mouse doesn't work, open a terminal and login as root and type killall moused
Renny
Renny #31
Apr 11, 2008 at 10:04 AM
OK, I'm going to give some complete details here:-


1. First I ran "xorgconfig" from root and selected the mouse protocol as "PS/2".


2. Next I opened /etc/X11/xorg.conf and changed the line from "/dev/sysmouse" TO "/dev/psm0"


3. After that I started X from root and the mouse worked(Could'nt continue from root as DesktopBSD
doesnt allow root login except for changing System Settings).



4. Next after this I logged out of root and logged into my account(rahul), here too the mouse worked but there were 3 dialog boxes(one bash, the other xterm and last one I dont remember), so I dont think KDE started here.


5. So I used CTRL+ALT+F2 and "init 1" and terminated X.


6. Finally I restarted the system using "halt".


7. When the system restarts and goes to the Login Screen the mouse does'nt work.




I have inclued 2 pics:-
Pic 1 - Output of "dmesg"
Pic 2 - Output of "fstat | grep psm0


Pic1
*img101.imageshack.us/img101/9936/pic1ty3.th.png

Pic2
*img395.imageshack.us/img395/2856/pic2ul9.th.png

PS - Before running xorgconfig and editing it I followed Step 5.
M
mehulved #32
Apr 11, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Use su for logging in as root in terminal, after you've logged in as user.
Renny
Renny #33
Apr 11, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Use su for logging in as root in terminal, after you've logged in as user.

I know that but what does it have to do with the problem:confused:.
Renny
Renny #34
Apr 11, 2008 at 2:40 PM
Finally solved the problem,

Ran "sysinstall" and configured the mouse there,

Thanks so much mehul for all your help :D.


But X freezes sometimes, what cud be the problem?
ray|raven
ray|raven #35
Apr 11, 2008 at 2:43 PM
Driver perhaps?

Whats the driver used by X?
Renny
Renny #36
Apr 11, 2008 at 3:03 PM
Driver used is i810,

KDE(and X) crashes and hangs a lot after I got the mouse working,

Before when the mouse was'nt working X did'nt hang or crash even once.
ray|raven
ray|raven #37
Apr 11, 2008 at 3:10 PM
Could you post the .xsessionerrors file and also, the message X gives you when it crashes.
Renny
Renny #38
Apr 11, 2008 at 4:03 PM
I dont get any error message, after logging in in about 5-10 minutes X just hangs, CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE does'nt workn nothing works, it just totally freezes.

And where is the xsessionerrors located?
ray|raven
ray|raven #39
Apr 11, 2008 at 4:04 PM
your home directory.Its hidden btw.
Renny
Renny #40
Apr 11, 2008 at 4:09 PM
Xsessionerrors:-

*www.pastebin.ca/980867
ray|raven
ray|raven #41
Apr 11, 2008 at 4:10 PM
This is the one when your system hanged?
Coz AFAIK, its cleared on reboot.
Renny
Renny #42
Apr 11, 2008 at 4:12 PM
Yes,

After it hung I went to XP and copied the file from the UFS filesystem, I did'nt boot to DesktopBSD after it hung.
ray|raven
ray|raven #43
Apr 11, 2008 at 4:16 PM
Cant really make out anything.
Have you tried using it with vesa? And what version of X are u using.
Renny
Renny #44
Apr 11, 2008 at 7:04 PM
Can disk errors cause X to hang like this.
M
mehulved #45
Apr 11, 2008 at 7:40 PM
Yes, if the data cannot be read there can be n^n types of error occurring.
Great that you solved it from sysinstall.
Renny
Renny #46
Apr 12, 2008 at 2:26 PM
K I even solved the hanging by runnung "fsck",

Now I'm unable to connect to the net even though I can open my Routers config page from the web browser,

I'm uploading some pics, tell me wats wrong:-

*img363.imageshack.us/img363/5516/snapshot1si4.th.png

*img408.imageshack.us/img408/3083/snapshot3yv1.th.png

*img150.imageshack.us/img150/7751/snapshot4eb1.th.png

*img150.imageshack.us/img150/9036/snapshot5ui0.th.png

*img408.imageshack.us/img408/6374/snapshot6aj3.th.png




And is there anyway I can make KDE faster, smoother, less bulky and less prone to crashes and freezes?
M
mehulved #47
Apr 12, 2008 at 4:28 PM
Show the output of
Code:
ifconfig
Code:
netstat -nr
Renny
Renny #48
Apr 12, 2008 at 5:09 PM
Now I'm getting a error when i type startx:-

It says "No screens found"




I've posted the output of /var/log/Xorg.0.log:-

*www.pastebin.ca/982231
Renny
Renny #49
Apr 13, 2008 at 4:44 PM
Forget abt the no screens found, solved it,

But X always hangs completely,

I'm using i810 GENERIC driver since I have an Intel 810 chipset,

How to solve these hangs.
ray|raven
ray|raven #50
Apr 14, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Sometimes X can hang if there are bad locations in RAM,
perhaps you could try a memory test and see if there are any?