Deciding which distribution set to install will depend largely on the intended use of
the system and the amount of disk space available. The predefined options range from
installing the smallest possible configuration to everything. Those who are new to UNIX® and/or FreeBSD should almost certainly select one of
these canned options. Customizing a distribution set is typically for the more
experienced user.
Press F1 for more information on the distribution set options
and what they contain. When finished reviewing the help, pressing Enter will return to the Select Distributions Menu.
If a graphical user interface is desired then a distribution set that is preceded by
an X should be chosen. The configuration of the X server and
selection of a default desktop must be done after the installation of FreeBSD. More
information regarding the configuration of a X server can be found in Chapter 5.
Xorg is the default version of X11 that is installed.
If compiling a custom kernel is anticipated, select an option which includes the
source code. For more information on why a custom kernel should be built or how to build
a custom kernel, see Chapter 8.
Obviously, the most versatile system is one that includes everything. If there is
adequate disk space, select as shown in Figure 2-25 by using the arrow keys
and press Enter. If there is a concern about disk space consider
using an option that is more suitable for the situation. Do not fret over the perfect
choice, as other distributions can be added after installation.
After selecting the desired distribution, an opportunity to install the FreeBSD Ports
Collection is presented. The ports collection is an easy and convenient way to install
software. The Ports Collection does not contain the source code necessary to compile the
software. Instead, it is a collection of files which automates the downloading, compiling
and installation of third-party software packages. Chapter 4
discusses how to use the ports collection.
The installation program does not check to see if you have adequate space. Select this
option only if you have adequate hard disk space. As of FreeBSD 7.0, the FreeBSD Ports
Collection takes up about 445 MB of disk space. You can safely assume a larger value
for more recent versions of FreeBSD.
User Confirmation Requested
Would you like to install the FreeBSD ports collection?
This will give you ready access to over 19,000 ported software packages,
at a cost of around 445 MB of disk space when "clean" and possibly much
more than that if a lot of the distribution tarballs are loaded
(unless you have the extra CDs from a FreeBSD CD/DVD distribution
available and can mount it on /cdrom, in which case this is far less
of a problem).
The Ports Collection is a very valuable resource and well worth having
on your /usr partition, so it is advisable to say Yes to this option.
For more information on the Ports Collection & the latest ports,
visit:
https://www.FreeBSD.org/ports
[ Yes ] No
Select [ Yes ] with the arrow keys to install
the Ports Collection or [ No ] to skip this
option. Press Enter to continue. The Choose Distributions menu will
redisplay.
If satisfied with the options, select with the
arrow keys, ensure that [ OK ] is highlighted,
and pressing Enter to continue.
