From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 12 22:21:21 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 70E611065673 for ; Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:21:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from subscriber+freebsd@markshroyer.com) Received: from frodo.paleogene.net (frodo.paleogene.net [206.125.175.178]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 526A98FC12 for ; Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:21:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: from auth-client.paleogene.net (auth-client.paleogene.net [206.125.175.178]) (Authenticated sender: hidden) by frodo.paleogene.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id BA95A3F411 for ; Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:21:20 -0500 (EST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=simple/simple; d=markshroyer.com; s=default; t=1268432480; bh=sdF5/22ynpR3woRhEcJSCDtcOb6wadVlPyiMsnVXRtA=; h=Message-ID:Date:From:MIME-Version:To:Subject:References: In-Reply-To:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=McNHC+5vVGoQv5aY19Zl6kKJr6PTIywrIpdF20ay4aDU70i0Nt6UgVS7+kma1hDe/ UWjxX2vLucYkdS+71Qxm3vAXnVheO9YB/eOeB102eFGnt0dFCaY6pRSQ+5SdE2/JyW 7WkkhMi95fvi0lxHpeK2ftPWlDzIpzXUdTUFAHwQ= Message-ID: <4B9ABE5A.7090000@markshroyer.com> Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:21:14 -0500 From: Mark Shroyer User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.8) Gecko/20100227 Thunderbird/3.0.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <93C575B79E9B01449EBBB084032BC570123208B760@mail.ucwv.edu> <44ocivszcb.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> <4B99D335.8010800@markshroyer.com> <560f92641003121026j785eabb2h9d6bcee0753cfeb0@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: X-Enigmail-Version: 1.0.1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Replacing Home Router With PC 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: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:21:21 -0000 On 3/12/2010 2:39 PM, C. P. Ghost wrote: > On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 7:26 PM, Nerius Landys wrote: >>> Yep! Geode-based boxes are great. The ALIX boards are looking like >>> Soekris gear, which I'm very happy with (of course running FreeBSD): >>> >>> http://www.soekris.com/net5501.htm >> >> Is there a nice guide that explains how to install FreeBSD onto a >> headless system (such as one of these small devices) via serial port? > > Basically, you have two options: > > [...] > > 2. Install FreeBSD on a HDD or CF from a working computer, then move > the disk/card to the embedded device. A slight variant of this, which I used to get OpenBSD on my Alix board, is to boot the installer in VMware Workstation with your CF card connected as a VMware physical disk. This makes it easy to get up and running if all you have is a USB CF adapter, because within VMware FreeBSD will see it as a SCSI disk. Plus you get to save a CD-R/DVD-R by mounting the installer ISO in VMware without burning it to disc :) So don't worry, installing FreeBSD or OpenBSD in this manner is super easy; it's basically the same as any other installation, just with the added step of setting up the serial console at the very end. -- Mark Shroyer http://markshroyer.com/contact/