From owner-freebsd-questions Sun Jun 30 10:36:56 1996 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id KAA00118 for questions-outgoing; Sun, 30 Jun 1996 10:36:56 -0700 (PDT) Received: from who.cdrom.com (who.cdrom.com [204.216.27.3]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id KAA29997 for ; Sun, 30 Jun 1996 10:36:54 -0700 (PDT) Received: from relay-2.mail.demon.net (disperse.demon.co.uk [158.152.1.77]) by who.cdrom.com (8.6.12/8.6.11) with SMTP id KAA23841 for ; Sun, 30 Jun 1996 10:36:46 -0700 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([158.152.1.72]) by relay-2.mail.demon.net id af07453; 30 Jun 96 16:33 +0100 Received: from jraynard.demon.co.uk ([158.152.42.77]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa16035; 30 Jun 96 16:11 +0100 Received: (from fqueries@localhost) by jraynard.demon.co.uk (8.6.12/8.6.12) id OAA00878; Sun, 30 Jun 1996 14:08:55 GMT Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 14:08:55 GMT Message-Id: <199606301408.OAA00878@jraynard.demon.co.uk> From: James Raynard To: claysmith@upstate.net CC: questions@freebsd.org In-reply-to: <31D62E65.543F@upstate.net> (claysmith@upstate.net) Subject: Re: Dual-booting FreeBSD and Windows95??? Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > More I read and learn about Unix and similar operating systems, more I > consider installing it on my machine. Unfortunately, I can not afford > even a low-end 486 like the one I am using now. Therefore, if > installed, it will have to be on my current computer. I can not drop my > current system for one I am not even sure that I will ever understand. FreeBSD will actually run on a 386, which you may be able to find second-hand - the very minimum spec is a 386SX16 with 4MB of RAM. > I was told that FreeBSD is capable of working alongside up to five other > operating systems. Is this true? My i486, 8mb IBM PS/1 computer is > equiped with a 850mb, software overlay-dependent drive and a 85mb drive. > Currently, I do not have a need for the second drive; therefore, I want > to make it my FreeBSD drive and remain using Windows95 on the other? Yes, this is possible; the FreeBSD installation routine will offer you the chance to install a boot manager, which will allow you to choose which one to boot when the system starts up. However, 85MB is rather tight and you will probably not be able to get much more than a minimal FreeBSD installation onto it. Although the minimal installation contains lots of useful tools - it's just not quite as flashy as Win95 ;-) > If possible, how can I do this? Also, are there utilities capable of > reading MSDOS diskettes for FreeBSD? Yes, the mtools package contains a number of utilities for working with DOS disks. (You'll get an option to add this and other packages during the installation). > P.S. If possible, could you reply as soon as possible, so that I will > have answer before I leave for vacation on July 1st. Hope this gets there in time... -- James Raynard, Edinburgh, Scotland james@jraynard.demon.co.uk http://www.freebsd.org/~jraynard/