The more I look into this, the more it looks like I'm screwed. I'm
trying to install FreeBSD 5.3 from CD on a machine without any PS/2
ports. All I have is a USB keyboard. Yes, the BIOS has legacy USB
support enabled, and the keyboard works to hit enter at the initial boot
prompt. However, once I'm in sysinstall, I'm out of luck.

I tried disconnecting the keyboard at boot time to see if I could get a
serial console to do the installation, but that didn't work. The
console was still detected as internal video. Any ideas on how I can
get FreeBSD on this machine (Dell OptiPlex GX280)? Thanks


x86br

You should have a screen where it gives you the option to configure your kernel. (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...userconfig.png)

Go into that screen and disable atkbd0 (it should be under input devices). The handbook should explain in more detail how to do this. http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...all-start.html

Um ... Perhaps I'm missing something?

Push the indicated number for booting with a USB keyboard (from the loader.4th menu).

The serial console should work fine, assuming you dropped to the loader prompt and typed in this: