[SOLVED] Unable to manually configure internet connection with PCBSD.

Randicus Draco Albus · 09-04-2011, 01:43 AM

Last week I decided to try PCBSD, but abandoned it after half a day. I would like to try it again in the future, but need some configuration advise first.
The main problem was configuring the internet. The university campus where I live does not use DHCP, so installation programmes cannot detect the connection. With Debian, I have no difficulty configuring the connection manual after installation, but I could not get a working connection with PCBSD. I was using the network settings option in the GUI menu. IP address, netmask, gateway and DNS data were all entered, but to no avail. Is there some little trick that is not obvious? If not, can the connection be configured with command lines? Any advise would need to be specific. I only know a tiny bit about command lines and that is using Linux.
I must admit that I was a little wary of BSD soon after the system was installed. I entered the correct time zone during installation, but my system's time was eight hours behind. I believe is was using Greenwich Mean Time. Although a little strange, not a problem. Or so I thought. I could not set the clock to the proper time. I used the mouse to click on the time applet, set time, etc. Trying to change the time generated a message saying "cannot connect to" some file. Sorry, but I forgot the name. It was a week ago. I am assuming it is related to not having an internet connection, although one should not be needed. Setting local time should be simple and not require a connection to the outside world.

Any solutions or even ideas would be appreciated. I do not want to give up on BSD without trying it, but unfortunately, at the moment I need my computer connected to the internet. So this is a vital factor.

teckk · 09-05-2011, 03:44 PM

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...ork-setup.html

Something like

Code:

ifconfig_dc0="inet 192.168.1.3 netmask 255.255.255.0"

/etc/rc.conf will look something like

Code:

defaultrouter="192.168.0.1"
hostname="fred.company.here.net"
ifconfig_dc0="inet 192.168.1.3  netmask 255.255.255.0"

/etc/resolve.conf will look something like

Code:

nameserver 8.8.8.8 #Google
nameserver 8.8.4.4 #Google
nameserver 68.91.156.10 #ATT

You can have multiple routes

man ifconfig
man route

Randicus Draco Albus · 09-06-2011, 04:03 AM

Thanks. That looks helpful. I shall try it when I get brave or energetic enough to tamper with my computer again.
For the moment I am not marking the thread as solved, because I do not want to jump the gun.

Randicus Draco Albus · 10-14-2011, 04:37 AM

After installing FreeBSD and not being able to get it to run, I tried PCBSD again.
The first problem is solved. My BIOS is set to GMT for some reason. Linux systems adjust the time display to my time zone. Apparently BSD does not.
The internet connection was still a problem though. If I remember the BSD handbooks correctly, the named server section does not need to be filled in. So I left that space blank. My guess is, that space must have something, but I do not know what to enter. Linux just uses something like Debian.localhost. Or it could be related to my location. The Chinese university I am currently at uses some strange set-up that takes me hours to figure out with Linux. It is possible that BSD has even more problems with it.