From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Apr 2 23:02:22 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EC7D316A4CE for ; Sat, 2 Apr 2005 23:02:22 +0000 (GMT) Received: from carver.gumbysoft.com (carver.gumbysoft.com [66.220.23.50]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C774643D31 for ; Sat, 2 Apr 2005 23:02:22 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from dwhite@gumbysoft.com) Received: by carver.gumbysoft.com (Postfix, from userid 1000) id BE79372DE5; Sat, 2 Apr 2005 15:02:22 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by carver.gumbysoft.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id BC95C72DD9; Sat, 2 Apr 2005 15:02:22 -0800 (PST) Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 15:02:22 -0800 (PST) From: Doug White To: David Magda In-Reply-To: <179b8b36d91607a80670f062c4c9ce73@ee.ryerson.ca> Message-ID: <20050402150115.J1503@carver.gumbysoft.com> References: <20050402143558.11341.qmail@web54007.mail.yahoo.com> <424EB00F.4030804@bmts.com> <179b8b36d91607a80670f062c4c9ce73@ee.ryerson.ca> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org cc: rhempel@bmts.com Subject: Re: Headless install with 5.X floppies not possible? X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 23:02:23 -0000 On Sat, 2 Apr 2005, David Magda wrote: > > On Apr 2, 2005, at 09:45, Ralph Hempel wrote: > > > I haven't tried it with 5.x, but here's how I modify > > the CD to allow headless installs for 4.x > > > > > bdgFreeBSDHeadless.html> > > Wouldn't is be better to simply use the "-P" option instead of "-h"? > From boot(8) on my FreeBSD 4.x system: > > -P probe the keyboard. If no keyboard is > found, the > -D and -h options are automatically set. > > The following is in the BUGS section of boot(8): > > Due to space constraints, the keyboard probe initiated by the -P > option > is simply a test that the BIOS has detected an ``extended'' > keyboard. If > an ``XT/AT'' keyboard (with no F11 and F12 keys, etc.) is > attached, the > probe will fail. > > This way if there's a keyboard, then there's presumably a screen, so > the 'regular' way of using the console will be used. If there's no > keyboard then serial console will be activated. This is how Sun > hardware works by default and it works quite well I find. > > Are there any major issues with making this the default for x86 (and > amd64?) for future releases? May BIOSes lie and always report extended keyboards, even if there is none connected. Others lie and don't reliably set this bit. So this cannot be trusted in the general case. -- Doug White | FreeBSD: The Power to Serve dwhite@gumbysoft.com | www.FreeBSD.org