From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jan 5 19:46:50 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 517391065680 for ; Mon, 5 Jan 2009 19:46:50 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (unknown [IPv6:2a01:170:102f::2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB3348FC23 for ; Mon, 5 Jan 2009 19:46:49 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n05JkkhU039452; Mon, 5 Jan 2009 20:46:46 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id n05JkgWo039451; Mon, 5 Jan 2009 20:46:42 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from olli) Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 20:46:42 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: <200901051946.n05JkgWo039451@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, jhs@berklix.org In-Reply-To: <200812292352.mBTNqZ7k085292@fire.js.berklix.net> X-Newsgroups: list.freebsd-stable User-Agent: tin/1.8.3-20070201 ("Scotasay") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/6.4-PRERELEASE-20080904 (i386)) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.1.2 (lurza.secnetix.de [127.0.0.1]); Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:46:47 +0100 (CET) Cc: Subject: Re: FreeBSD 7.1-RC2 Available... X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:46:50 -0000 Hi Julian, Julian Stacey wrote: > Martin wrote: > > "SDH Admin" wrote: > > > Try burning new cd media and/or try another cd-rom drive if possible, > > > if the acpi/dma doesn't work. > > > > I've tried that already with RC1. I've burned it multiple times and > > tried 3 drives. It seems someone removed CD emulation boot from the > > livefs CD. It won't work with older PCs anymore. I'm using 8.0-CURRENT > > now, but I wanted to give you people a notice. Sometimes a live CD is > > useful and perhaps you won't be able to boot it anymore. > > > > I just realized that the CD is not booting on older PCs only, that's > > why noone is really concerned about it here, perhaps thinking that I'm > > not able to burn an ISO or something like that. But I can definitely > > boot 8-CURRENT livefs without problems, so at least it's not a drive > > problem. > > Nasty ! Even though some of us on lists might know to guess & avoid > or ask about this, it seems an un-necessary pain as CDROM is only > half full. I recall people got caught last time FreeBSD CDs didnt > have both boot methods. Maybe whoever removed the code didnt know > that ? Hopefully someone could put it back so FreeBSD doesn't look > broken to some machines & people ? In theory you can have multiple boot methods on the same CD (this is supported by the "ElTorito" standard), but in practice many BIOS implementations fail miserably at it. Therefore it is better to use only one boot method, and the "no emulation" boot method is well supported by today's machines. As far as I can tell, all other major operating systems use it, including the ones from Redmond, so it will likely work in the foreseeable future. Apart from that, the "no emulation" mode is more flexible because you're not limited to the size of a floppy for the boot image. I think the latter is the main reason why FreeBSD abandoned the "floppy emulation" boot method. I think FreeBSD used the "floppy emulation" boot method up until 4.x. So if you have really old hardware that doesn't support "no emulation" mode, it might be a good idea to keep an old CD around for rescue purposes. Best regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M. Handelsregister: Registergericht Muenchen, HRA 74606, Geschäftsfuehrung: secnetix Verwaltungsgesellsch. mbH, Handelsregister: Registergericht Mün- chen, HRB 125758, Geschäftsführer: Maik Bachmann, Olaf Erb, Ralf Gebhart FreeBSD-Dienstleistungen, -Produkte und mehr: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd "Python tricks" is a tough one, cuz the language is so clean. E.g., C makes an art of confusing pointers with arrays and strings, which leads to lotsa neat pointer tricks; APL mistakes everything for an array, leading to neat one-liners; and Perl confuses everything period, making each line a joyous adventure . -- Tim Peters