Howdy and howto get started

[Will Senn]

On 1/9/23 8:10 PM, Matthew Dillon wrote:
> We don't really have a "fun things to do" type of document, but Its 
> going to be fairly similar to FreeBSD with regards to packages.
Tried package search, got message: pkg: Repository Avalon missing. 'pkg 
update' required, did package update, now it's saying No active remote 
repositories configured... off to read the handbook :).
> What I usually do with a new machine just to put it through its paces:
>
This is a great starting list. Thanks!
> * For ssh I recommend public key logins only (which is the default), 
> but of course it is up to you.
Done. But, I'm curious how you get the keys on the system - do you just 
scp them from whatever host you want to connect from? I usually 
ssh-copy-id them from the remote system, but if you can't login via 
password, that doesn't work.
> * I always like to get X up and running.   'pkg install xorg'.  If the 
> system booted with EFI there may be an EFI frame buffer available so 
> also install the 'xf86-video-scfb' package.  DragonFly uses evdev now 
> so also install 'xf86-input'evdev' if it isn't already.   Then your 
> favorite window manager.  Maybe get X logins working... I usually use 
> the 'xdm' package for that.
The optiplex 755 is bios only, legacy system. I've run KDE/XFCE/Cinammon 
in FreeBSD on it over the last several years without any issues (it's 
got a Radeon video card). I have some old TWM/FVWM notes from when I ran 
OpenBSD on it... I'll dig those out and have a go at it.
>
> * I usually get sound working which typically just works by putting 
> snd_hda_load="yes" in /etc/rc.conf (kldload snd_hda manually if you 
> don't want to reboot).
The Optiplex's got a pretty standard intel onboard audio setup, a 
kldload snd_hda followed by cat /dev/random > /dev/dsp resulted in a 
very nice stochastic sound out of my speakers, so, score!

While adding snd_hda_load="yes" in rc.conf, I noticed a lack of sysrc on 
the system (find / -name sysrc), but I see it in the online manpages, 
https://www.dragonflybsd.org/cgi/web-man?command=sysrc&section=8, wazzup 
with that?
> * I usually get chromium installed.  'chromium' package.
OK. I'll give that a shot, too.
>
> * For shells, whatever you like.  The base system has sh, csh, and 
> tcsh built-in.
>
I'm good with sh most of the time, but bash has some conveniences. Once 
I get packages working, this will be near the top of the list.
> Beyond that it depends on what you want to do with the system.
>
> -Matt
Thanks for the tips. This'll get me started.

Will