From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 30 07:30:43 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 1641E1065670 for ; Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:30:43 +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 D00FF8FC0C for ; Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:30:42 +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 o6U7UdAX009152 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:30:39 -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 o6U7Uc3C009151; Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:30:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from fbsd61 by pluto.rain.com (4.1/SMI-4.1-pluto-M2060407) id AA06369; Fri, 30 Jul 10 00:19:29 PDT Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:19:24 -0700 From: perryh@pluto.rain.com To: mueller6727@bellsouth.net Message-Id: <4c527cfc.OgfAMUi2RUrl9wO8%perryh@pluto.rain.com> References: <4c514671.eAS89s2T1SDVlo2N%mueller6727@bellsouth.net> In-Reply-To: <4c514671.eAS89s2T1SDVlo2N%mueller6727@bellsouth.net> User-Agent: nail 11.25 7/29/05 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 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: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:30:43 -0000 "Thomas Mueller" wrote: > > 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.) ... > I once net-installed FreeBSD using a boot CD from an earlier > version; I think it was a disk one rather than boot-only ... > If you use boot floppies, use only the two (or is it three?) > needed to boot the install system. If I've understood the 7.3 set correctly it's now up to five: the initial boot, plus 3 for the kernel and one for the mfsroot image. > I never used zfs, don't have big enough hard drive or enough RAM > to justify zfs. Ditto, at least as to RAM (512MB, which I tend to think of as _huge_ -- after all, "no one should ever need more than 640KB" :) I still have a couple of _hard drives_ that are only 10MB each sitting around somewhere. > You could look into PLoP (http://www.plop.at/) boot manager: may > be able to boot CD or USB even when BIOS does not support booting > from CD or USB ... THANK YOU!! It does indeed boot the machine from the 8.1-RELEASE USB memstick, solving the problem entirely. This deserves to be better known. > If I were in your situation, my first choice would be net install, > assuming you have cable or DSL; dialup would be awful slow. Even dialup would be faster (or at least a lot easier) than installing the whole system from floppies. By "boot floppy set" I was referring to just the boot, kernel, and mfsroot needed to get started.