Introduction from Toronto and a request

[Jason Fayre]

Hello everyone,
I just ordered the parts for a new FreeNAS machine. I mostly followed the 2015 DIY NAS build from Brian Moses' blog.
I am upgrading from a qnap ts410.
Here is my situation. I am totally blind and live in Toronto. I am very technical and work in the IT field. The screen reading software I use is great for most things. However, configuring the BIOS on a new machine isn't one of them. Also, I could use some assistance installing and connecting the motherboard. All of those fan and case connectors feel the same.
Is there anyone in the GTA who would be willing to assist me in the initial building of this machine?
I actually may be able to handle the bios since I read that this Asrock board had an IPMI interface. Might actually be able to configure the bios via serial port, which would be extremely cool!
Thanks in advance!

 

[gpsguy]

Welcome to the forums!

Years ago, I used to visit Toronto often. Now days, it's usually just two trips (Spring & Fall) to Ontario, though we won't be coming this Spring. Sorry, I can't help - I live in the US.

I do know an inactive forum member who might still work in Toronto. I'll send him a PM and see if he can help out.

 

[Jason Fayre]

Awesome! I just ordered the parts yesterday from Newegg, so probably won't have everything for a week or so.

Welcome to the forums!

Years ago, I used to visit Toronto often. Now days, it's usually just two trips (Spring & Fall) to Ontario, though we won't be coming this Spring. Sorry, I can't help - I live in the US.

I do know an inactive forum member who might still work in Toronto. I'll send him a PM and see if he can help out.

 

[Wyl]

No problem GPSguy. I should be able to help... Hopefully ;)

Send me a PM with your details Jason. I'll see if I can help out with your hardware install. Although if you read my pervious posts I am pretty hopeless when it comes to advance configurations of FreeNAS. lol

 

[Ericloewe]

Why would you want to configure the BIOS with the serial port if you can do it over IP?

Careful reading answers many questions.

 

[gpsguy]

My guess, is that the OP doesn't quite understand how IPMI works. I cannot even fathom trying to use FreeNAS if I were blind, much less assemble the hardware.

I'm glad to see that Wyl offered to help.

 

[Ericloewe]

My guess, is that the OP doesn't quite understand how IPMI works. I cannot even fathom trying to use FreeNAS if I were blind, much less assemble the hardware.

I'm glad to see that Wyl offered to help.

Oh, completely missed that detail. Yeah, I imagine serial output is much easier to deal with than the amorphous iKVM application.

Yeah, serial output is definitely available. Dunno how well screen-reading software would cope with a serial console, but at least there's a chance for it to work.

 

[Jason Fayre]

Hello,
The screen reading software definitely deals with serial console. When I took the RedHat Certified Engineer course back in 2001, that is how I got through the majority of the exam.
I'm not sure if my screen reader will deal with IPMI or not since I haven't tried it. If it were just a standard web interface, I'd be fine. My concern is that it looks like it uses JAVA, which can be a huge pain for the screen reader. I won't know until I try it.
I'm sure dealing with the freenas web UI will be fine. If something in the UI isn't accessible, I can always fall back to using the command line.

Oh, completely missed that detail. Yeah, I imagine serial output is much easier to deal with than the amorphous iKVM application.

Yeah, serial output is definitely available. Dunno how well screen-reading software would cope with a serial console, but at least there's a chance for it to work.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Using the CLI doesn't exactly work well with freenas. You should do everything through the gui if you can and if you can't then make a feature request to have it added.

 

[Ericloewe]

Using the CLI doesn't exactly work well with freenas. You should do everything through the gui if you can and if you can't then make a feature request to have it added.

Changes for 9.3 are unlikely, but I'm sure feedback and suggestions would be appreciated on this matter for FreeNAS 10, since it's going to have a completely new GUI and a CLI that is equivalent to the GUI.