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Date:      Sat, 22 May 1999 21:32:14 -0400
From:      Tim Vanderhoek <vanderh@ecf.utoronto.ca>
To:        Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au>
Cc:        Kenny Felton <kenny@kazan.com>, freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Floppy boot
Message-ID:  <19990522213214.A1330@mad>
In-Reply-To: <19990523091357.22759@welearn.com.au>; from Sue Blake on Sun, May 23, 1999 at 09:13:57AM %2B1000
References:  <BB1F90192A0AD311934F00A0CC26B9F60187AB@HENDRIX> <19990523091357.22759@welearn.com.au>

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On Sun, May 23, 1999 at 09:13:57AM +1000, Sue Blake wrote:
> On Sat, May 22, 1999 at 05:28:19PM -0500, Kenny Felton wrote:
> > I am the newest of newbies and I'm trying to find out how to boot FreeBSD
> > from a floppy.  The handbook says I can load the kernel on a floppy and boot
> > from it, but it doesn't say how.  Is there any place I can look this up
> 
> For example, if you sent the above question as is, you would likely get back:
> 
>  - how to find out about running PicoBSD
[...]
>  - someone saying "That happened to me, my memory needed replacing"

Hehe.  Someone would surely point out /etc/disktab.

Just to help a little here, there's a reason the handbook doesn't tell
you how to put a kernel onto a floppy (there's always a reason for
things like that! :).  Have a look at the size of your kernel
(ls -l /kernel) and then consider the size of your standard floppy.
A kernel's not enough to boot from a floppy, either.

In this case, what you might be trying to ask is,

"How do I use a floppy to boot my FreeBSD 3.2R machine?  I can't/won't
 install a boot manager or any other wierd funky things like booteasy
 onto my hdd, so I need to boot using a floppy."

[Caveat: Of course, there's always the _slim_ chance that this is not
         what you are really asking... ;-]

What you should also do is, rather than just saying "the handbook says
I can put a kernel on a floppy", say "the handbook, section x.y,
<http://www.FreeBSD.ORG/handbook/...>; says I can put a kernel on a
floppy".  Readers can then quickly check and say "Oh, now I see what
he's talking about...".  Not only that, but some reader might even
check the handbook reference and say "Hmm...  I think I'll go and add
my answer to his question to the handbook", thus saving future newbies
even more trouble.  :-)

Anyways, this is more likely to get a useful answer, too (probably
the eighth item from Sue's list and the /etc/disktab reference are
what you want).


> Once you've sorted out what your question is, send it to
> freebsd-questions. If you need more help formulating it, you can get
> that here, but get your answers from freebsd-questions only.

Hopefully nothing in my email has helped answer your question in any
possible way.  ;-)


-- 
This .sig is not innovative, witty, or profund.


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