Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 03:43:55 -0700 (MST) From: Scott Long <scottl@freebsd.org> To: "Matthew D. Fuller" <fullermd@over-yonder.net> Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Discussion on the future of floppies in 5.x and 6.x Message-ID: <20040108033905.A32598@pooker.samsco.home> In-Reply-To: <20040108101451.GK48603@over-yonder.net> References: <20040107235737.I32227@pooker.samsco.home> <20040108075811.GJ48603@over-yonder.net> <20040108101451.GK48603@over-yonder.net>
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On Thu, 8 Jan 2004, Matthew D. Fuller wrote: > On Thu, Jan 08, 2004 at 02:05:14AM -0700 I heard the voice of > Scott Long, and lo! it spake thus: > > > > For 5.x we already have a 3rd floppy that is dedicated to modules. > > Unfortunately, it doesn't work nearly as well as it should because there > > is no way to activate it during the boot sequence; it can only be used > > once sysinstall is running. Also, it too is nearly overflowing. > > Well, that's why I suggest more. Have a "network cards" floppy, and a > "mass storage devices" floppy, etc. We should be able to fit the > half-dozen most common network cards, the ata drivers, and a half dozen > of the more common SCSI drivers on the boot kernel. That'll get us far > enough to be able to load the drivers off the other disks, as well as > install with just that on many systems. > > It won't necessarily be the prettiest process, but I'm in favor of > letting the floppies be a bit ugly, or even explicitly moving them to > "experienced users only" status. I just find them far too convenient, as > well as ubiquitous, to see them sent into the Great Bitbucket In The Sky > yet. > > If somebody wants "pretty" and "not have to fudge around to find the > driver to load for my RAID controller", THEN let 'em download the CD :) > Well, regardless of how you label it, these floppies still require lots of care and feeding in order to work. We currently have no way to support multiple floppies in a convenient way. This can be fixed in a variety of ways that range from fragile hacks to wonderful designs, but it still requires someone to put forth the effort. My offer for a 'floppy maintainer' is quite sincere; I hope that someone takes an interest and steps up to the challenge. Scott
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