From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jul 29 08:00:53 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DAF24106566C for ; Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:00:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (agora.rdrop.com [IPv6:2607:f678:1010::34]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BCC5D8FC14 for ; Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:00:53 +0000 (UTC) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (66@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.12.7) with ESMTP id o6T80rTp063277 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT) for ; Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:00:53 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: (from uucp@localhost) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.12.9/Submit) with UUCP id o6T80rtl063276 for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:00:53 -0700 (PDT) Received: from fbsd61 by pluto.rain.com (4.1/SMI-4.1-pluto-M2060407) id AA02407; Thu, 29 Jul 10 00:50:16 PDT Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:50:12 -0700 From: perryh@pluto.rain.com To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-Id: <4c5132b4.iGhnhIFH2rFImSpc%perryh@pluto.rain.com> User-Agent: nail 11.25 7/29/05 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Booting from floppy to install 8.1 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:00:53 -0000 I'm trying to solve a chicken-egg problem. I need to boot from floppy to install 8.1, and I don't already have a running 8.1 system on which to build a set of 8.1 floppy images. (The machine in question is an oldish Pentium-III that only boots from its hard drive or from floppy -- the BIOS claims it can also boot from its ATAPI Zip-250 drive but that capability doesn't seem to be working.) By comparing the contents of the 7.3 bootonly ISO and the corresponding floppy images, I've figured out how to construct _almost_ everything on the floppies from the contents of the bootonly ISO. The exception is the boot floppy's boot/loader, which is not the same as or obviously derivable from any file on the bootonly ISO including the ISO's boot/loader (which has changed between 7.3 and 8.1, else I'd feel reasonably safe about trying to use the 7.3 boot floppy's boot/loader file). So, in order of simplicity: Should I be able to do a network install of 8.1 using a 7.3 boot floppy set? (I'm not planning to set up zfs, at least initially.) If not, are the 7.3 and 8.1 boot/loader files similar enough that the boot/loader from a 7.3 boot floppy "should" work when all else in the floppy set is from 8.1? Is there a reasonable way to build the proper boot/loader file for an 8.1 boot floppy using a 6.x or 7.x system?