Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 15:31:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Julian Elischer <julian@whistle.com> To: Andrzej Bialecki <abial@nask.pl> Cc: freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: There was PicoBSD - let there be a Mini... Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95.980418152949.17598C-100000@current1.whistle.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.NEB.3.95.980418220717.3473A-100000@korin.warman.org.pl>
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It's funny, but that's EXACTLY what I was think about yesterday.. basically you are right on target.. The current PicoBSD could be booted off a DOS partition as it is, except for it's expectation to find a copy of /etc on a floppy. julian On Sat, 18 Apr 1998, Andrzej Bialecki wrote: > Hi! > > I seem to have some crazy ideas from time to time... Here's one of them. > > I propose to add another type of installation combined with a special > distribution set. The idea behind it is to let people who are completely > new to FreeBSD just try the system without really installing it (which > bears all the hassle of repartitioning etc.), and to have positive enough > impression to install i then in normal way. I admit that this idea occured > to me when I tried the JavaPC preview. :-) > > Here's what the setup would be like: > > * the whole installation (available in sysinstall :-) would place FreeBSD > on an existing DOS partition. Installation program would create the file > with filesystem on it (which will then be mounted on a vn(4) device). This > will require (well, it depends) ca. 16-24MB of free space on a DOS > partition. > > * then the special distribution set would be transferred to the vn-mounted > file. This distribution would contain (among others): basic system > utilities, pretty minimal XWindow with SVGA server and a nice window > manager (qvwm?) with file manager (FreeBSD Explorer?); and of course > Netscape/Mozilla browser with Java. > > * the most important requirement of this set would be that each element > work as expected with almost no setup on user's part (except > network/dialup setup, which can be done with user-friendly script). > > * the whole thing would be started from DOS (using fbsdboot.exe). This > will probably require special C:\kernel with small MFS, containing > init(8), mount, vnconfig etc.. which after booting would first mount the > DOS partition, and then vnconfig the previously created file with OS on > it, and mount it on /. > > Well, that's basically the whole idea. How do you like it? > > I'm willing to try it anyway, and even to write some of the glue code > needed to incorporate it into sysinstall. > > Andrzej Bialecki > > --------------------+--------------------------------------------------------- > abial@nask.pl | if(halt_per_mth > 0) { fetch("http://www.freebsd.org") } > Research & Academic | "Be open-minded, but don't let your brains to fall out." > Network in Poland | All of the above (and more) is just my personal opinion. > --------------------+--------------------------------------------------------- > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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