[ntp:questions] Monitoring FreeBSD temperatures remotely

David J Taylor david-taylor at blueyonder.co.uk.invalid
Tue Apr 13 06:27:26 UTC 2010


> It took a couple of days just to get FreeBSD V8.0 installed correctly in
> the first place.  One false move (hair trigger enter key) and it's
> "start over" time.  (OK, so there are probably ways to backtrack, but
> like many things, it's just not documented.)

Agreed.  I experimented using a VMware virtual machine under Windows to 
get a basic familiarity with the install process.  There also appear to be 
inconsistencies with the use of the Space key, and the Enter key, so you 
suddenly get sent back to a previous menu.  On the other hand, the 
automatic disk partitioning and configuration are most welcome. 
Installing over the network failed as my built-in network port wasn't 
recognised.

> It does not appear dificult technicaly, and not that many steps to
> complete, but it takes an age for the system to search for, download the
> needed source modules, compile and build the needed app's etc.

Yes, that's real pain.  Although NTP does come with the base system, both 
SNMP and SMART monitoring take ages to compile....

> And as for that editor 'vim'  If you thought Notepad was bad......
> Some documentation as to how to use that is sorely needed!  It's about
> as counter intuitive as you can get, my opinion at least.  There has to
> be an easier to use text file editor that can be used?

I used "vi" - just about adequate for editing configuration files. 
Beginner's guides:

  http://www.cs.colostate.edu/helpdocs/vi.html
  http://docs.freebsd.org/doc/3.3-RELEASE/usr/share/doc/new-users/c273.html

> Cheers.   I'd continue work on my FreeBSD box, I'm at the point of
> attempting to enable PPS support in the kernel, but (a) I want to find
> out how to make a recovery disk first, in case if it all goes greasy
> side up, and (b) Domestic management, she says I have to go visiting
> this evening.
>
> Regards to all.
>
> Dave B.

My recent notes are here:
  http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/FreeBSD-GPS-PPS.htm#atom

and Craig Doyle covers recompiling the kernel for PPS support (give it an 
hour to run!) at:

  http://blog.doylenet.net/?p=145

in the paragraph:  Enable PPS support for FreeBSD

I understand that you build a copy of the kernel, and that the original 
kernel also remains available for booting, although I don't yet know how 
to switch between the two.

Thanks to Chuck for the backup and (kernel error) boot links.

Cheers,
David 




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