Date: Sun, 18 Apr 1999 05:47:51 -0500 (EST) From: Alfred Perlstein <bright@rush.net> To: USNAmeat@aol.com Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: installation problems Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.990418051807.11384E-100000@cygnus.rush.net> In-Reply-To: <7a00a729.244ab4b0@aol.com>
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On Sun, 18 Apr 1999 USNAmeat@aol.com wrote: > >freebsd 2.2.5 is from the distant past, but if you want to give it a > >whirl i suggest you make boot floppies and use those. I never remeber > >freebsd being able to install itself from within windows. > > >to make boot floppies download: > >ftp://ftp5.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/tools/fdimage.exe > > >and use that to make a boot floppy, the image you need is located > >probably under a directory called "floppies" in the top level > >directory of the cdrom. > > >insert a blank floppy disk: > > >fdimage -v boot.flp a: > > >after it's done reboot the machine and boot from the floppy. > > >-Alfred > > You said it is from the distant past...is there a better version of UNIX to > download from somewhere? I'm almost thinking someone should clean this up a bit and post it on www.freebsd.org, i'm reposting it back to the questions list because i think it may be helpful to others. Please try to keep the 'cc' line there as others can benifit from the knowledge traded back and forth in these type of discussions. Now to answer your question: FreeBSD has come a LONG way since version 2.2.5, FreeBSD is now at version 3.1 and has many more advanced features. You can download freebsd for free (of course) what i suggest doing is installing a 3.1 "SNAP" A "SNAP" is a snapshot of the system, it's more updated than the "RELEASE" release is what you get on CDrom when you order from Walnut Creek, getting the 3.1 CDroms isn't a bad thing either, but if you want to install this snap here's the steps you must follow (roughly) go to: ftp://current.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/i386/ select a directory closest to the current date with the prefix "3.1" example: 3.1-19990417-STABLE/ you do NOT want 4.0, 4.0 is the developmental/experimental branch, it's NOT fun for newbies. :) now inside the directory ftp://current.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/i386/3.1-19990417-STABLE/ there will be a few dirs, what you need to get is: manditory: floppies/kern.flp floppies/mfsroot.flp ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/tools/fdimage.exe optional but highly recommened: floppies/fixit.flp ( a fixit disk ) ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/tools/osbsbeta.exe ( a boot selector ) now you can use fdimage.exe in MS-DOG *cough* i mean MS-DOS to create the boot disks: take a blank floppy and put it in drive A: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE format it completly beforehand with windows or DOS. If the disk has ANY bad sectors it is UNUSABLE, try formatting a different disk. then type: fdimage -v kern.flp a: next, insert a second FORMATTED diskette and: fdimage -v mfsroot.flp a: now reboot with the "kern.flp" diskette in the drive. follow the install and when it prompts you for media tell it you wish to install from FTP, scroll down the list of available FTP sites until you see "current.freebsd.org" select that one. if you are on a slow link i recommend one of two things: a) do the FTP install, but select the minimal installation, this will keep you from having to restart the whole process if you get disconnected. You can always add more stuff by using the /stand/sysinstall command to add more packages once you have the system installed. there is a problem though, your provider seems to be AOL, i'm not sure if they are freebsd friendly, hopefully they are.... if not.... your other option is: b) download the SNAP directory to another machine or a MS-DOG *cough* DOS partition. 1) if you only have one machine you can copy all the files into c:\freebsd\ and select MSDOS in the media chooser dialog during the install and it should find it. assuming you know a bit about networking and IP and FTP you can try option #2 2) if you have 2 machines and network cards you can setup an ftp server on a second machine, turn on anonymous ftp on your ftp server and make sure that the when you log onto the ftp server the SNAP directory is located in /pub/FreeBSD/ on the ftp server. you can then select the FTP media and choose a custom URL, the custom URL being the IP address of your ftp server. yes it's a bit hairy, but now think about it, you just installed an extremely versitile and powerful operating system onto your computer over the internet for _free_! Of course if you buy the cdroms from Walnut Creek (www.cdrom.com) you get a wonderful book that goes into much greater detail about these things. I really recommend purchasing it. As a note, the osbsbeta.exe is a nice bootloader that you can use to dual boot your computer between other operating systems and FreeBSD it has a lot of features, including a default OS to boot, and a timeout, as well as a spiffy looking menu. Anyhow if you stumble feel free to wander over to the #freebsd channel on the efnet IRC network. (you'll need Mirc for that) Feel free to ask questions, remeber though, no one there is getting paid to answer you so take us with a grain of salt. :) -Alfred ("zb^3" or "zbrightmn" on #freebsd - efnet) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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