Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 11:00:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Mike Hogsett <hogsett@csl.sr.com> To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org Subject: kern/52128: Unable to floppy install on Toshiba Libretto 70 Message-ID: <200305121800.h4CI0OG8055184@beast.csl.sri.com> Resent-Message-ID: <200305121810.h4CIA7rU039995@freefall.freebsd.org>
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>Number: 52128 >Category: kern >Synopsis: Unable to floppy install on Toshiba Libretto 70 >Confidential: no >Severity: serious >Priority: medium >Responsible: freebsd-bugs >State: open >Quarter: >Keywords: >Date-Required: >Class: sw-bug >Submitter-Id: current-users >Arrival-Date: Mon May 12 11:10:07 PDT 2003 >Closed-Date: >Last-Modified: >Originator: Mike Hogsett >Release: FreeBSD 5.1-BETA i386 >Organization: SRI International >Environment: System: FreeBSD beast.csl.sri.com 4.8-RELEASE FreeBSD 4.8-RELEASE #6: Tue Apr 1 16:08:43 PST 2003 hogsett@beast.csl.sri.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/BEAST i386 Actual target is a Libretto 70. It has no OS installed now, although previously it has had FreeBSD 4.8 installed. >Description: Previous FreeBSD 4.x versions of the kern.flp and mfsroot.flp would be loaded into memory before the kernel loads. This worked great for the difficult to support PCMCIA floppy drive on the Libretto. Installing 5.1-BETA (and probably 5.0-RELEASE) will require the drivers.flp disk to be loaded before continuing with sysinstall so that the PCMCIA floppy and network card can be used for install. This is not possible since at the point where the user is presented with the ability to insert the drivers.flp disk there are no drivers loaded to support the PCMCIA floppy drive present in the Libretto 70. So we have a situation where I need the drivers.flp disk to be able to use the floppy to load the drivers.flp disk... >How-To-Repeat: Attempt to install FreeBSD 5.1-BETA (or perhaps 5.0-RELEASE) on a Libretto 70. >Fix: I am not certain, but it would seem that one of the following approaches may work: 1) Build a unique kern.flp disk that contains the floppy driver support for the Libretto's PCMCIA floppy drive. 2) Prompt the user for the drivers.flp disk before the kernel loads (like the user is prompted for the mfsroot.flp disk now). I am unfamiliar with the low level process of loading and booting the sysinstall program and its support files for installing FreeBSD, so there may be a solution to this problem that I am not aware of. I am willing to test various strategies to solve this. I think that the solution should assume that the user installing on the Libretto 70 has no other systems available. The user should be able to install FreeBSD 5.x on a Libretto 70 with only the floppy images, their PCMCIA floppy drive, and a supported PCMCIA network card (as is the case for a 4.x install on the same hardware). >Release-Note: >Audit-Trail: >Unformatted:
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