From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Oct 16 19:20:00 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1C9EF16A8F1 for ; Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:20:00 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jhb@freebsd.org) Received: from server.baldwin.cx (66-23-211-162.clients.speedfactory.net [66.23.211.162]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2F99443D49 for ; Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:19:26 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jhb@freebsd.org) Received: from localhost.corp.yahoo.com (john@localhost [127.0.0.1]) (authenticated bits=0) by server.baldwin.cx (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id k9GJJ9OQ041974; Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:19:22 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from jhb@freebsd.org) From: John Baldwin To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:42:11 -0400 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.1 References: <20060930033359.f40f65a8.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> <20061008032416.dbd08821.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> <20061012220203.b203cacd.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> In-Reply-To: <20061012220203.b203cacd.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200610161442.11781.jhb@freebsd.org> X-Greylist: Sender succeeded SMTP AUTH authentication, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.0.2 (server.baldwin.cx [127.0.0.1]); Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:19:22 -0400 (EDT) X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.88.3/2037/Mon Oct 16 12:41:42 2006 on server.baldwin.cx X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.4 required=4.2 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.1.3 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.3 (2006-06-01) on server.baldwin.cx Cc: Subject: Re: Install FreeBSD on an external (usb) hard drive? X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:20:00 -0000 On Thursday 12 October 2006 16:02, Torfinn Ingolfsen wrote: > On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 03:24:16 +0200 > Torfinn Ingolfsen wrote: > > > On Mon, 02 Oct 2006 20:41:14 +0200 > > Torfinn Ingolfsen wrote: > > > > > I guess it is (another) bios problem on the Acer Aspire AS5672. > > > > Interestingly, the NetBSD boot loader boots NetBSD fine from an usb > > hard drive on the AS5672: http://tingox.googlepages.com/as5672_netbsd > > It (the NetBSD boot loader) also boots OpenBSD fine from an external > hard drive, see http://tingox.googlepages.com/as5672_openbsd > > However, when I try to boot FreeBSD 6.2-beta2 (installed on slice 3 on > that external usb hard drive), it fails again. > > Is there a problem somewhere in the initial boot of FreeBSD which makes > boot from an usb hard drive impossible? The short version is that BIOS writers are generally lazy and sloppy, and their broken code tends to trip up FreeBSD more often since we use a stricter boot environment (we run the BIOS in vm86 mode meaning the BIOS can't enter protected mode itself whereas msot other OS's at this point run the BIOS in real mode). -- John Baldwin