Video tutorial for installing base system of FreeBSD 12.1 in VirtualBox

[decuser]

I just created a video tutorial for doing a base install of FreeBSD 12.1 in VirtualBox as part of a set of tutorials for my students taking systems programming. Here's the link for the curious, and or the critics: Installing a basic FreeBSD 12.1 system in VritualBox. Warning, it's 53 minutes long, but it's not meant to compete with the quick install methods. I explain what I'm doing so my students can get set up without too many issues. I wasn't sure where to post this, here, or in Howtos, but Howtos seemed to be writeups and this is video.

This video is strictly base system. I will do another on setting up TWM & Lumina, and a 3rd on setting up Plasma for those that think command line is archaic . I'm also in the process of doing one on setting up 8.4 to work through Kong's FreeBSD Device Driver book (without having to port changes). The reason I'm doing these is that I haven't been satisfied with what's available. I'm not great, but I am systematic. Anyway, I'd appreciate any feedback on this first effort, so that I can improve the work.

 

[diizzy]

Without the intention of being nitpicky I think you should refrain from doing "rants" and/or speculations.

bootonly image --> https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/install.html#idp45471096
This actually makes more sense to use for your sense than the "full" (offline) version since you're going to use the network anyway later.

disc1 is not a cd image, CDs can fit about 700Mbyte tops (a bit more if your drive supports overburning but that's not the point)

FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE Errata

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.

www.freebsd.org

Dynamically allocated and Fixed is mainly due to concerns of I/O performance, not convenience. It's very noticable if you're still on a HDD.

You should use AHCI rather than PIIX4 as its uses the legacy IDE driver which isn't a well maintained due to being deprecated in available hardware for ~10 years.

Use GPT, there no reason and not use it in 2020 and it's GUID Partition Table not Great Partition table.

GUID Partition Table - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Since Windows 7 there's GPT support so Windows is hardly "starting" to use it.

Just because you have an ada device doesn't mean it's AHCI (which you didn't select earlier)

ada(4)

www.freebsd.org

 

[decuser]

Without the intention of being nitpicky I think you should refrain from doing "rants" and/or speculations.

bootonly image --> https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/install.html#idp45471096
This actually makes more sense to use for your sense than the "full" (offline) version since you're going to use the network anyway later.

disc1 is not a cd image, CDs can fit about 700Mbyte tops (a bit more if your drive supports overburning but that's not the point)

FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE Errata

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.

www.freebsd.org

You're right. I'll have to be more careful. It used to fit on a CD and as soon as I said 900MB, it occurred to me that it could no longer be called a CD image.

Dynamically allocated and Fixed is mainly due to concerns of I/O performance, not convenience. It's very noticable if you're still on a HDD.

I don't disagree that it's performance related, but it's also convenient when you don't know up front how much disc you're going to need and you are space constrained. As it grows you can then decide what to make room for - the virtual instance or the host files. If you allocate it up front, the choice is fixed.

You should use AHCI rather than PIIX4 as its uses the legacy IDE driver which isn't a well maintained due to being deprecated in available hardware for ~10 years.

Ah, I missed this when I went through the settings. I'll keep this in mind.

Use GPT, there no reason and not use it in 2020 and it's GUID Partition Table not Great Partition table.

GUID Partition Table - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Since Windows 7 there's GPT support so Windows is hardly "starting" to use it.

Just because you have an ada device doesn't mean it's AHCI (which you didn't select earlier)

ada(4)

www.freebsd.org

I must've mumbled. I certainly know what GPT stands for. As for Windows "support" for various storage capabilities. I should have been kinder and just admitted that I didn't know for sure about it.

This is great feedback. I'll add some comments to the youtube video page.

 

[decuser]

...

I updated the video description with an errata - check it out and see if I've addressed your points adequately.

 

[diizzy]

Looks good to me,
Great job