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FreeBSD Based Live CDs

Posted by timothy on from the peanut-butter-chocolate dept.

Newtonian_p writes "Now the BSD world has an answer to Knoppix. The FreeSBIE project have released a live FreeBSD based system on CD. There are also plans to develop a suite of programs to be used to create a personalized disk." If it offers a painless BSD install (the way Knoppix makes it easy to install Debian to a hard drive), this should be a popular project. Reader Cronopios links to a related effort called LiveBSD which "has heavily modified FreeSBIE's scripts to allow for apache mysql and many other programs to run."

87 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. I'm there! by phrostie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    i'd been meaning to give one of the BSDs and other try. maybe nows the time.

    good news.

  2. FreeSBIE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    At least if I mess up the CD burning, I won't get a coaster!

  3. Hopefully eventually by beware1000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd really like to see one of those Business card size CD's in BSD form. The Linux ones have saved me more times than I can count.

    1. Re:Hopefully eventually by bloodstains · · Score: 5, Informative

      the guys over at unixpunxhave a distrib that fits on a mini CD

    2. Re:Hopefully eventually by beware1000 · · Score: 2, Informative

      slow burning speeds and using the bump to line it up in the tray has always been my key to success :)

  4. Not much info available by Trillan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, I RTFA, but it's pretty sparse. Can anyone involved explain a bit more how this works?

    I would think it would be similiar to the MandrakeMove(?) live linux CD we saw earlier this year, but bad things happen when I make assumptions. :)

  5. OS Comparison by DarkkOne · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is good news for alot of people (like me.) I've just recently developed a fairly major interest in GNU/Linux, other alternatives, free software (as in speech) and the like. I've tried several GNU/Linux liveCDs, but am still in my "distro-decision" process, and having another alternative to try out will be very nice. Definitely a step in the right direction, the more OSes that you can "try before you buy" so to speak, the better, 'eh?

    1. Re:OS Comparison by MooCows · · Score: 4, Insightful

      IMHO the best thing to do is grab a spare computer, download a bunch of interesting distro's (Linux, BSD, whatever you want), install them and use them for a day or two.

      You're bound to come across a distro suited for your needs.
      (server, router, desktop, multimedia system, whatever you want)

      Every Linux distro has it's upsides and it's downsides (both are mostly about whether it's something for you).

      As for the BSD's, I've never tried them, but afaik they're a bit more geared towards servers/security than Linux.

      It still comes down to personal choice :)

      --
      The path I walk alone is endlessly long.
      30 minutes by bike, 15 by bus.
    2. Re:OS Comparison by DarkkOne · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, actually I'm looking for a variety of purposes. I need my internet gateway machine set up, a local network server for a variety of purposes, a development box (which in the end is probably going to end up running a Microsoft OS, because mainly I'm going to be working on a game project I've put aside for too long, and unfortunately if I ever want to sell it, the "mainstream" is still running MS. Though, with my development rate, GNU/Linux will be "mainstream" by then and MS will be suffering from bitrot. And yes, it'll probably include source either on-cd, or available online if I ever do finish and sell.)

      Anyway, back to the subject at hand, machines which will be running various OSes.
      A) Game Development platform.
      B) Internet Gateway
      C) Internal multipurpose server. (Print/File/Internal document/http hosting)
      D) Laptop.

      That last one's the fun one. It's a Sony VAIO PCG-NVR23, and I really want to move it to GNU/Linux, as it serves mainly as a word processor and web browser, so there's no excuse for it to have ANY non-free software, but I'm not familiar enough with GNU/Linux to necessarily be able to follow the directions I've found to get it working. Though I'm sure once I RTFM (or RTFD as the case may be) I'll get things worked out in the end.

      Anyway, suggestions for a few of those will be welcome, so long as you guys don't get into arguments about it. (Y'know, a few simple "Why this might work here" style comments are nice. Any posts that claim someone else is wrong, are most certainly not.)

    3. Re:OS Comparison by tiger99 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Hopefully give them a bit more than a day or two. Try configuring printers, firewall, scanner, compiling a kernel, downloading updates.....

      After a few months it will be a fairer comparison, if you can spare the time of course. You may find that most are good, none are perfect, and it depends which imperfections you want to tolerate. But, I'm sure you will find one that you like, and it will be of more use, in the long term, than the badly broken "competitive" products of the Convicted Monopolist, or the abominal violation of the GPL known as SCO Unix.

    4. Re:OS Comparison by pnutjam · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I would love to run Linux on my laptop, IBM Thinkpad 770z, but I find the wireless support in Linux to be sorely lacking.

      --
      Cheap storage VM.
    5. Re:OS Comparison by DarkkOne · · Score: 3, Interesting

      From what I've been able to tell, in my limited readings, the wireless support "out of box" at the moment seems to be lacking, but a little spot research and it seems often enough what you need can be found out there. If you've already installed and are discovering you're in trouble, and don't have an ethernet port to plug into, you may be in trouble, but since you're posting here, I imagine a little pre-planning is all you need.

    6. Re:OS Comparison by joshmccormack · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's the "install them" part that takes up more time than would be ideal, and becomes the focus of too many reviews. Have you noticed most reviews of distors focus on installation and breeze over everything else? Seems a little crazy, doesn't it? I mean, even installing Gentoo or something, which can really become an experience to brag about, is generally not something you're doing every day.

      Installing the *BSDs has not had the ease that many of the Linux distros have had, so hopefully this will encourage more competition, options, and enjoyment and savings.

    7. Re:OS Comparison by El+Cubano · · Score: 4, Informative

      ... a development box (which in the end is probably going to end up running a Microsoft OS, because mainly I'm going to be working on a game project I've put aside for too long, and unfortunately if I ever want to sell it, the "mainstream" is still running MS.

      No need to pollute your machine. I develop a computer simulation (it started as a thesis project), so it has almost all the same requirements a modern game would have: 3-D graphics, sound, GUI, etc. I use wxWidgets (formerly wxWindows) which gets me pretty much every feature I need. The best part is tha I can use the gcc cross-compiler to build the win32 target .exe from my Linux box. I then have friends of mine test the final windows .exe (after I do some preliminary testing through WINE).

      I would assert that is better to develop the Win32 apps from linux than from win32. Especially since I don't have to worry about VS.NET flaking out on me, or the other crappy tools that are common on Windows.

    8. Re:OS Comparison by Sweetshark · · Score: 3, Informative

      You might also take a look at distrowatch to find candidates...

    9. Re:OS Comparison by Hel+Toupee · · Score: 5, Informative

      Having used FreeBSD since 1999 or so for one reason or another, and having looked at several Linux distros, I'll throw in my 2cents.

      FreeBSD looks like UNIX (oversimplification, albeit) down-and-dirty. I ran X on it for awhile (enlightenment or fvwm95 on a 486DX/66) and will never again. It really is not set up for a GUI, and you will do a ton of work getting it there. It will run Linux-compatible binaries provided you have the right libraries.
      This is what I would use as the server because I am comfortable with it, and feel it is faster and more secure in this capacity. (I have little proof of the proceeding statement, but know there are thousands of benchmarks that prove me either right or wrong)

      Linux distros I've tried range from pretty and trendy (Mandrake, Knoppix), to Windows clones (Lin---s, Licoris), to down-and-dirty UNIX type (Slackware). Mandrake would be my choice for the laptop and the development box because I just like the way it feels.

      The FreeBSD live CD doesn't seem like anything more than an educational tool, because, IMHO, FreeBSD is supposed to be installed, customized, and left to what it does best, run server daemons. Check out linuxISO.org if you haven't already. It is a quick resource for information about a TON of different distros.

      --
      PERL:
      All of the power of Voodoo with most of the understandibility!
    10. Re:OS Comparison by 74nova · · Score: 2, Insightful

      i agree completely(talk to my isp, they know) about trying lots of different distros. i also agree with another reply to yours that said give it a little longer than a couple days.

      i have one small thing to add about what youve said, however. not a correction, just an addition. something a new linux user need to think about is the speed of the machine used for testing versus that of the machine it will be used on. if you are blessed enough to have a spare machine that is up to standards, then by all means, do it that way. however, if your spare machine is a little older like my pII450, some distros may behave a little worse on it than they would on your main rig. mandrake with kde(i just took the defaults, havent looked into any lighter display or window managers, yet) is slow on the aformentioned 450. its great on my 1GHz amd, however.

      all that to say that make sure you understand the performance differences between the distros and the machine you test on vs the one you plan to use it on for real.

      --
      use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy
    11. Re:OS Comparison by scrytch · · Score: 3, Informative

      FreeBSD looks like UNIX (oversimplification, albeit) down-and-dirty. I ran X on it for awhile (enlightenment or fvwm95 on a 486DX/66) and will never again. It really is not set up for a GUI, and you will do a ton of work getting it there.

      Yeah, clicking on "Desktop" in the installer, that really was hard.

      It will run Linux-compatible binaries provided you have the right libraries.

      I forgot to undertake the astonishingly difficult task of clicking "Linux Compatibility" in the install, so I had to resort to the incredibly complex "make install" command in any of the linux binaries port because I forgot that the linux base system had the incredibly cryptic name of "linux-base".

      You sir posited zero evidence for your assertions.

      --
      I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
    12. Re:OS Comparison by mbadolato · · Score: 2, Informative

      It really is not set up for a GUI, and you will do a ton of work getting it there. It will run Linux-compatible binaries provided you have the right libraries.

      Oh come now... I've installed FreeBSD on a few machines ranging from a Dell pII 400 to a Frankenputer(tm) I built from parts lying around the house. I've never had any issues getting X running with Gnome, KDE, Windowmaker, or anything else. I choose the options right in the installer and it just works for me.

      From there the GUI runs just like it does in Linux.

    13. Re:OS Comparison by UnassumingLocalGuy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Maybe back in 1999 your rant holds true, but no more today. X and WindowMaker run happily on my little P133 laptop, and it took minimal effort to set up. Linux binary compatibility is a breeze to set up, I had UT2003 running (not on my laptop, of course) and fragging away.

      Next time you run the FreeBSD sysinstall, take a little more time and pay more attention.

      --
      "Hu, ho, ho-ah-oh-oh-oh. Hu, ho ho-ah-oh-oh-oh. Mario Paint! Whoaaa!"
    14. Re:OS Comparison by IronChef · · Score: 4, Funny

      It really is not set up for a GUI, and you will do a ton of work getting it there.

      yeah, "make install" just about killed me. and I can never remember that "startx" thing you have to do.

    15. Re:OS Comparison by jdray · · Score: 2, Informative
      I recently went laptop shopping, and had decided that it was going to run Linux exclusively (no dual boot to Windows). I started by deciding which distro I wanted to use (SuSE was the end choice after much deliberation), then looking at their "supported hardware" page under notebooks. Lo and behold, SuSE has only certified IBM notebooks with their latest version, 9.0 (more brands to follow, I'm sure).

      Reading the certification results (example), I found that the internal WLAN card wasn't supported. Not to be deterred, I searched IBM's web site and found this, along with several other documents, that puts me right on the path.

      Unfortunately, a lot of research is required to find info when doing something like this. Don't be deterred by just one source.

      --
      The Spoon
      Updated 6/28/2011
    16. Re:OS Comparison by Brandybuck · · Score: 3, Informative

      It really is not set up for a GUI, and you will do a ton of work getting it there.

      I must respectfully disagree. I am using FreeBSD as my primary desktop OS at home and at work. I'ts fully "GUIified". KDE 3.2. MPlayer, Xmms, yada, yada, yada.

      While setting stuff up isn't automatically done for you before you even insert the install CD, it still isn't that difficult. Thanks to XFree86 (the true hero of the desktop), the days of having to manually compute modelines is ancient history. Run the command "XFree86 -configure" and you are done! You may want to tweak stuff afterwards, but the meat of the configuration is done.

      Of course, if even the briefest glimpse of a command line is give you a case of the heebie jeebies, perhaps you should stay away.

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
  6. Re:FreeBSD is a solid OS by MoonFog · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Linux needs LiveCDs, but the BSDs certainly stand on their own.

    Why is this ? IMHO, Linux stands just fine on its own. People have been talking on slashdot about how they use the Live CDs to show people what Linux can do, and to run Linux where you cannot install etc, I can't see why it should be any different with a BSD live cd. My guess is that it will be used as the Linux live cd's, to test and try. I think it's a good idea, and I will most certainly try it, I don't buy your idea that BSD stands better on its own than Linux though.

  7. Re:FreeBSD is a solid OS by moberry · · Score: 5, Informative

    The purpose of the live CD is not as your actual OS. It is used for testing the operating system to see if it works correctly with your hardware. I have also used P.H.L.A.K (A lighweight, hackery live CD also, like knoppix based on debian)for disaster recovery on windows systems. It works quite well.

  8. BSD isn't a hard install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    " If it offers a painless BSD install "

    I was shocked, yes shocked, at how easy OpenBSD was installed on my intel machine. The mac install was another kettle of fish but the intel install was the easiest install I've ever done. FreeBSD wasn't exactly a difficult install either. I don't remember NetBSD being hard come to think of it. Actually, has anybody found an intel BSD OS difficult to install?

    1. Re:BSD isn't a hard install by clymere · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, it was a pain in the ass when I tried it on old hardware(p1). Of course i am a total newbie as far as the BSD's, I'm well aware that many install them on old hardware for use as routers. However, I can defintly say that I found BSD's to be more difficult then Linux on obsolete hardware. Maybe its easy once you know what you're doing.

      --
      once you go slack, you never go back
    2. Re:BSD isn't a hard install by Simon+Lyngshede · · Score: 5, Informative

      I found the NetBSD disklabel tool difficult to use, so I used OpenBSD to slice my disk. But other than that, no I agree, the BSD'es are very easy to install.

      OpenBSD is wonderfully easy to install.

    3. Re:BSD isn't a hard install by LeoDV · · Score: 2, Interesting
      " Maybe its easy once you know what you're doing."
      Well isn't that the case with all computers and software? I've installed all the Big Three BSDs, several iterations of the much feared Slack, Debian and countless other distros, and they've never posed any serious problems -- sure, driver/package issues and the like, but zero showstoppers. Why? I'm fairly computer literate, but nothing exceptional, I have no l33t *nix 1nst4ll sk1llz (maybe some experience).

      All I did was read, download and print down the necessary information for each distro/flavour before installing it. And everything went smooth from there.

      I hate those so-called gurus who just tell you to read the man pages when you come to them with a problem, but if you want to install and configure Linux/BSD, reading up is really all you have to do.
    4. Re:BSD isn't a hard install by Punk+Walrus · · Score: 5, Informative

      I found OpenBSD so easy, it was virtually painless.

      1. Burn floppy
      2. Insert floppy into old hardware (in this case, a 486 DX4 100), reboot machine
      3. OpenBSD boots from floppy. Asked me if I want to Install, upgrade, or cancel. I chose (I)nstall
      4. Asked me which hard drive.
      5. Gave me fdisk like partition manager. Listed whole drive as c with one bit "a" FAT16 partition. I deleted "a," entered in the partitions I needed, with "b" being my swap by default. Did w,q to write and quit.
      6. Asked me to set up network interface, root password, etc...
      7. Asked me which install type, I set up ftp, I selected the mirror closest to me, selected the packages I wanted, and then waited for install to complete (20 min on cable modem).
      8. I took out the floppy, rebooted, and got a login prompt.
      9. Signed in as root, and heeded "afterboot" security warning.

      Then I installed bash with a simple add_pkg command, added non-root user, set up pf, found apache was installed and set up by default, changed forwarding to "1", slapped pfctl and apachectl to run, and wala! Working router/NAT/webserver in less than an hour.

    5. Re:BSD isn't a hard install by LoganEkz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Installing OpenBSD was a piece of cake, just some new users might be put off by the text only installer at first, but if you can get past that, you'll realize that it is so straight forward.

      One of the things I love about OpenBSD is that the documentation and man pages are so well done, having a look at the Installation Guide and the afterboot(8) man page, virtually anyone can have full fledged secure by default OS installed configured in a breeze.

    6. Re:BSD isn't a hard install by Hel+Toupee · · Score: 4, Interesting

      On obsolete hardware, I've found that FreeBSD, anyway, is much easier than Linux. FreeBSD is perfectly happy installing off of a floppy to any 486 or better with a network connection. Most Linux installs I've tried either don't have the option to go from floppy, or want a large amout of RAM (for the hardware in question) to install. My worst installation experience was Mandrake 9.1 on a P150 laptop with no cd drive and a non-standard cardbus controller that refuses to work with the yenta-socket driver. If BSD would have recognized the PCMCIA NIC, it would have been wham, bam, thank-you-ma'am. IIRC, even if Mandrake would have seen the NIC, I would still have to export the install CD's from a NFS server somewhere, because they don't have a central FTP site to use. As it was, I ended up pulling the hard drive out and loading the install stuff on it from another computer, then booting an install disk and using the low-mem configuration (I only have 48 meg) to install from the hard drive.

      --
      PERL:
      All of the power of Voodoo with most of the understandibility!
    7. Re:BSD isn't a hard install by krusader · · Score: 3, Funny

      1. Burn floppy

      Isn't it going to be hard to boot off that floppy if you burn it?

    8. Re:BSD isn't a hard install by dasunt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      " If it offers a painless BSD install "

      I was shocked, yes shocked, at how easy OpenBSD was installed on my intel machine. The mac install was another kettle of fish but the intel install was the easiest install I've ever done. FreeBSD wasn't exactly a difficult install either. I don't remember NetBSD being hard come to think of it. Actually, has anybody found an intel BSD OS difficult to install?

      "Painless BSD install" means "I don't need to know what I'm doing."

      FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD have *detailed* installation instructions available on the project's homepage. I've installed OpenBSD as a BSD newbie on a laptop without any serious problems.

      Why is reading the manual considered so un-user friendly? After all, you are installing megabytes of binaries onto varying architectures with countless permutations of additional hardware. Then you are probably planning to add additional software to the system (additional countless permutations). Finally, the chances are good that you are going to hook the system up to a world wide network full of hostile machines.

      Call me an elitist, but perhaps the OpenBSD way is the best -- rather simple install (if you are willing to read the Instruction Manual) and services turned off by default. If you need something, you need to know how to configure and activate it yourself.

      Don't get me wrong -- I have nothing against end users, and I am not advocating a difficult UI for them. I have no doubts that I could set up a BSD system that's user friendly enough for my mother. But using a system is not the same as installing it -- no more then driving a car is the same as designing a car.

      Just my $.02

  9. Available for purchase by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just seen it at blcds.com for sale, if anyone's interested

  10. Re:FreeBSD is a solid OS by neodymium · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Especially for Firewalls, it is a good idea to use (modified) live-CDs. This way, everything is stored on a read-only filesystem, even in the rare case of a BSD remote root exploit, a reboot fixes everything.

  11. Re:You can install Knoppix...?!?!? by broadcast_255 · · Score: 2, Informative

    yes you can, there is command like knoppix-install or somethin' i already forgot, but i did it several times last year

  12. Now? by cperciva · · Score: 4, Informative

    Now the BSD world has an answer to Knoppix

    Err... This may be "Stuff that matters", but it shouldn't be "News for Nerds". FreeBSD has had live CDs since at least 2002.

    --
    Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
    1. Re:Now? by kent_eh · · Score: 5, Informative

      News? Not really.

      I have been using this particular FreeSBIE disk for a couple of months now. Using it to post this, as a matter of fact.

      I'm using it at work on a machine that normally runs XP and takes twice as long to boot to XP as it does to the live CD.

      For some reason the giant list of Live CDs doesn't seem to include the BSD variants.

      There are 8 different *BSD live CDs listed at LiveCDNews.com.

      --

      ---
      "I can't complain, but sometimes still do..." Joe Walsh
  13. Another Live CD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Another FreeBSD-based live CD is BSDeviant.

  14. Re:FreeBSD is a solid OS by Lussarn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    LiveCDs have alot of purposes, I use them as servers. I run internet based games at work, At the end of the registration periods we need about 2,3,4 or more webservers just for a couple of hours to handle the load (and we have quite a few to begin with). I have a LiveCD which I can pop into any workstation and have a instant webserver (No reformating of windows machines that is).

    It's based on knoppix, only took me a couple of hours to work ou how to remaster it to suit my needs.

    LiveCDs are cool.

  15. Re:FreeBSD is a solid OS by cperciva · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If there's a remote root exploit, rebooting is merely going to make an attacker wait five minutes and then re-run the exploit. A better solution is a CD-RW disk in a CD-ROM drive -- you can always reboot into a clean system, but if there are security issues, you can remove the disk, fix the necessary bits, and then reboot.

    --
    Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
  16. Re:You can install Knoppix...?!?!? by The_DOD_player · · Score: 5, Informative

    I might be biting a troll here.. but you can install Knoppix.
    Just open up a console, su, and run "knx-hdinstall". Its "just" a shellscript, so you can browse while installing. After install you get a Debian Sid system.

  17. Plan 9 by IncarnadineConor · · Score: 4, Funny

    When is someone going to make one of these for plan 9? Leaving one of those in my drive would be a perfect way to make sure no one can screw with my computer.

  18. Useful if money is tight by Jexx+Dragon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been using Knoppix for some time now, as I have to use Windows on my computer and cannot afford another. I think that for those of us who like to get experiance with as many operating enviroments as possible, but can not set up systems for each this could be a very useful project. Though I suppose one could always just dual- or multi-boot.

    --
    I don't have time to comment my code, the program is late already.
  19. LiveCD. by Sentosus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I enjoy playing with LiveCDs, but I always find that we are not taking advantage of the writing ability of many CD drives.

    I want my configuration changes as well as any programs I install to be burned on the CD in either rewritable or writeable with limited space type setup.

    If I download a neat application and install it or save a word doc in my directory, I want it automatically cued up to be burned when I shutdown.

    Also, it would be nice to be able to go to a website and enter your hardware configuration and a customer version of the live cd be created on the server and be available for download with your drivers in ISO format.

    SP

    1. Re:LiveCD. by mst76 · · Score: 4, Informative

      > I enjoy playing with LiveCDs, but I always find that we are not taking advantage of the writing ability of many CD drives.
      [...]
      > If I download a neat application and install it or save a word doc in my directory, I want it automatically cued up to be burned when I shutdown.

      First, most LiveCD systems are already packed to the brim, and don't allow you to unmount you're main CD during operation, so you'd need at least two drives. Second, there are two ways to add files to a cd-rw: multisession and packet writing. Multisession is widely supported, but not suitable for small files as there is a overhead of about 15MB for each new session. Packet writing requires the UDF filesystem. AFAIK, neither Linux nor FreeBSD have good UDF support in read-write mode, and I'm not sure if anyone is actively working on it.

      A much better bet would be a LiveCD in conjunction with USB flash memory for your personal files. If you want to install apps, the new version of the SLAX-Live CD supports ovlfs (Overlay Filesystem), which lets you insert files on a read-only root filesystem. For FreeBSD, unionfs might do the trick.

  20. Re:You can install Knoppix...?!?!? by kahei · · Score: 4, Informative


    You can indeed install it -- the result is a kind of Debian-lite installation. It's probably better to install real Debian once Knoppix has led the way; installed Knoppix has some quirks, such as a tendency to read things from the CD image on the HD now and then.

    --
    Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
  21. Re:You can install Knoppix...?!?!? by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Informative

    since like, forever.

    there's few ways to do it, you can install the image to hd and run it from there. or do a normal installation(as other replier said, knx-hdinstall iirc).

    however be aware that upgrading from this installed system to a normal debian system might not go as smoothly as you'd hope(it might though, but I'd rather use a 'proper' installation cd and do a netinstall).

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  22. Wahoo! by Zebra_X · · Score: 2, Funny

    This will make an awsome Haxering platform. If you get run up on by the feds, just pull the battery out of your laptop.

  23. Re:FreeBSD is a solid OS by clymere · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "ObviouGuy" looks like an obvious troll. Regardless of how well an OS works, there are always going to be plenty of situations where a LiveCD proves invaluable. I would think someone savvy enough to be running BSD would know better then to spout such nonsense.

    --
    once you go slack, you never go back
  24. DVD?? by millahtime · · Score: 3, Interesting

    With so many of us having dvd drives, I wonder why there isn't a dvd version?? You could fit so many more of the ports on there to be tried.

    --
    Evolution or ID?
    1. Re:DVD?? by Nurseman · · Score: 2, Informative

      With so many of us having dvd drives, I wonder why there isn't a dvd version??

      I asked this in a previous dicussion on Linux CD's and the answer has to do with how the OS reads DVD's. I don't recall the exact answer, but they are not "bootable". My DVD will boot a CD, but not a DVD. It may have to do with the way the bios reads the CD's

      --
      Save a Life. Donate Blood. Please.
  25. I wonder why... by cesarcardoso · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...the FreeBSD LiveCD wasn't mentioned.

    It's the older FreeBSD LiveCD around, a project carried by the Brazilian FreeBSD User Group.

    --
    Cesar Cardoso can be found at cesar at zyakannazio dot eti dot br (or at least I believe so)
  26. Re:FreeBSD is a solid OS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > This way, everything is stored on a read-only filesystem, even in the rare case of a BSD remote root exploit, a reboot fixes everything.

    If your logs are on a RAM disk, they're gone as well...

  27. Its a shame linux doesnt work this well by 8400_RPM · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Its a shame that regular hard installed linux cant work as well as these live cds. To get debian to pick up my usb flash drive I had to recompile the kernel. To get redhat to see it I have to mount it every time. Yet with knoppix, I just plug it in and it works...

  28. Live CD on Flash Drives??? by 8400_RPM · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've seen 512mb flash drives and even 1gb flashdrives. Has anyone tried putting a live CD on one of these? I would think it would be blazing fast.

    1. Re:Live CD on Flash Drives??? by Bagels · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Flash isn't blazing fast by any definition of the word fast, and it's a lot more expensive than CDs - for a 1GB flash drive you could go out and buy a copy of Windows or several copies of any Linux distro. Also remember that Flash has that whole re-writing problem - if the Flash inadvertently gets used for swap space or something, it'd die in no time. Lastly, not a lot of computers boot from USB without some CD to help them along (mine certainly wouldn't), so you'd probably need a CD anyway...

      --
      --- Bwah?
  29. Er... "Now?" by little_fluffy_clouds · · Score: 4, Interesting


    "Now the BSD world has an answer to Knoppix."

    Except we've had that answer for a while - here is the first NetBSD Live CD announcement from 20th June, 2002, by Jorg Braun:

    ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/iso/1.5.2/README.i 386live

    Note this was the first version - a 1.6 based version was also released (with updated packages).

    --
    What were the skies like when you were young?
  30. It's a great tool. by mrselfdestrukt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "If it offers a painless BSD install (the way Knoppix makes it easy to install Debian to a hard drive), this should be a popular project."
    Dude, If you need Knoppix to be able to install Debian easily on your HD then you need help! If on the other hand you need a live Linux distro to use in emergencies or when a full installation is not viable/ available or required, then rather stick with your Knoppix.
    The same goes for this. It is great and a lot of BSD fans will be really happy about this, but I pity those that will use it to "easily" install FreeBSD on a HD. IMHO That's just sad...
    It is meant to be so much more and I think a lot of people don't understand the true functionality and usefullness of a live Linux distro or BSD. Anyway, nice!

    --
    "I used to have that really cool,funny sig ,but it got stolen."
    1. Re:It's a great tool. by KlaymenDK · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Dude, If you need Knoppix to be able to install Debian easily on your HD then you need help!

      Yeah, so what if we do ned help? I hope you're teasing us for trying to learn this stuff. It puzzles me that it saddens you that not everybody is as elite as you. Some of us are bound to be newbies. Right?

      Personally, I've tried installing Debian a few times, and given up just as many times. Half of those, I couldn't even get my (plain vanilla) keyboard to work in the installer. And I freely admit it -- I do need help, because I can't seem to figure this out by myself. I'm used to linear installations, not this flat one-level menu with no clear ending. But rather than trying to use Knoppix as a katalyst, I've just switches horses and am now fiddling with Mandrake instead.

      Using a live-cd as a "template" to learn from -- and build upon -- is in essence using an "easy installer" and choosing the "default" configuration, as opposed to pulling sources via FTP and rebuilding everything to custom specs.
      We may get there some day (or we may not), but if we get help for the first feeble steps, that's excellent.

      --
      "Good news, everyone!"
  31. Re:FreeBSD is a solid OS by PowerBert · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would rather run OpenBSD on my Firewall, if for no other reason than ipfw is a mess and long over due for a rewrite. IMHO OpenBSD PF is far better. If you come from a Linux background writing your firewall backwards takes a bit of getting used to though :-)

    I agree with your point about running from a LIVE CD, all my servers run GRSecurity patched Linux kernels from ISOLINUX boot CDs. The init process replaces the entire OS on disk from the CDRom. I can upgrade all of my boxes by changing the CDRom and rebooting.

  32. Portage and deb-apt on FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Want Gentoo's portage and Dedian's deb-apt

    http://www.freshports.org/emulators/linux_base-d eb ian/

    http://www.freshports.org/emulators/linux_base-g en too-stage1/

    they worked fine, thank god I won't have to use linux. It's to risky with SCO attacking, my clients and I are much safer.

  33. And the torrent... by IcePic · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://people.su.se/~jj/FreeSBIE-1.0-i386.iso.torr ent

    --
    -- I'm as unique as everyone else.
    1. Re:And the torrent... by Spetiam · · Score: 5, Informative

      in link form

  34. Uh oh..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    Live CD? BSD?

    The puns that can be made here...

  35. Re:FreeBSD is a solid OS by neodymium · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Normally, one logs to a remote syslog host...

  36. Dead, LiveCD, make up your mind... by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 2, Funny

    This should kick of a nice, long round of "BSD is Live" jokes.

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  37. Re:You can install Knoppix...?!?!? by lxs · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As others have pointed out, you can indeed install Knoppix on a harddisk. Beware however that you will get a Debian Unstable system. This can sometimes lead to problems when doing apt-get upgrade (like apt suddenly deciding all by itself that KDE and all that depends on it really needs to be removed --that's why they call it unstable I guess)

    If you're looking for the stability of Debian, do a "real" netinstall of the current stable version. If you want the cool new toys, then Knoppix is the easiest way to install a Debian that doesn't lag two years behind the other distros.

  38. Solaris LiveCD by GodBlessTexas · · Score: 2, Informative

    I can't really get excited about all these live CD's. A guy named Chris in Enron Broadband's Information Security Group created a Solaris LiveCD back in 2000 (before the term LiveCD either existed or was popular) that the InfoSec group used to run systems from CD. He even had one that was the absolute minimum of the OS to run IDS engines. I believe it was around 70MB total. After he hacked all that together from Solaris 2.6 and then 7, all the rest of this stuff just seems a bit anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, as I do enjoy the variety. I wonder if Chris ever wrote up how he did it. It's probably not that hard to to do now, but back then that was cool stuff.

    --
    Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...
  39. DOS is easy to install to by bogie · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just stick the first floppy, partition, and your done. Easy as pie.

    Your probably talking about using it as a server and your right, if you follow the instructions any *nix isn't too difficult to get initially installed.

    My point is for the distro-of-the-week, dual-booting, desktop nix using, Slashdot majority who will probably need help once their beyond the basic initial install. For them the idea that any BSD is a "painless install" is a bit of a misnomer. The real test is getting X working at the proper resolution and refresh rate. Getting all of your multimedia apps running. And getting your printer, digital camera, scanner, and palm pilot working on your PC. In that respect unfortunately the BSD's and many linux distros simply fall down. Personally I think its worth the effort, but you have to be realistic about who is reading your comments and what they might have to go through to get a perfectly working desktop. That painless install you promised just turned into their biggest nightmare.

    --
    If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
  40. no business card, but... by smartfart · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've had a NetBSD 1.6 LiveCD sitting in my briefcase for about a year now. Why are these people claiming to be the first ones to do it?

    --
    Need a Linux consultant in New Orleans?
    1. Re:no business card, but... by Brandybuck · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not having used the NetBSD LiveCD, I may be off base here. But your typical "live" CD is a much different beast than your Knoppix/FreeSBIE style CD. The former are meant for emergency recovery and stuff. No one uses them on a day to day basis for the desktop needs. On the other hand, I can use Knoppix or FreeSBIE as my primary desktop OS. In fact, with a USB thumb drive, I don't even NEED a harddrive anymore!

      Of course, even Knoppix isn't new. I was using Slackware '96 off of a CD with a floppy for /etc and /home.

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
  41. How easy is install in a multiboot scenerio? by jonadab · · Score: 2, Informative

    I tried to install OpenBSD (also FreeBSD and NetBSD) and was unable to get past
    the disklabel process. Now, there are some things about my setup that may have
    been making it hard, but in the same scenerio I was able to get other systems
    installed (e.g., Mandrake, BeOS), and I failed to get BSD working. One of the
    things I suspect may have been a problem is that I was trying to put it on my
    "spare" partition that I was keeping open at the time for fooling around with
    installing various things just for a few days to play with. (Then I'd install
    something different after a while...) This partition was something like the
    third primary partition on the IDE secondary master driver, or something like
    that, and was probably past the 1024th cyllinder. Also I needed to keep the
    primary master MBR for PowerBoot (a third-party boot manager) and so could not
    put the BSD bootloader there.

    Now, this was over a year ago, and I intend to try again soon, hoping that some
    things have been ironed out in newer versions. A FreeBSD LiveCD sure sounds
    like a good opportunity for me. I'll be giving one a try.

    --
    Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
  42. ALLRIGHT!! by dos4who · · Score: 2, Funny
    Now I can finally make use of all those Knoppix FriSBEEs I've burned over the years...

    ~m

    --
    "Yes, I have a Disaster Recovery Plan. It's called my Resume"
  43. FreeBSD for newbies by xot · · Score: 5, Informative

    I havent tried FreeSBIE so i would'nt know how easy or tough iut is to get a copy up or running.But what I do know is the getting a relatively standard box running FreeBSD is very ease.
    I would recommend all newbies who are trying out a unix OS for the first time to start with FreeBSD.There are a few reasons for this :

    1. The installer (sysinstall) is ver easy and self explanatory.
    2. FreeBSD gives you a lot of options in terms of how you want to install and from where.It can even pick up a the installation from a dos partition.(from c:)
    3. The documentation is amazing.You will love the handbook.All my questions about the installation were answered by the handbook itself, i had to look nowhere else.
    4. For any non-standard issues theres a very active FreeBSD mailing list.

    For all the above reasons,i think FreeSBIE should be even smoother than a normal FreeBSD install. Looking forward to givin it a spin, guess i dun have to try knoppix now ;-)

    --
    Lord of the Binges.
  44. Maybe I can help some... by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I recently moved all my machines (4, not that much) to Linux and here is the choices I finished with :

    B) Gateway : astaro.org
    Nice (very nice) standalone firewall with statefull packet inspection.

    You get a very secure firewall, with a free licence if under 10 protected ips.

    I'm using it as firewall, mail relay and DMZ control for my small webserver.
    updates are downloaded automatically and it's really, really stable.

    It also includes (for a fee) a good email antivirus.

    Nice solution, web based control, didn't get a problem since I put it on. It's just take 2-3 hours to get your firewall rules right when you're a noob like me 8)

    C) I'm using E-Smith (Mitel) (contribs.org) specialized distro.

    Can be used as gateway too, but I only use the web server (apache), mail server (The Horde frontend for a web access + pop3 etc), sql, etc...
    If my web server gets compromised, I won't lose Internet access at the same time...

    I was willing to put it as local fileserver too, but I took the "serious" path and it is on the dmz doing only web and mail. Alas Mitel dropped the project, but the people at contribs.org keep on develloping the server (wich is based on Redhat 7.2, btw)
    and it just works...

    A) Knoppix Cluster on my desktop (Dual PIII 1ghz) and on the file server (Duron 1.3). It's debian, it's nice and stable and you can do everything debian... + I GOT MY OWN CLUSTER TO PLAY WITH 8) (ok, a smally cluster with just 2 nodes and 3 cpus, but MINE !!! MINE !!! My preciouuuuus clussssster 8)

    Being debian, all open sources IDE are easily accessibles, so for dev jobs...

    D) Can't help you there. I think to remember some special distros going foe Sony laptops (gentoo ?) but I can't be certain at the moment.

    My goal was to be able to control everything without using my shitty mechanical KVM, so web-based interfaces are in both E-Smith and Astaro. The fileserver I control with ssh and Webmin, until I understand how to get a vnc server running...

    The uptime for all my machines is 28 days for now, I had everything off to install an ups last month. Other than that, I didn't reboot for quite some time...

    Have a look at astaro for it is really a good distro, and if you find another web/mail/sql server with a good and easy management solution to replace e-smith, I'm interested too 8)

    --
    It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
  45. They've had one forever by jtkooch · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you download the full CD set or purchase a book that comes with one, the 3rd CD is a live system disk.

  46. My quick review by WD · · Score: 4, Informative

    Neat concept, but definately rough around the edges. (Especially compared to Knoppix)

    I am writing this from the Live CD using Firefox, so that at least says something. But here are some issues I ran in to: (Keep in mind I've never used FreeBSD before)

    1. The Live CD doesn't boot properly on my system. After churning away for a while, it finally gets to the boot splash screen so I can't see what's going on. Then after hitting a few keys I got to the console and it displayed an error:
    Mounting Root from cd9660:acd0
    Root Mount Failed: 5
    mountroot>

    Using a little trial and error I was able to get the boot process to continue by typing:
    cd9660:cd2
    It appears that the Live CD got confused along the way as to what CD drive is which. I have two IDE-attached and one SCSI-attached CD devices in my machine.

    2. I was presented with screens to select my KB Language and Layout. No biggie here, but just more interaction than Knoppix requires.

    3. At the end of the boot process, I was presented with a root console prompt, and the tail end of a list of 10 items. I couldn't figure out how to scroll up the screen to read the list. PageUp, Shift + PageUP, + PageUP... I tried a bunch.

    4. One of the last items in the list explained how to get into X (by typing xinit). So I got into X with XFCE fine. But the refresh rate is 60Hz and I fear my eyes are going to start bleeding pretty soon.

    5. XFCE has auto-hide toolbars on the top and bottom of the screen. I find these quite distracting.

    That's about it so far. It's neat to be able to play around with an OS that lives on a CD, but I'm wondering how useful this project is. Knoppix is a slick way of showing what a free non-MS operating system can do. Pop in the CD, boot it up, and you'll end up in a nice graphical interface with programs to try out. Plus it's extremely handy to use as a "rescue" CD for systems whose operating systems will not boot for various reasons.

    But where does FreeSBIE fit in? As a rescue CD for those who know BSD well but not Linux? To show off how FreeBSD can almost be as nice a desktop as as Linux (Knoppix)? If FreeBSD is aimed as a server OS ("The Power To Serve"), how useful is a Live CD?

    I don't mean to sound too negative here. It does seem like a neat project. I'm just failing to see its niche.

    1. Re:My quick review by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Use the scroll lock key, and then the arrow keys to scroll the console...

    2. Re:My quick review by ph43thon · · Score: 2, Informative

      it would seem to me that a LiveCD in all cases is good for reparing a system if something has gone horribly wrong.. like a Super Rescue Floppy. So, it's good for system administrators I guess. Also, fun for college students and the like to go into computer labs and boot from cd to goof around. Oh, and the fact that Knoppix doesn't allow bootup support for multiple languages isn't really a plus IMO. Unless, of course, you only use the LiveCD to demo FreeBSD.. but then you can just use the toolset to make one that boots straight in. Then again, I can't tell that they have the toolset available at the moment.

      p

  47. Addendum : by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Just forgot the specs of the machines and the network, so you get an idea of what you need...

    All together I have 5 pcs and an Xbox on the network

    Internet Access is Xdsl 4Mbits and pppoe.

    Firewall is a PII 450 with 280 Mo ram. CPU usage under 2% average, so you can use a smaller machine if you want...

    The Webserver with E-smith is a PII350 with 370Mo ram, but it will run from a P200-128Mo and up.

    The fileserver is a Duron 1.3+256 Mo ram, 4+80Gigs on a raid card and a smallish 4Gig hdd for the system...more than enough to stream video and music to the xbox 8)

    good luck and have fun 8)

    --
    It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
  48. You are missing (one of) the points! by gosand · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Dude, If you need Knoppix to be able to install Debian easily on your HD then you need help! If on the other hand you need a live Linux distro to use in emergencies or when a full installation is not viable/ available or required, then rather stick with your Knoppix.

    Wow, are you missing it! How many CDs are there in a Debian distro? In any distro? LiveCDs are 1 cd.

    LiveCDs are fantastic as emergency disks, but they are even better as installation disks. You get to SEE and USE the system before you install it. I have considered switching to Debian a couple of times (mainly because of apt-get), but it is a much bigger deal to backup, install, and try it out than to boot it and try it. Forget using a spare machine. Why would I want to spend hours when I could be up and running in 2 minutes?

    These things are fantastic, and will only improve over time. The only thing a distro offers that these don't is configurability during the install, where you pick and choose what you want to install. But that is a minor point IMO, and will be fixed if the need is really there.

    I have several different LiveCDs, and you know how many times I have used them for emergencies? None. I have performed several installs off of them though. Why would you deny one of the major benefits of these things?

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  49. Re:You can install Knoppix...?!?!? by CoolHnd30 · · Score: 2, Informative
    I've installed Debian off Knoppix on about 10 pc's over the past year. I initially ran into the problem above.

    Then I stroked my sources and apt preferences correctly, that would iron out. I've since been running Debian unstable on 3 systems for the last 4 months without a hitch, all installed with Knoppix.

    I could never get all my hardware working correctly with a straight Debian install (without kernel recompiles and other mucking about). But having installed with Knoppix, its just WORKED !!

  50. Yes, it did by nonameisgood · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am running on the FreeBSIE live disk now, on a ECS K7S5A v.1 board.

    I did have to pop in a PS/2 mouse (having been using the same 3 button generic serial for years in this box), but it works great.

    I use Knoppix as a recovery disk when I screw up a config file or something else while tinkering and have found it to be very useful. I also supply copies to Win weenies when they ask about Linux.

    --
    Faith is the very antithesis of reason, injudiciousness a critical component of spiritual devotion. Jon Krakauer
  51. Portable servers. by zaunuz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you are moving around alot (like me), and want to run a web-server (like me), this is probably the sollution: Visit a friend, ask to borow one of his/her unused PCs for a day or two, pop it in. The only problem is local storage: Some web-servers, for instance those who run php/cgi/whatever to generate info stored locally need somewhere to store that info. If its not much, you can probably just use a floppy, but if there's more than 1.44Mb, then youve got a problem. Making FreesBIE compatible with those USB-drives would be a great idea.

    --
    this is probably the most boring sig in the world
  52. Re:Why BSD? by mph · · Score: 2, Informative
    What would a BSD card get you that a Linux one can't?
    If you're trying to fix a broken FreeBSD box, and FreeBSD is the operating system you use everyday and know well, I think you'd rather have a FreeBSD boot disk.