RC3 Available for Testing
The RC3 images for the upcoming PC-BSD 9.1 are now available for i386 and amd64 architectures. This is expected to be the last snapshot before 9.1-RELEASE, so report any bugs to the testing mailing list so that they can be fixed in time for RELEASE. Note that the included handbook is still a draft version– it should be finalized and released to translators within the next week or so.
This release candidate provides both users and developers a means to test out new features in the upcoming PC-BSD 9.1 release. This snapshot may contain buggy code and features, so users are encouraged to run it only on non-critical systems.
Notable changes since the previous release candidate:
- PC-BSD handbook has been updated for 9.1
- Fixed bug where some keyboard layouts were not being displayed
- Multiple functionality and stability improvements for EasyPBI
- Multiple functionality and stability improvements for TrueOS
- New functionality improvements including better detection added to the mount-tray
- Fixed bug where default mount points were not being set correctly using ZFS mirror/raidz mode
- Fixed bug where update manager was not displaying the proper error text when failing
- Added new ability to create ZFS datasets for jail environments
- Added UK wireless channel 12 support
- Fixed bug where Linux jails were not importing properly
- Mirrors are now auto detected and set based upon location
- Automatic ZFS 4K blocksize enabled by default
- System manager should now show the correct dialog for “default”
auto-detected mirrors.
Errata:
If you wish to update from 9.0 to RC3 you may do so by editing the
/usr/local/share/pcbsd/pc-updatemanager/conf/sysupdate.conf file and changing the PATCHSET: variable to pcbsdtest.
After changing this variable, run the updater utility to download a new update manager. Once this update manager is installed, the online update to the RC3 version will appear.
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Comments (42)
Note from Kris for ZFS users:
If you are using any kinda of recent disk drive, you may wish to consider re-installing fresh with RC3 or 9.1-Final when it hits. Some code went into RC3 which forces ZFS to use 4k block sizes, and the performance gain is quite significant. The install on one of my systems went from 40 minutes down to about 15, so its a huge difference.
Cool! Thanks a lot Kris, Dru and everyone else.
Saw the update manager tray icon on fire this morning and got all excited, LoL. 
Yeah wow, 40 minutes down to 15 is a huge improvement. I have a SSD hard drive with an old Kubuntu version installed that I’m not using anymore, so will use it with a fresh install of 9.1-Final once it’s out.
Thanks again everyone!
Downloading this right now. Going to be using gnome. It might stay installed for 5 min or 10. But going to give it a try.
“It might stay installed for 5 min or 10. But going to give it a try.”
Well, that’s better than not trying it at all, I guess. Hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised and keep it on for maybe even 11 or 12 minutes.
I’ve been using PCBSD 9.1-RC2 for a few days now. It has been working quite nicely. How well does the PCBSD installer work for installing regular FreeBSD? I feel a little indifferent about using PBI over using and installing ports directly. It’s nice having prebuilt software installable with just one click, but using PBI to install software from ports just seems like an extra step and makes the system messy with two different package management systems in place. I’m really liking ZFS so far. Last time I used ZFS was in OpenSolaris and it seemed really slow, but it works nicely in PCBSD. What is the block size used for ZFS in PCBSD versions before 9.1-RC3?
Check out this section of the Guide to see what you think about the server install: http://wiki.pcbsd.org/index.php/Install_a_Server. Note that the assumption of a server install is CLI only (no GUI).
PBIs are still preferred as they are tied into Update Manager. You’re on your own for updates/security advisories when you use packages/ports.
The other block size was 512K. 4096K is backwards compatible for disks that don’t support it, buty 512K is not forward compatible for disks that do support 4096K.
RC3 Failed…after downloading the system rebooted and login screen appeared, and then –
could not start d-bus. can you call qdbus?
after this… blank screen.
To unknown: It did me the some way. Said Kernel failed to load.
Which version did you upgrade from? Which window manager? Did another reboot fix it?
frig… still working on it… this is a major cluster Fk.
i’m never doing an update again…ever
Maybe should never update to RC# typ “stable” if the cluster is importent.
I have not updated yet i use it on both my “lappyz” ibm t43 and aspire 7220 its old stuff and i am so happy its works on the acer older pcbsd did not install so please keep the 7220 support
My update went perfectly. I always make certain to close every program I have running before starting any update/upgrade and also make sure to leave the installer alone by walking away from my computer as it is updating. I check back every once in a while to see the progress and follow any instructions when prompted to, like rebooting the machine manually if asked to by the installer. Have been doing these things ever since I used Windows XP long ago.
Which image is the smallest one that comtains all KDE desktop and KDE software?
Looks like USBFull is slightly smaller than DVD. The lite versions do not contain KDE. Having said that, you can always install KDE afterwards using system manager.
I did an update and it messed up my computer and its currently at Geek Squad being repaired!
Which version were you upgrading from? What error occurred?
How’s support for Nvidia Optimus cards now? When leaving Bios option as auto/Optimus, is card switching possible by driver software?
I don’t need to use the discrete graphics that much performance, but since I’m running a Thinkpad T420s I do need the nvidia card to run external screens.
There isn’t any switching capability, though someone is working on a bumblebee port.
Depending upon the implementation, Optimus may or may not work and you may or may not have to set discrete in the BIOS. There are a few implementations that still don’t work, but most of them do. NVIDIA works fine on my T520, but I have to use discrete mode.
Trying out pc-bsd for the first time after spending awhile trying to get a stock FreeBSD desktop working, very nice. So far it’s been pretty good. The installer is good, it wouldn’t let me make a new partition for pc-bsd once I deleted one to use for it though. I think it’s cause it was in the middle of the disk instead of at the end? I added an unformatted partition in knoppix and it used that alright. I couldn’t get anywhere with the Intel driver in the display wizard (just hangs at a light blue screen and I had to reboot), but using VESA works. I read that Intel graphics support was enhanced in 9.1 so I’m updating to that now. The CLI pc-updatemanager is working better for me (gui one fails with perm issues). I followed your instruction above about switching the variable to pcbsdtest and got the new update manager. It’s downloading RC-2 now as it couldn’t see RC-3 I guess.
I was able to install firefox faster than I could install it in on XP, nice work!
Thanks!
Upgrade went smooth, once at RC2 it could see RC3 and that upgrade went smooth as well.
Trying out pc-bsd for the first time. The installer hangs the computer hard at these stages:
- the first reboot after (the dialog saying I should remove installation media from drive)
- the second time when I confirm the detected screen resolution
- the third time after “press ok to go to login screen” (or similar).
It seems the computer hangs every time it tries to change/restart the X server.
I have to unplug the power to restart the computer. It continues fine when I restart the computer.
Even after selecting keyboard layout twice during installation it is still wrong. Bug?
The PC-BSD Control Panel hangs hard and the windows does not redraw or disappear even after terminating the process.
sshd daemon does not seem to work. Enabled sshd service and added a exception for ssh port in firewall. No respons when trying to ssh to the machine.
Firewall configuration: restoring firewall rules does not restore firewall rules. Nothing happens. Deleted default rules are still gone.
Which keyboard layout did you select?
Does the ssh simply time out? Does netstat show that the SSH service is running? Is there a router between the client and the server?
The firewall bug has been fixed since RC3.
Swedish keyboard layout. My guess is it is lost because of the repeated crashes during installation and it’s not saved until installation is completed?
I started sshd in the foreground and it was tcpwrappers that denied ssh access. I added my host manually to hosts.allow and now I have ssh access. It was this line in hosts.access that denied me access for:
ALL : PARANOID : RFC931 20 : deny
…so the ssh problem was my ISP not having proper DNS configuration! Sorry!
Yeah, that file needs to be modified when the ISP does that.
What type of video card?
It’s a HP Z210c/ZH3 ( http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/us/en/os/linux-Z210-workstation.html?jumpid=reg_r1002_usen_c-001_title_r0004 ).
Xorg.log identifies the video as ” Integrated Graphics Chipset: Intel(R) Sandybridge Desktop (GT1)”
Are there any display options in the BIOS?
Eagerly awaiting RELEASE
Appreciate you take your time and not rush to take a buggy product to the market 
Will donate, you betcha:-)
Thanks!
Hi Dru:
I want to know how near We are of a 9.1 Stable Release?
Something else…
Pc-BSD is i5-i7 compatible? Because I want to buy a second hand Dell Laptop and test Pc-BSD with… May I expect troubles??
Troubles with webcams, sound or wireless…
There is a hardware compatibility icon in the installer that will check for video, sound, wireless compatibility before starting the install. If the webcam works under Linux it will also work as PC-BSD’s webcamd is a port of Video4Linux. You could also check hardware using Live Mode.
FreeBSD 9.1 is just around the corner, expect it in the next days.
And as usually PCBSD 9.1 will follow shortly after.
Hello!
May is ask what is the state of affairs regarding the TeXlive project in the upcoming release of PC-BSD 9.1?
Many thanks in advance!
Looks like it is still a port request: http://forums.pcbsd.org/showthread.php?t=14642. Hopefully someone will create and submit the port.
Hi! I’m following guide to upgrade from 9.0 to 9.1 RC3.
I completed steps to change patchset variable, and after restart of tray icon it did offer me fix for that app. But after restart of tray icon no new updates are offered from update manager – icon is green and rescan button does nothing (actually it say that system is fully updated). Am I missing some step?
Best regards!
Samo
# uname -a
FreeBSD tzm-mb 9.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE #3: Tue Dec 27 14:14:29 PST 2011 root@build9x64.pcbsd.org:/usr/obj/builds/amd64/pcbsd-build90/fbsd-source/9.0/sys/GENERIC amd64
facing same problem that samob has mentioned above.
changed PATCHSET to pcbsdtest and ran update manager (tried both gui and pc-updatemanager), which then updated the updatemanager. Using the newly updated updatemanager, the message “system is up to date/fully updated” is displayed from cli/gui.
same amd64 PCBSD version as above.
I checked with Kris on this one and the behaviour you are seeing is correct. The RC3 update is no longer available pending the announcement of release and the release update. We’re waiting for FreeBSD to announce and hope that they do that this week.
Are the PC-BSD binaries compiled with the same compiler that FreeBSD would use? Just curious.
Yes.