Installation and configuration of FreeBSD

UNIX has always been a relatively professional and difficult to install, but FreeBSD's performance is not the case. This is because FreeBSD mainly supports the most popular personal computer platforms, and because multi-platform issues are not a primary concern, FreeBSD developers focus on building a suite of advanced installation and configuration tools for personal computers ──sysinstall. As a result, unlike other Unix systems (including NetBSD and FreeBSD), the FreeBSD installation process is relatively simple and easy to understand, with the installation of a floppy disk or a CD-ROM installed to start the installer, which completes the task of installing FreeBSD.

The FreeBSD installer supports the most popular network installation and CD-ROM installation methods, it also supports several other installation methods such as traditional tapes and floppy disks, supports most popular hardware and the standard configuration of these hardware, and enables basic configuration of the system, such as host name, keyboard and screen fonts, network settings, and so on.

But the most commonly used PC is Microsoft's Windows 9x-series operating system, and users are often accustomed to using some concepts from do s to analyze systems that differ from UNIX's understanding of the same things. While FreeBSD is a complete UNIX operating system, it requires users to use UNIX to understand all aspects of the personal computer system. Just as a user without any Dos/window s basic concepts cannot properly install dos/windows, a user who does not have any basic concepts of UNIX can install FreeBSD correctly.

Preparation prior to installation

Before you install, you should understand the hardware configuration of the computer to install FreeBSD and some basic concepts of UNIX, as well as the carrier of the FreeBSD software-installation media. This information can help users understand whether this computer is suitable for installing FreeBSD, and whether it has the conditions to install FreeBSD. Installation can be done in most cases by using the installation disc (or floppy disk) directly, but more information is available to help the installer deal with installation problems that occur under certain conditions. Therefore, it is recommended that readers do not ignore the installation of the preparation phase, fully understand the system you want to install the hardware and FreeBSD common concepts in the installation process can avoid problems.

Hardware devices

The types of hardware on personal computers vary widely, and you should choose different hardware for systems for different purposes. Some hardware is more important to the FreeBSD system, such as hard disk and network equipment, while some hardware is not important, it belongs to optional configuration, such as the sound card for multimedia system. To install the Freebs D system, you must ensure that this computer includes the most basic hardware devices, such as the hard disk that is used to install the system, the device that reads the media to be FreeBSD: a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, or a network.

However, there is also a specific configuration of the FreeBSD system, you can only use floppy disk to start and run, or a diskless network workstation. These systems are used for specific purposes, such as dedicated firewall devices or X terminals. These specially configured FreeBSD systems do not use standard installation methods.

Hardware supported by FreeBSD

The standard FreeBSD minimum can be installed on a machine that has only 5MB memory, 40MB hard drives, and uses Intel 80386 chips. In fact, it takes only 4MB to run the FreeBSD, but the FreeBSD installer will first expand the data on the floppy disk into an in-memory MFS file system (equivalent to a virtual disk), requiring at least 5MB of storage space. If the system is required to run the X Window graphical interface, then there should be at least 8MB of memory, 250MB hard drive.

FreeBSD can still do quite a lot of tasks in this low configuration computer, but the speed and memory size of the processor also limits its ability to handle tasks, and it is clear that higher-profile computers can perform better performance and perform more complex processing tasks. For example, installing software requires additional hard disk space, and complex software can require more memory and processor speed to support it. Computers that are typically too low configured are not suitable for use as personal workstations, but their processing power can also meet the specific purpose of completing some of the processing proprietary tasks. For example, for dial-up access to the Internet gateway, a floppy disk boot 386 will be able to meet its 56Kbps traffic processing requirements.