From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Nov 8 00:06:00 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B2F3C16A4CE for ; Mon, 8 Nov 2004 00:06:00 +0000 (GMT) Received: from nic.ach.sch.gr (nic.sch.gr [194.63.238.4]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 13D0943D1D for ; Mon, 8 Nov 2004 00:05:58 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: (qmail 22884 invoked by uid 207); 8 Nov 2004 00:05:56 -0000 Received: from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr by nic by uid 201 with qmail-scanner-1.21 (sophie: 3.04/2.19/3.81. Clear:RC:1(81.186.70.61):. Processed in 1.52396 secs); 08 Nov 2004 00:05:56 -0000 Received: from dialup61.ach.sch.gr (HELO gothmog.gr) ([81.186.70.61]) (envelope-sender ) by nic.sch.gr (qmail-ldap-1.03) with DES-CBC3-SHA encrypted SMTP for ; 8 Nov 2004 00:05:54 -0000 Received: from gothmog.gr (gothmog [127.0.0.1]) by gothmog.gr (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id iA805nuF030274 for ; Mon, 8 Nov 2004 02:05:50 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: (from giorgos@localhost) by gothmog.gr (8.13.1/8.13.1/Submit) id iA7Nmved019226 for freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org; Mon, 8 Nov 2004 01:48:57 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 01:48:57 +0200 From: Giorgos Keramidas To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Message-ID: <20041107234857.GA3200@gothmog.gr> References: <20041107194549.GB67652@keyslapper.org> <418E82E8.4060406@gldis.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <418E82E8.4060406@gldis.ca> Subject: Re: FreeBSD release ISO purpose? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 00:06:00 -0000 On 2004-11-07 15:17, Jeremy Faulkner wrote: > Louis LeBlanc wrote: > | The install instructions simply say "insert the installation CD". I've > | always assumed this referred to disk1. I've never needed to use disk2 in > | the install, so what's it for? What's the bootonly disk for? What's the > | mininst disk for? (I'm guessing it means minimum install) > | > | Can anyone point me to the details if they exist online? > > disc1 the basic install components and popular third party > apps (x11,etc.) This is good for most of the new users to FreeBSD, who will probably feel more confident with the precompiled packages their release CD-ROM includes, at least until they get reasonably acquainted with the proper CVSup/build "magic" to upgrade their system from the sources. > disc2 -> more packages, a live file system Extra packages, that don't fit in the first ISO are handy for the same group of users mentioned above. The live filesystem is a pretty good "rescue disk" too, that includes a lot of tools. The advantages of having a live disk with a complete, working installation of the same system installed on your hard disk are so many I can't list them all in a single post; some of them are: o You can easily recover most configuration errors (i.e. a simple rc.conf typo), by booting into the rescue disk and mounting the installed system under /mnt. o Editors, disk editing tools, documentation, pretty much everything you need to fix a great array of possible system errors are all there. o No reinstallation is needed to boot into a working FreeBSD system. > miniinst the basic install components, no third party apps This is what I use most of the time. It cuts down a lot of the download time and still allows me to install a minimal base-system. Then I can add the rest of the tools I need from ports, or I can upgrade to a newer version using the sources and a CVSup mirror I have locally (which I periodically burn to a CD-ROM disk). > boot the basics to boot, no install components, good for > testing your hardware Very handy when all you need to do is to boot into a FreeBSD system using a well-known, working kernel. I usually keep a bootonly CD-ROM of a CURRENT snapshot around my test systems, just in case a "smart" installer wipes out my boot manager stuff ;-)