FreeBSD Install CD Dance

[thejosephgrace]

I'm new to FreeBSD, but have been using Linux for a while now.
Installing FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE on an old Pentium II, things went pretty smoothly up until it started installing additional "ports". I then had to go on an extremely frustrating CD Dance between Disk2 and Disk3. Several times I inserted the wrong CD and a few times I had to re-burn the ISO's due to scratching. Is this just an inevitable part of installing FreeBSD via CD's or did I do something very very wrong?

[greencross]

If you have configured network connection on that FreeBSD box, then you can install additional ports without any "CD dance".
But I for one used this method to create a backup of installation media.

[thejosephgrace]

Thanks Greencross. I'll definitely install using your method next time. It just seems odd that the ports were organized on the disks in such a way that I had to switch them out after every single item for the beginning of the installation of additional ports.

[greencross]

You're welcome.
Yeah, and for some background. Maybe you already know that, but nevertheless. When you are operating with installation CD's you are using packages system (not ports) - those are much like *.deb or *rpm in Linux. When you are using ports you are in fact compiling the software from the source code (Like Gentoo or Sabayon).

[thejosephgrace]

No, I didn't know that. So Ports are always compiled from source?

[greencross]

So Ports are always compiled from source?

Most of them. But there are some exceptions. For instance when you install linux version of Firefox the port system downloads already compiled binaries.
For more information look here.

[thejosephgrace]

Interesting. I'm very interested in the ports system, but for the sake of staying on topic I should probably move any further questions to a more suitable category in the forum.

[phoenix]

This is the reason why the install CD should be used only for installing the base OS, and nothing else. No X, no additional packages, just the base.

Once you've booted into the OS, you can use the ports(7) tree, or pkg_add(8) to install any extra software you need. (You can mount the CDs and use pkg_add to add packages from them, if you don't have a fast Internet connection.)

It's too bad this isn't reinforced in the documentation. Although the sysinstall replacements seem to, thankfully, all take the tact of "the installer installs the OS, nothing more, nothing less, and is not a system configuration tool".

[thejosephgrace]

I guess that I really should have studied more before just diving into FreeBSD. But the more mistakes you make the more you learn.
I think that I've also been spoiled by the Live CD's of Linux.