From owner-freebsd-questions Fri May 8 10:24:32 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id KAA27380 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Fri, 8 May 1998 10:24:32 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from pike.cdrom.com (pike.cdrom.com [204.216.28.222]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id KAA27330 for ; Fri, 8 May 1998 10:24:15 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from support@cdrom.com) Received: from localhost (support@localhost) by pike.cdrom.com (8.8.8/8.8.7) with SMTP id KAA05114 for ; Fri, 8 May 1998 10:23:50 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from support@cdrom.com) X-Received: from iwvisp.com (ns.iwvisp.com [207.141.203.2]) by pike.cdrom.com (8.8.8/8.8.7) with ESMTP id EAA29760 for ; Fri, 8 May 1998 04:39:54 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from wersans-f@iwvisp.com) X-Received: from alpha ([207.141.203.88]) by iwvisp.com with ESMTP (IPAD 2.05) id 4280800 ; Fri, 08 May 1998 04:06:57 -0900 From: "Stephen Wersan" To: Subject: Installing FreeBSD Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 04:07:57 -0700 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1161 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <199805080906.4280800@iwvisp.com> Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Dear FreeBSD: I know you can't write a book that will cover all the peculiar combinations of hardware and software that a user may have -- that is why you have this e-mail address. I am reading the book, and I am currently in Chapter 4, while using the index to take curious peeks ahead into other topics (like modems) that will be relevant down the line. I must say that this is one of the best books of its kind that I have ever read. I am a survivor from the vacuum-tube era, and I have read quite a few. I haven't yet installed FreeBSD -- I went as far as playing with the full-screen kernel configuration program before aborting (to take more time to figure out exactly what I want to do). I managed to get the conflict count down to zero, something that you (the author) didn't do in Chapter 4. Should I do this when I continue? The purpose of this inquiry is to get the answers to such questions and to ask for other pointers that you may think helpful in the context of my hardware and software configuration. First, a brief rundown on my home-built system: HARDWARE -- AMD K6-233 CPU Spacewalker (Shuttle) Hot 569 motherboard (4 PCI, 3 ISA) 64M SDRAM Adaptec 2940 UW SCSI adapter (PCI) Hard Disk 1: Quantum 4.55G UW SCSI Hard Disk 2: Quantum 9.1G UW SCSI Matrox Mystique 220 Graphics Adapter (PCI) Viewsonic 17PS monitor USR Sportster 33.6 fax-modem (ISA) Floppies 5.25" (B - 1.2M), 3.5" (A - 1.44M), and LS-120 (H) Acer 24X CDROM reader (F) -- bootable, but in the trial described above, I executed install out of DOS. Why I am retaining a 5.25" floppy: I have a 12-year collection of such disks that I want to go thru as a low priority activity. When I am done, I plan to use the slot for something else like a JAZ or ZIP drive. SOFTWARE -- On the 4.55G (4338 blocks) hard disk I have a 338-block primary DOS partition (C) and two 2000-block NTFS partitions. The first of these (D) contains Windows NT 4.0, and except for a recycle bin, the second (E) is essentially empty. On the DOS partition, I have installed System Commander which I use on boot-up to choose between MS-DOS (v 6.00) and NT. Unless you convince me otherwise, I would like to continue using System Commander, adding FreeBSD as a third menu item. I would be more convinced on the basis of necessity than installation convenience. The 9.1G hard disk contains a 2000-block partition (G) that was used to save the contents of C and D when a mistake in installing NT forced me to reinstall it. (Mistake discovered while installing modem.) The rest of the disk is unused. If you need any other information about my hardware and software configuration, please let me know. After reading thru the first three chapters and most of the fourth, I am inclined toward putting most of FreeBSD on the larger disk. But both you (fourth bullet, p. 62) and the Linux books I have read indicate that there is an advantage to putting the swap partition on another disk. With so much disk space and 64M memory, is this a realistic concern? Is there any advantage to be gained by putting more than the swap partition on the smaller disk? How does one go about installing FreeBSD in such a two-disk manner? In allotting my currently unused disk space, I would like to reserve a modest amount for a future Linux playground. Your observations, suggestions, warnings, etc. are earnestly desired, and I thank you in advance for your thoughtful attention to this message. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message