# FreeBSD Notes and Tips

*(updated 2021-2-15)

I have several laptops and desktops running on FreeBSD (currently 12.0),
and I've stumbled across various smaller issues. For my own further
reference and perhaps for the use of other people as well, I'm taking
some notes here.

On all systems, I've put large parts of the root file system into
a git repo, in particular bin, boot (without entropy), etc, lib,
libexec, rescue, root, sbin, and some directories in usr. It's helpful
for tracking experiments, and interesting after updates/upgrades!
(On the AspireONEs, that git repo is about 100 MB large, which is
negligible IMO on a 10% full 100 GB harddisk.)

## Hardware running FreeBSD

- two Acer AspireONE 150 laptops -- one "inherited" from a family member
  who felt the urge to make the change from Win7 to Win10... the other
  initially had a "Linpus Linux" which ran well but was no longer updated.
  Both now have an extended (physically protruding) battery providing
  between 8 and 10 hours of untethered operation.
- ASUS UL30A laptop, at work
- DELL T1600 (Core I3) desktop, at work

## Notes about the System

- X manager: ratpoison -- ideal on smaller screens,
  and for people with preference for keyboards over mice^Wrats

## Update Issues

- after major upgrade, running pkg fails with "libss.. not found":
  do `pkg-static install -f pkg` after the required several reboots
  and `freebsd-update install`
- on several systems (AspireONE, ASUS UL30A),
  **touchpads no longer work** after recent upgrading,
  and I have no clue why and how to solve it,
  not even with the root git repo, as it seems to
  be due to something in /usr/lib/ :-/
  (works neither in X11 nor with moused, and both did)

## FreeBSD on Thinkpad T42

- new versions since release 9 seem to fail due to missing support of ATA/ATAPI; got boot loop about CAM errors; last working version seems to have been 8.4
- got 8.4 on memstick, installation worked
- set `/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf` with wifi access data, then `service netif restart`
- BUT `pkg` cannot install as URL no longer resolved!
- `freebsd-update fetch ; freebsd-update install`
- now `pkg` suggests `portsnap fetch extract ; make -C /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/pkg install clean`
- fetch/extract gets about 89 MB of data and works for 1/2 hour to extract
- `make -C ...` unfortunately fails with errors seemingly due to wrong (b)make version, according to various fora; did not want to go down that rabbit hole
- workaround: `pkg_add -r ftp://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/ports/i386/packages-8.4-release/All/xxxxx.tbz`
- got git, screen, lynx etc working