From owner-freebsd-questions Tue Apr 2 22:14:15 1996 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id WAA19717 for questions-outgoing; Tue, 2 Apr 1996 22:14:15 -0800 (PST) Received: from shell.aros.net (shell.aros.net [205.164.111.19]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with ESMTP id WAA19706 for ; Tue, 2 Apr 1996 22:14:10 -0800 (PST) Received: (from angio@localhost) by shell.aros.net (8.7.5/Unknown) id XAA07696; Tue, 2 Apr 1996 23:14:31 -0700 (MST) From: Dave Andersen Message-Id: <199604030614.XAA07696@shell.aros.net> Subject: Re: Booting large (>1024cyl)ide from floppy? To: dcv@panix.com (Dimitri Vlahakis) Date: Tue, 2 Apr 1996 23:14:31 -0700 (MST) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <199604022216.RAA26557@panix.com> from Dimitri Vlahakis at "Apr 2, 96 05:16:11 pm" X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL13 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Lo and behold, Dimitri Vlahakis once said: > I would like to do the same with freebsd, ie boot my system from the floppy > drive (since the kernel probably can deal with the hard drive, just the > bios boot code seems to be the problem.) Is there any way to install just > the kernel to a floppy disk and have it access the hard drive to load the > rest of the file system? Or at least enough of the kernel so that it will > not use the bios boot code? I think this is almost deserving of FAQ status. :-) To create the floppy that you boot from: Assumptions: You're using fd0 as the floppy There's really a floppy in there. :-) First, you need to give the disk a label: disklabel -w -B fd0 fd1200 (I believe you can also use fd1440) -w = write a new lael -B = means to make the disk bootable (implies -r) fd0 = the floppy drive to use fd1200 = the format to write the drive new Then you need to write a filesystem to the disk: newfs -t 2 -u 15 -i 65536 -l1 /dev/rfd0a -t 2 = The number of tracks/cylinder. Defaults to 1. -u 15 = the number of sectors/track. Defaults to only 4096. -i 65536 = Byte per inode. Makes the disk use many fewer inodes to save space, because you're putting one big file on it. -l1 = the interleave ratio Next, mount the drive so you can access it: mount /dev/fd0a /mnt (or wherever you want it) Then copy your kernel to the drive: cp kernel /mnt/kernel And then unmount the drive: umount /mnt > I'm not sure if it would be sufficient for me to just type hd(1,c) or > something to that effect when the partition choice is given by the > install disk. As far as I know, you can do so. I've never tried to boot off a setup like you've described, though. Give it a shot. :-) -Dave Andersen -- angio@aros.net Complete virtual hosting and business-oriented system administration Internet services. (WWW, FTP, email) http://www.aros.net/ http://www.aros.net/about/virtual "There are only two industries that refer to thier customers as 'users'."