From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Mar 6 11:25:33 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 119C11065688 for ; Sat, 6 Mar 2010 11:25:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from plukawski@googlemail.com) Received: from mail-fx0-f223.google.com (mail-fx0-f223.google.com [209.85.220.223]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C781A8FC3A for ; Sat, 6 Mar 2010 11:24:38 +0000 (UTC) Received: by fxm23 with SMTP id 23so3425078fxm.3 for ; Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:24:30 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:reply-to:in-reply-to :references:date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=rkKyjU1cThVt4RKdWIbYEDOArEVoZPu4MDxONU6HzZ0=; b=M2g0cDku2UHRpHCfrqeHJOvEjaNnhCn7SACxMoPnKedUtiq7mCTKs4YUmMkmZVg6IS peT0mmf6qQdwvUZYw2dY+9UJZ7zx2+xSVKQvz4LcmBeoBqmKMeQ439/BeEFBcuRdOL1m 9KW+79/aZ8aWB0eDPFqS02lMOqTAmtat+FSAE= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:reply-to:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id :subject:from:to:cc:content-type; b=fcvu85My4eQdF0ZCyBg/cP975w3TSYANHrQDcjQjS/XRw6wD+Fvx6vJTXsm2oeIjRr lyBgtPlz5J9SYTmKwuBicU/5GBEJLyp6zT38ud7U60Wa/yVBD7H3HN5jJbmqZdtBtg+P bKGNIRRotZcFfRbbGMKJ/s+3OYXjscZaZ3kL8= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.239.151.1 with SMTP id p1mr158433hbb.186.1267874670310; Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:24:30 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <4B92265E.5030109@infracaninophile.co.uk> References: <4b921fbe.rSW1F2xbdHLIg6/X%perryh@pluto.rain.com> <4B92265E.5030109@infracaninophile.co.uk> Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2010 12:24:30 +0100 Message-ID: From: Piotr Lukawski To: Matthew Seaman Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: andyjhiscock@yahoo.com, herbert langhans , questions@freebsd.org, perryh@pluto.rain.com Subject: Re: freebsd install from floppy X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: plukawski@gmail.com List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:25:33 -0000 In many situations, especially for and old or non standard equipment floppies are the best or even the only solution. Actually if I haven't found the solution to use floppy to install FreeBSD, I would be forced to use another system eg. OpenBSD instead, even if I prefer FreeBSD. The decision to make floppies obsolete is very bad, because it is still needed by many people. On 6 March 2010 10:54, Matthew Seaman wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > On 06/03/2010 09:26:22, perryh@pluto.rain.com wrote: > > I seem to remember something about the floppy images being dropped > > because few current (or even recent) systems have a floppy drive at > > all, much less a bootable one. > > Yeah, but the floppy disk drive was already obsolete 10 years ago. It's > just taken this long for it to fall down dead. Good riddance to it. > Why would anyone want an unreliable, slow and tiny capacity device when > you can get GiB capacity USB sticks everywhere nowadays? > > Not providing floppy disk installation images doesn't imply dropping > kernel support for floppy drives. My ancient system has a floppy, and > if I blew the dust out of it and could find some media it should work > just fine with FreeBSD 8.0. > > In fact, if you need to support older equipment, free OSes like FreeBSD > are really your only choice. Drivers for old devices tend to stick > around in the source tree for much longer than in any commercial > offering. They might suffer from bit-rot due to lack of developer > access to samples of kit, but if you really need something like that > fixed you probably could get patches. In fact, I think the primary > reason for dropping old device drivers is usually because they don't > receive any attention during the occasional code refactoring that > occurs: no one complains, and the device sits around unusable or needing > special backwards compatibility shims for a while, then gets quietly > deleted. > > > > > - -- > Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard > Flat 3 > PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate > Kent, CT11 9PW > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG/MacGPG2 v2.0.14 (Darwin) > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ > > iEYEARECAAYFAkuSJl4ACgkQ8Mjk52CukIxSWACfSkJ6k09ig0sR5lctO7tooF1k > NnUAnRrWUeDMssvWDx7rvzMgPWb3fHSw > =3zRd > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- >