Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 11:25:03 +0300 From: Odhiambo Washington <vedette@iconnect.co.ke> To: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Help - New user Message-ID: <20000819112503.E64648@siafu.iconnect.co.ke> In-Reply-To: <NEBBIJLNOLCPBKCDFMFHGEDECAAA.Mike.Wemyss@xtra.co.nz>; from Mike on Sat, Aug 19, 2000 at 04:35:50PM %2B1200 References: <NEBBIJLNOLCPBKCDFMFHGEDECAAA.Mike.Wemyss@xtra.co.nz>
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This might help you... And bieng a Windozzz guy ( I am too to a great extent) let us start with saying you are running Win9x...not NT because NT doesn't agree with one of the steps. Thus spake Mike (Mike.Wemyss@xtra.co.nz): > Hi, > > I have a spare pc which I would like to install some version of UNIX/LINIX > on so I can learn a bit more about it. I come from a limited programming > background and have some experience in supporting Microsoft systems so I > know a little about what to do. My delema is which release of FREEBSD would > best suit me, further to that what files I need to download from the ftp > site ftp://ftp.nz.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ get to ftp://ftp.nz.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/3.5.1-RELEASE/floppies Grab kern.flp and mfsroot.flp Then go to the /FreeBSD/tools and grab rawrite.exe Get and reformat 2 new 1.44MB floppies, making sure they have NO bad sectors. Label the floppies as KERN.FLP and MFSROOT.FLP Put all these in a folder and then go to command prompt Have the KERN floppy in the drive Execute rawrite and when prompted enter kern.flp Then once more and enter msfroot.flp Here it is a matter of following instructions Once done and assuming that you succeeded, do the following: Connect your old pc to your hub (I am assuming you have a relatively fast Internet access), insert the kern floppy and power it.. It's BIOS should be configured to have floppy as first boot device. It will prompt you for the MSFROOT floppy After a few minutes it will prompt you to configure the kernel. Since you say you are new here, skip the kernel config and get going....(BTW UNIX is also PnP like your Windows and it also has a limitation with supported hardware just like WinNT has HCL) From that point try to be wise but since you are not gonna lose anything anyway, you can play and play until you get it right. If you tell me what your old box is made of..the Network card, VGA, Mouse, Keyb, CDROM, HDD then I can still advise you further... The whole install process takes time depending on your connection speed. You should install via FTP from the same server..it is never too loaded! Alternatively you can get to Freebsdmall.org and buy the CDROM which will make your life easier if your BIOS supports booting off the cdrom. Finally the basic reason you'll want to start from 3.x and not 4.x would be something to do with the device naming conventions used in the latter, which is what would get a Windows guy sad but again suppose you were born in the year 2010 and there was no more 3.X FBSD, wouldn't you just get whatever is there and continue?? Which boils down to the fact that you can go even with FBSD 4.x I really see no reason why you shouldn't start here... but get used to wd0 wd1 etc then later get to ad0 ad1.... I hope that helps but you can always come back...;-) -Wash > I'm used to downloading one file or folder and having a "setup" file to use > to install, component based systems are new to me, I did begin to stumble my > way through the 4.0 release, but one of the "readme" files suggested that I > would be better off with release 3.x > > I would really appreciate some advice on what release I would be best using. > Also some quick instructions on what files/folders I should be downloading > from the FTP site for installing what ever a basic/learning user would > require. > > Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. > > Regards > > Mike > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message -- Odhiambo Washington Systems Administrator Inter-Connect Ltd. 3rd Flr The Chancery Valley Rd PO Box 39519 Nairobi Tel: 254 2 711140 Fax: 254 2 718418 An adequate bootstrap is a contradiction in terms. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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