From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jan 4 13:24:03 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 6FE4E106568F for ; Mon, 4 Jan 2010 13:24:03 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mail@ozzmosis.com) Received: from smtp.mel.people.net.au (smtp.mel.people.net.au [218.214.17.98]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id C420B8FC14 for ; Mon, 4 Jan 2010 13:24:02 +0000 (UTC) Received: (qmail 5313 invoked from network); 4 Jan 2010 13:15:39 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO smtp.phoenix) (218.215.130.150) by smtp.mel.people.net.au with SMTP; 4 Jan 2010 13:15:39 -0000 Received: by smtp.phoenix (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 1299117241; Tue, 5 Jan 2010 00:24:00 +1100 (EST) Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 00:24:00 +1100 From: andrew clarke To: Paul Shi Message-ID: <20100104132359.GA96879@ozzmosis.com> References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.20 (2009-06-14) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD 2.0.5 Release 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: Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:24:03 -0000 On Mon 2010-01-04 20:32:54 UTC+0800, Paul Shi (shihang@hkusua.hku.hk) wrote: > I am looking for a FreeBSD release which is most similar to 4.4 BSD-Lite and > I chose FreeBSD 2.0.5, the oldest release since 4.4 BSD-Lite. However, after > downloading iso file from archive > > ftp://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/ > > and burning to CDROM, it still will not boot from CDROM. The burning process > should be fine since I just got it correctly as some of you may be aware. So > I wondering if it is possible that the ISO file has been broken. Is there > any one who maintains older archive know the validity of ISO file. Thank you > very much! I don't think the very early releases available on CD are bootable. Not many PCs in the mid-1990s supported booting from CD. CD-ROM drives weren't very common and those that did exist often had non-standard interfaces that required special drivers to work - which meant the BIOS couldn't see them to boot from them. To install FreeBSD 2.x, if I recall correctly you need to write the FreeBSD diskette images (in the /floppies/ directory) to diskettes, then boot from the first install diskette, while having the installation CD in the CD drive. You may need to RTFM a bit to get this working. ftp://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/2.0.5-RELEASE/INSTALL (AFAIK it's still possible to use this technique to do a network install of FreeBSD 8.x, if you don't have a working CD-ROM drive.) The ISO for FreeBSD 3.x is probably bootable. I know the 4.x ISO is. It wouldn't surprise me if FreeBSD 2.0.5 fails to boot correctly on modern hardware. You may need to use older hardware, or an emulator. Regards Andrew