From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Apr 20 16:16:03 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 640E71065675 for ; Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:16:03 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rnestor@mac.com) Received: from smtpoutm.mac.com (smtpoutm.mac.com [17.148.16.77]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 527818FC18 for ; Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:16:03 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rnestor@mac.com) Received: from mac.com (asmtp001-s [10.150.69.64]) by smtpoutm.mac.com (Xserve/smtpout014/MantshX 4.0) with ESMTP id m3KG5o7j000322 for ; Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:05:50 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [192.168.1.9] (cpe-76-185-79-199.tx.res.rr.com [76.185.79.199]) (authenticated bits=0) by mac.com (Xserve/asmtp001/MantshX 4.0) with ESMTP id m3KG5cW1002581 for ; Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:05:49 -0700 (PDT) Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v753) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <48C0FDC5-CE91-49FB-B0A6-2EDF4F1A35AB@mac.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed To: doc@freebsd.org From: Robert Nestor Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:05:36 -0500 X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.753) Cc: Subject: Missing Docs in 7.0? X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:16:03 -0000 While attempting to install 7.0 on a system, the Disk Partition Editor complains that the disk geometry isn't correct and refers the user to the Hardware Guide in the Docs for information about setting the correct geometry. There doesn't appear to be anything in the Hardware Guide that addresses this issue. Details follow: While sysinstall and the Disk Partition Editor defaults to a geometry that works for the installation, even on a system with multiple disk partitions, it doesn't allow the user to over-ride these settings. The values used by sysinstall do work for the installation but they appear to hose QEMU if one tries to boot a virtual system from a real disk partition. In my case sysinstall reports 24321/255/63, ide_conf reports 16643/255/63 from the BIOS and 16383/16/63 from the Controller, and pfdisk reports 1024/255/63 for the disk. The disk is a 200Gig disk with three partitions, one for Windows, one for FreeBSD and one for Linux. There isn't a 137Gig limitation in my BIOS since I've updated it and all three partitions are bootable and runnable in hardware (using GAG for a Boot Manager). They are unusable with QEMU with FreeBSD as a host, but work with QMEU running under Windows-XP (installed in the first partition). Clearly things have improved in FreeBSD 7.0 since the system will successfully install and run in spite of this Disk Geometry Hell, but it comes at a price! Thanks,