The Open Source Journal

Yesterday, my Intel BOXD945GCLF Atom mini-itx motherboard arrived. This silent, low power motherboard combo is perfect for a variety of applications, ranging from network firewalls to car PCs. There is a lot of excitement surrounding this motherboard and the future of small form factor computing in general. Since I wish to exploit this in a variety of areas, I turned to FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE. Read more to find out more information about the new Intel Atom processor, the D945GCLF motherboard that it comes with, and it's initial reaction to FreeBSD.

Depending on a lot of things (such as your shell and the terminal emulator you use), you may discover after SSHing into your newly installed FreeBSD box that your home and end keys don't work. To fix this, add the following code to your ~/.bashrc, ~/.bash_login, or /etc/profile files:

Loading a kernel module in FreeBSD is very similar to loading one in Linux; only the paths and command are different.

For example, to load the if_iwi kernel module, which creates the Ethernet device for my laptop's Intel 2200BG wireless card:

Unlike Linux, where holding shift and hitting page up will scroll you through your console history, FreeBSD has a slightly different (and in some ways, better) system:

It utilizes Scroll Lock, the oft-forgotten lock key. Before you can scroll through your buffer, you need to hit scroll lock, then you can use page up to browse your buffer. The cool thing about FreeBSD, is that the buffer isn't erased if you switch between consoles - it's saved! Very handy when you're trying to debug something.

Let's say you want to run a certain command every time your computer boots up (such as disabling the speaker beep). FreeBSD's rc-based startup system provides a way to do this via the /etc/rc.local file. If this file doesn't exist, create it. You'll need root permissions, of course...here's an example:

By default, the console of FreeBSD will issue an annoying speaker beep when you press backspace at the beginning of a line or do anything else it dislikes. Luckily, it's easy to disable: