From owner-freebsd-doc Sun Jan 31 06:24:27 1999 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id GAA04835 for freebsd-doc-outgoing; Sun, 31 Jan 1999 06:24:27 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from valis.olywa.net (olywa.net [205.163.58.2]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id GAA04828 for ; Sun, 31 Jan 1999 06:24:26 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jpl@olywa.net) Received: from olywa.net ([205.163.58.204]) by valis.olywa.net (Post.Office MTA v3.5.2 release 221 ID# 0-56662U5000L500S0V35) with ESMTP id net for ; Sun, 31 Jan 1999 06:24:13 -0800 Message-ID: <36B46A56.18347390@olywa.net> Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 06:36:07 -0800 From: John L X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win95; I) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: FreeBSD docs Subject: [Fwd: A 'not quite a newbie' install note..] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Hello again- about my previous message quoted below- I was using a typo '1:wd(1,a) kernal' to boot. It does boot up fine. I have to change to shell I think, no dir in the prompt and subdirs and files look the same using 'ls'. Thanks again- john leclerc John L wrote: > Well the guide said to actually write you so- > > I previously gave up on a very bad redhat5.1 release, with more > UPDATE downloads than the entire FBSD system (and still I didn't know > how to configure and recompile the kernel). After this I was very > impressed with freebsd, and look forward to giving you some money for > some product after it gets going. > > My difficulties with an FTP install- the 'novice installation' could > not recognize my USRobotics modem on COM4. This was tough to figure > out, as it would work somewhat by forcing the port location from Term. > But ultimately, to set both the interrupt and port, one must work from > the 'expert' mode- but there are NO device descriptions here! So,- you > guess or go back and forth and boot over and over. I also booted over > and over to get in the 'Term' mode while figuring this out, and this > involves re-inputing all the setup data every time. Very time > consuming. Once setup, it did download at least 50 meg over a 33.8Kbps > ppp connection, and fully install, (in spite of some missing components > at FTP site 6. It switched smoothly to the main site, but that's bad for > your traffic.). > > My complements overall on this very ambitious function. The > RedHat folks long ago abandoned the idea of realistically being able to > do this with a modem- the way I just did it! > > I had a very bad experience with redhat LILO, because I just left > it > installed when I reformatted over the redhat partition. When Linux went > away, LILO broke, and I couldn't boot windows or Linux. I had to > reinstall win95 OSR2 (which I did), or try to figure out if LILO could > be configured from a Linux floppy. To AVOID this, I specifically choose > NOT to alter the MasterBootRecord during the FBSD install. Maybe this > was a big mistake, but it was a valid menu option option. To save the > worry, I would just boot FBSD from a floppy, and switch around the drive > numbers if I ever decided to boot windows by floppy instead. > > To my dismay, FBSD install just plain corrupted the MBR and > windows wouldn't start even from a DOS floppy boot- 'partiton data > corrupted'- a very bad sign on powerup. Fdisk would read the partitions > after an start up error, but would not make changes. (Once again, > reinstall windows and sit there and hit 'don't replace newer files' for > over an hour during the install. It's amazing that I could reinstall > just win95 without losing a byte of data or even altering the desktop > AND that it fixed a corrupt MBR, which has little to do with an OS > install). I can't get FBSD up either, because apparently this install > disk doesn't work as a normal boot disk, and though there is an option > to list some file and boot specifying the kernel name, the list scrolls > off screen. I can't find any way to S or break the listing to > actually view it. It's way too fast on this machine, which is only > running at 75Mhz. Simply using '1:wd(1,a)' from the install disk isn't > enough to boot the hard drive! Isn't there a default kernel > name/location? Now I'm looking for an ordinary floppy boot image, if > there is such a thing for FBSD. Also I find the references to 'boot > disk' a bit confusing coming from the DOS world. 'Boot' means just boot > the operating system or hard drive. This is a 'bootstrap install', > that's a little different. You wouldn't boot FBSD with this only this > disk, I hope, because I found no way to go to a prompt or exit the > installation without rebooting. > > I write because I really want to help make this already good > product even easier to understand. Redhat was so horrid that I just > decided that though it was somewhat working, it was just plain > unpleasant to work in. And the FBSD install was really MUCH less > painful even with my fatal error. > > anyway, thanks- john leclerc jpl@olywa.net To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message