Hi everyone.
I finally decided to escape from Windows and have installed GhostBSD on a new (ie - untainted) PC. So, I'm a complete newbie. During set up I entered admin and user passwords as requested and everything seems hunky dory.
I now want to add new discs.
I can't find any instructions in GhostBSD documentation.
FreeBSD instructions say connect it up as usual, boot, then "become root" and enter the commands given.
Can someone please tell me how I "become root"? I've tried every boot menu permutation but all I manage is to enter my user account.
Welcome to the world of GhostBSD! Transitioning from Windows to GhostBSD is a significant step, and it sounds like you're on the right path. The concept of "becoming root" in FreeBSD-based systems like GhostBSD refers to gaining root (administrator) access to execute commands that require higher privileges than those available to a standard user account.
In GhostBSD, and other Unix-like operating systems, there are a couple of common ways to gain root access for terminal commands:
1. Using `su` (Switch User)
- Open your terminal.
- Type `su` and press Enter. This command stands for "switch user," and without any arguments, it attempts to switch to the root user.
- You'll be prompted to enter the root password. This is the admin password you set up during installation.
- Once entered correctly, your terminal prompt should change to indicate that you're now operating as the root user. You can then execute the commands that require root privileges.
2. Using `sudo`
- Another method is to use `sudo` before your command. `sudo` stands for "superuser do," and it allows permitted users to execute a command as the superuser or another user, as specified by the security policy.
- If your user account was added to the wheel group during setup (which is often done by default for the initial user in many BSD/Linux distributions), you could execute commands as root by prefixing them with `sudo`. For example, `sudo <command>`.
- The system will then prompt you for your user password (not the root password). After entering it, the command will execute with root privileges.
Example Command to escalate privilege from teriminal is 'sudo -i'.
Example Command to List Disk Partitions (as root)
As root, to list the existing disk partitions which can help you identify your new disk, you might use:
- `gpart show` (using `su` to become root first) or
- `sudo gpart show` (to run just this command as root without switching to the root user).
If `sudo` Doesn't Work
If you find that `sudo` isn't set up or your user isn't in the wheel group, you'll need to use `su` to become root and then consider setting up `sudo`. To add your user to the wheel group and enable `sudo`, you can do the following as root:
1. Add your user to the wheel group: `pw groupmod wheel -m yourusername`
2. Ensure `sudo` is installed: `pkg install sudo`
3. Configure `sudo` to allow wheel group members to execute any command: Edit the `/usr/local/etc/sudoers` file (using `visudo` is recommended for safety) and uncomment (or add if necessary) a line like `%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL`, which allows all members of the wheel group to use `sudo`.
These steps should help you "become root" and start managing your disks on GhostBSD. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility, so use your root access wisely!
open a terminal window
su -
# use these 4 commands to see and understand your system setup. You may copy the 4 lines and paste into the terminal window
improve your google fu "freebsd geom" add freebsd in front of your search term entry
https://t.me/ghostbsd
you may direct message me. I am interested to hear about your journey to Ghostbsd and why not settle in with linux? How did you come across the idea to test drive ghostbsd?
wb7odyfred, this is extremely helpful, thank you.
I had a brief exposure to a mainframe teletype terminal and BASIC, using paper tape to save and load programs, when I was doing my exam syllabus at school, so aged about 14-15. But I first became aware of personal computers as a thing that was not an Atari or Commodore 64 games computer when I saw a billboard advertising the Apple Mac way back when. Then Richard Bach wrote about buying one for his wife. I had to get me one of those!
A few years later I got into IT Support for PCs when it was still MS-DOS 3.2, using Wordstar 4, Ashton-Tate dBase III Plus and Lotus 123. Happy days.
When Windows 3 appeared I was over the moon. Then an alternative brand of DOS appeared whose name escapes me, better than Microsoft. It quickly became popular locally. But when Win 3 was upgraded to 3.1, suddenly Windows wouldn't work if the different DOS was installed. My introduction to Microsoft dirty tricks. Now I knew to look for it, over time I've seen them doing things I consider criminal to obstruct software either not Microsoft or not approved by them. I don't mean security patches to guard against hackers and malware.
When the Registry was introduced I was suddenly out of my depth, needing Microsoft accreditation and no way to get it. I was compelled to do something else to pay the bills and effectively dropped out of computing until the price of PCs became affordable. Meanwhile, I discovered RISC in the early 90s and Smalltalk some years later and now believe the future of computers is a RISC-based machine running a Smalltalk OS. But you try and find it.
After buying my beloved 486 I eventually got so fed up with Microsoft's substandard bloatware I looked for an alternative and ended up with FreeBSD thanks to the Smalltalk site. But I'm no programmer (compilers then cost £1,000) and you need to be a level 7 initiate just to look at the command prompt. So I went to GhostBSD by default.
It has to be said, it's still not as straightforward as I'd like and the documentation makes a lot of assumptions about one's familiarity with the system. So I really appreciate everyone's help.
wb7odyfred, this is extremely helpful, thank you.
I had a brief exposure to a mainframe teletype terminal and BASIC, using paper tape to save and load programs, when I was doing my exam syllabus at school, so aged about 14-15. But I first became aware of personal computers as a thing that was not an Atari or Commodore 64 games computer when I saw a billboard advertising the Apple Mac way back when. Then Richard Bach wrote about buying one for his wife. I had to get me one of those!
A few years later I got into IT Support for PCs when it was still MS-DOS 3.2, using Wordstar 4, Ashton-Tate dBase III Plus and Lotus 123. Happy days.
When Windows 3 appeared I was over the moon. Then an alternative brand of DOS appeared whose name escapes me, better than Microsoft. It quickly became popular locally. But when Win 3 was upgraded to 3.1, suddenly Windows wouldn't work if the different DOS was installed. My introduction to Microsoft dirty tricks. Now I knew to look for it, over time I've seen them doing things I consider criminal to obstruct software either not Microsoft or not approved by them. I don't mean security patches to guard against hackers and malware.
When the Registry was introduced I was suddenly out of my depth, needing Microsoft accreditation and no way to get it. I was compelled to do something else to pay the bills and effectively dropped out of computing until the price of PCs became affordable. Meanwhile, I discovered RISC in the early 90s and Smalltalk some years later and now believe the future of computers is a RISC-based machine running a Smalltalk OS. But you try and find it.
After buying my beloved 486 I eventually got so fed up with Microsoft's substandard bloatware I looked for an alternative and ended up with FreeBSD thanks to the Smalltalk site. But I'm no programmer (compilers then cost £1,000) and you need to be a level 7 initiate just to look at the command prompt. So I went to GhostBSD by default.
It has to be said, it's still not as straightforward as I'd like and the documentation makes a lot of assumptions about one's familiarity with the system. So I really appreciate everyone's help.
Thanks to you, RodMyers and ChadBSD, I now have a data disk installed. It took several goes but I got there. No I can start transferring data from my old drives.
