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Date:      Sat, 14 Oct 2000 15:50:36 +1100
From:      Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
To:        Livia Admin <kreaper@livia.netfoo.org>, David Johnson <djohnson@acuson.com>, ML Duke <mlduke@concentric.net>
Cc:        freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: anyone tried this?
Message-ID:  <20001014155036.A275@sydney.worldwide.lemis.com>
In-Reply-To: <20001013112858.A3299@livia.netfoo.org>; from kreaper@livia.netfoo.org on Fri, Oct 13, 2000 at 11:28:58AM %2B0800
References:  <20001013112858.A3299@livia.netfoo.org> <Pine.BSF.4.10.10010130956040.347-100000@mlduke.concentric.net> <20001013112858.A3299@livia.netfoo.org> <39E6EEF0.CAB9D949@acuson.com> <20001013112858.A3299@livia.netfoo.org>

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On Friday, 13 October 2000 at 11:28:58 +0800, Livia Admin wrote:

> if anyone of you tried linux or installing linux...  is there a way
> of installing freebsd from just a DOS-prompt and hardisk, without
> CD-DRIVE and DISK-DRIVE.  is there something like "LOADLIN" in
> freebsd to just load/boot the kernel from dos?
>
> thanks
> i'm trying to install it but dont know how to start without floppy or cd

There used to be a program which would boot from MS-DOS, whatever that
may now be.  It didn't work from "Windows", whatever that may be
(there are at least 5 different platforms with that name, and some
base on MS-DOS).   From "The Complete FreeBSD", third edition:

  Installing from a Microsoft partition
  _____________________________________
  
  On  the  Intel  architecture  it's  also  possible  to  install  from a primary
  Microsoft partition on the first disk.  At the moment,  it's  not  possible  to
  install  from  extended  partitions.   To  prepare  for  installation  from  an
  Microsoft partition, copy the files from  the  distribution  into  a  directory
  called  \FREEBSD.   For  example,  to do a minimal installation of FreeBSD from
  Microsoft using files copied  from  a  CD-ROM  mounted  on  E:,  you  might  do
  something like this:
  
  C> MKDIR C:\FREEBSD
  C> XCOPY /S E:\BIN C:\FREEBSD\BIN
  C> XCOPY /S E:\FLOPPIES C:\FREEBSD\FLOPPIES
  
  You  need  the directory FLOPPIES because that's where sysinstall looks for the
  boot.flp, the first image in every installation.
  The only required directory is bin.  You can include as many other  directories
  as  you want, but be sure to maintain the directory structure.  In other words,
  if you also wanted to install XF86312 and manpages,  you  would  copy  them  to
  C:\FREEBSD\XF86312 and C:\FREEBSD\MANPAGES.

The trouble is, nobody knows if it still works, and not many of us
care.

On Friday, 13 October 2000 at 11:16:00 +0000, David Johnson wrote:
> Livia Admin wrote:
>>
>> if anyone of you tried linux or installing linux...  is there a way
>> of installing freebsd from just a DOS-prompt and hardisk, without
>> CD-DRIVE and DISK-DRIVE.  is there something like "LOADLIN" in
>> freebsd to just load/boot the kernel from dos?
>
> Sorry, kreaper, but you're about to be used as an example :-)
>
> In the growing debate over the continuing existance of freebsd-newbies,
> the number one complaint is that questions are asked. The list charter
> says that "finding and using resources and asking for help elsewhere"
> and "moral support" are okay. Some questions are certainly okay, while
> others are forbidden.
>
> kreaper's post straddle's the fence.
>
> On one hand he is asking a technical question on how to load FreeBSD on
> a certain configuration. But on the other hand he is asking for the
> location of the path leading to a destination. The questin was *not*
> "how do I install FreeBSD from a DOS prompt?", but rather "is it
> possible?"
>
> Now, a good netizen of -newbies would reply with a terse "yes" or "no",
> and a frustrated netizen would reply "don't ask questions".
>
> But would a reply on the order of "take a look at the xxx utility, it's
> described in the FAQ, it might be what you need" be way off base? If it
> is, then certainly nuke -newbies out of existance. But I don't think so.
> And neither do I think all list members should be punished for the
> misdeeds of a few (as seems to be the commonly proposed solution).
>
> As for a a LOADLIN analogue: "I don't know."

I think you've made exactly the right point.

On Friday, 13 October 2000 at  9:57:09 -0600, ML Duke wrote:
>> if anyone of you tried linux or installing linux...
>>  is there a way of installing freebsd from just a DOS-prompt
>
> Think I might know the answer to this one: No.

Well, I think the correct answer is a definite "possibly".

----------------------------------------------------------------------

As David mentions, we have a problem with -newbies.  This question
belonged on -questions, but it's not always clear that that's the
right place.  When newbies was created, Sue promised that people
wouldn't ask technical questions on -newbies, and I promised not to
answer them if they were asked.  But if I hadn't, you might not have
had the right answer.

There are three very good reasons to ask questions only on -questions:

1.  More people will see the question, and the chance of getting an
    answer is better.

2.  More people will see the answers, so it's more worthwhile to send
    a good answer.

3.  The chance of getting a *correct* answer is better.

Somebody else suggested we should change the name of newbies, to
something like "newbies-chat".  That's a bit of a mouthful, but it
describes things better.  

Greg
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