Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 15:44:22 -0800 From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> To: announce@freebsd.org Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: FreeBSD 2.2-ALPHA is now available. Message-ID: <8340.847928662@time.cdrom.com>
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From: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/2.2-ALPHA The ALPHA period for 2.2 will be approximately 3 weeks, starting today and running through December 5th. Please test the heck out of this release and report any problems to us, full instructions for which are in the README.TXT file - please read it if you haven't yet done so at any point in the last 3 years :-). After the testing period is over, we hope to be rolling FreeBSD 2.2-RELEASE no later than December 10th (us needing about a week to finish integrating any bug fixes or necessary changes). Shipping should commence to CDROM customers by January of 1997, barring any unforseen delays in the CD replication process. Thanks! Your 2.2 release engineers, Jordan & Poul-Henning 2.2-ALPHA release notes follow: RELEASE NOTES FreeBSD Release 2.2-ALPHA This is an ALPHA release of FreeBSD 2.2-RELEASE and is aimed primarily at release testers. Some parts of the documentation may not be updated yet and should be reported if and when seen. Naturally, any installation failures or crashes should also be reported ASAP by sending mail to bugs@freebsd.org or using the send-pr command (those preferring a WEB based interface can also see http://www.freebsd.org/send-pr.html). 0. What's new since 2.1.5-RELEASE ------------------------------------ Support for the SDL RISCom N2pci sync serial card. Support for Cyclades Cyclom-Y (multi-port async serial) PCI adaptors as well as multiple controllers and the 32-Y (if you are currently using the Cyclades serial adapter, you should re-make your /dev entries and remove the old ones). Updated support for ethernet adaptors which use the DEC DC21X4X chipset. Support for HP PC Lan+ cards (model numbers: 27247B and 27252A) The 3COM 3c590 / 3c595 drivers have improved considerably. You need only change your kernel settings *once* now, on initial startup from the floppy. They will be preserved on the subsequently installed kernel. Update to gcc 2.7.2.1 & add support for weak symbols. Many things moved/brought into /usr/src/contrib, updating and cleaning up the source tree accordingly. Support for compiled-in shared library ld paths. Update sgmlfmt to `instant'. Protection against the widely reported SYN attack. 2. Technical overview --------------------- FreeBSD is a freely available, full source 4.4 BSD Lite based release for Intel i386/i486/Pentium (or compatible) based PC's. It is based primarily on software from U.C. Berkeley's CSRG group, with some enhancements from NetBSD, 386BSD, and the Free Software Foundation. Since our release of FreeBSD 2.0 almost 2 years ago, the performance, feature set and stability of FreeBSD has improved dramatically. The largest change is a revamped VM system with a merged VM/file buffer cache that not only increases performance but reduces FreeBSD's memory footprint, making a 5MB configuration a more acceptable minimum. Other enhancements include full NIS client and server support, transaction TCP support, dial-on-demand PPP, an improved SCSI subsystem, early ISDN support, support for FDDI and Fast Ethernet (100Mbit) adapters, improved support for the Adaptec 2940 (WIDE and narrow) and 3940 SCSI adaptors along with many hundreds of bug fixes. We've taken the comments and suggestions of many of our users to heart and have attempted to provide what we hope is a more sane and easily understood installation process. Your feedback on this (constantly evolving) process is especially welcome! In addition to the base distributions, FreeBSD offers a ported software collection with over 600 commonly sought-after programs. The list of ports ranges from http (WWW) servers, to games, languages, editors and almost everything in between. The entire ports collection requires only 6MB of storage, all ports being expressed as "deltas" to their original sources. This makes it much easier for us to update ports and greatly reduces the disk space demands made by the ports collection. To compile a port, you simply change to the directory of the program you wish to install, type make and let the system do the rest. The full original distribution for each port you build is retrieved dynamically off of CDROM or a local ftp site, so you need only enough disk space to build the ports you want. (Almost) every port is also provided as a pre-compiled "package" which can be installed with a simple command (pkg_add). See also the new Packages option in the Configuration menu for an especially convenient interface to the package collection. A number of additional documents which you may find helpful in the process of installing and using FreeBSD may now also be found in the /usr/share/doc directory. You may view the manuals with any HTML capable browser by saying: To read the handbook: <browser> file:/usr/share/doc/handbook/handbook.html To read the FAQ: <browser> file:/usr/share/doc/FAQ/FAQ.html You can also visit the master (and most frequently updated) copies at http://www.freebsd.org. The core of FreeBSD does not contain DES code which would inhibit its being exported outside the United States. There is an add-on package to the core distribution, for use only in the United States, that contains the programs that normally use DES. The auxiliary packages provided separately can be used by anyone. A freely (from outside the U.S.) exportable distribution of DES for our non-U.S. users also exists at ftp://ftp.internat.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD. If password security for FreeBSD is all you need and you have no requirement for copying encrypted passwords from different hosts (Suns, DEC machines, etc) into FreeBSD password entries, then FreeBSD's MD5 based security may be all you require! We feel that our default security model is more than a match for DES, and without any messy export issues to deal with. If you're outside (or even inside) the U.S., give it a try! This snapshot also includes support for mixed password files - either DES or MD5 passwords will be accepted, making it easier to transition from one scheme to the other. 3. Supported Configurations --------------------------- FreeBSD currently runs on a wide variety of ISA, VLB, EISA and PCI bus based PC's, ranging from 386sx to Pentium class machines (though the 386sx is not recommended). Support for generic IDE or ESDI drive configurations, various SCSI controller, network and serial cards is also provided. What follows is a list of all disk controllers and ethernet cards currently known to work with FreeBSD. Other configurations may also work, but we have simply not received any confirmation of this. 3.1. Disk Controllers --------------------- WD1003 (any generic MFM/RLL) WD1007 (any generic IDE/ESDI) IDE ATA Adaptec 1510 series ISA SCSI controllers (not for bootable devices) Adaptec 152x series ISA SCSI controllers Adaptec 154x series ISA SCSI controllers Adaptec 174x series EISA SCSI controller in standard and enhanced mode. Adaptec 274X/284X/2940/3940 (Narrow/Wide/Twin) series ISA/EISA/PCI SCSI controllers. Adaptec AIC-6260 and AIC-6360 based boards, which includes Adaptec AIC7850 on-board SCSI controllers. the AHA-152x and SoundBlaster SCSI cards. ** Note: You cannot boot from the SoundBlaster cards as they have no on-board BIOS, such being necessary for mapping the boot device into the system BIOS I/O vectors. They're perfectly usable for external tapes, CDROMs, etc, however. The same goes for any other AIC-6x60 based card without a boot ROM. Some systems DO have a boot ROM, which is generally indicated by some sort of message when the system is first powered up or reset, and in such cases you *will* also be able to boot from them. Check your system/board documentation for more details. [Note that Buslogic was formerly known as "Bustec"] Buslogic 545S & 545c Buslogic 445S/445c VLB SCSI controller Buslogic 742A, 747S, 747c EISA SCSI controller. Buslogic 946c PCI SCSI controller Buslogic 956c PCI SCSI controller NCR 53C810 and 53C825 PCI SCSI controller. NCR5380/NCR53400 ("ProAudio Spectrum") SCSI controller. DTC 3290 EISA SCSI controller in 1542 emulation mode. UltraStor 14F, 24F and 34F SCSI controllers. Seagate ST01/02 SCSI controllers. Future Domain 8xx/950 series SCSI controllers. WD7000 SCSI controller. With all supported SCSI controllers, full support is provided for SCSI-I & SCSI-II peripherals, including Disks, tape drives (including DAT) and CD ROM drives. The following CD-ROM type systems are supported at this time: (cd) SCSI interface (also includes ProAudio Spectrum and SoundBlaster SCSI) (mcd) Mitsumi proprietary interface (all models) (matcd) Matsushita/Panasonic (Creative SoundBlaster) proprietary interface (562/563 models) (scd) Sony proprietary interface (all models) (wcd) ATAPI IDE interface (experimental and should be considered ALPHA quality!). 3.2. Ethernet cards ------------------- Allied-Telesis AT1700 and RE2000 cards SMC Elite 16 WD8013 ethernet interface, and most other WD8003E, WD8003EBT, WD8003W, WD8013W, WD8003S, WD8003SBT and WD8013EBT based clones. SMC Elite Ultra is also supported. DEC EtherWORKS III NICs (DE203, DE204, and DE205) DEC EtherWORKS II NICs (DE200, DE201, DE202, and DE422) DEC DC21040, DC21041, or DC21140 based NICs (SMC Etherpower 8432T, DE245, etc) DEC FDDI (DEFPA/DEFEA) NICs Fujitsu MB86960A/MB86965A HP PC Lan+ cards (model numbers: 27247B and 27252A) Intel EtherExpress (not recommended due to driver instability) Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B PCI Fast Ethernet Isolan AT 4141-0 (16 bit) Isolink 4110 (8 bit) Novell NE1000, NE2000, and NE2100 ethernet interface. 3Com 3C501 cards 3Com 3C503 Etherlink II 3Com 3c505 Etherlink/+ 3Com 3C507 Etherlink 16/TP 3Com 3C509, 3C579, 3C589 (PCMCIA), 3C590 & 3C595 (PCI) Etherlink III Toshiba ethernet cards PCMCIA ethernet cards from IBM and National Semiconductor are also supported. Note that NO token ring cards are supported at this time as we're still waiting for someone to donate a driver for one of them. Any takers? 3.3. Misc --------- AST 4 port serial card using shared IRQ. ARNET 8 port serial card using shared IRQ. ARNET (now Digiboard) Sync 570/i high-speed serial. BOCA ATIO66 6 port serial card using shared IRQ. Cyclades Cyclom-y Serial Board. STB 4 port card using shared IRQ. SDL Communications Riscom/8 Serial Board. SDL Communications RISCom/N2 and N2pci high-speed sync serial boards. Adlib, SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster Pro, ProAudioSpectrum, Gravis UltraSound and Roland MPU-401 sound cards. FreeBSD currently does NOT support IBM's microchannel (MCA) bus. 4. Obtaining FreeBSD -------------------- You may obtain FreeBSD in a variety of ways: 4.1. FTP/Mail You can ftp FreeBSD and any or all of its optional packages from `ftp.freebsd.org' - the official FreeBSD release site. For other locations that mirror the FreeBSD software see the file MIRROR.SITES. Please ftp the distribution from the site closest (in networking terms) to you. Additional mirror sites are always welcome! Contact admin@freebsd.org for more details if you'd like to become an official mirror site. If you do not have access to the internet and electronic mail is your only recourse, then you may still fetch the files by sending mail to `ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com' - putting the keyword "help" in your message to get more information on how to fetch files using this mechanism. Please do note, however, that this will end up sending many *tens of megabytes* through the mail and should only be employed as an absolute LAST resort! 4.2. CDROM FreeBSD 2.1.6-RELEASE and 2.2-RELEASE CDs may be ordered on CDROM from: Walnut Creek CDROM 4041 Pike Lane, Suite D Concord CA 94520 1-800-786-9907, +1-510-674-0783, +1-510-674-0821 (fax) Or via the internet from orders@cdrom.com or http://www.cdrom.com. Their current catalog can be obtained via ftp from: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/cdrom/catalog. Cost per -RELEASE CD is $39.95 or $24.95 with a FreeBSD subscription. FreeBSD 3.0-SNAP CDs are $29.95 or $14.95 with a FreeBSD-SNAP subscription (-RELEASE and -SNAP subscriptions are entirely seperate). With a subscription, you will automatically receive updates as they are released. Your credit card will be billed when each disk is shipped and you may cancel your subscription at any time without further obligation. Shipping (per order not per disc) is $5 in the US, Canada or Mexico and $9.00 overseas. They accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express or checks in U.S. Dollars and ship COD within the United States. California residents please add 8.25% sales tax. Should you be dissatisfied for any reason, the CD comes with an unconditional return policy. Reporting problems, making suggestions, submitting code ------------------------------------------------------- Your suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are always valued - please do not hesitate to report any problems you may find (preferably with a fix attached, if you can!). The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine with internet mail connectivity is to use the send-pr command or use the CGI script at http://www.freebsd.org/send-pr.html. Bug reports will be dutifully filed by our faithful bugfiler program and you can be sure that we'll do our best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as possible. Bugs filed in this way are also visible on our WEB site in the support section and are therefore valuable both as bug reports and as "signposts" for other users concerning potential problems to watch out for. If, for some reason, you are unable to use the send-pr command to submit a bug report, you can try to send it to: bugs@FreeBSD.org Otherwise, for any questions or suggestions, please send mail to: questions@FreeBSD.org Additionally, being a volunteer effort, we are always happy to have extra hands willing to help - there are already far more desired enhancements than we'll ever be able to manage by ourselves! To contact us on technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to: hackers@FreeBSD.org Please note that these mailing lists can experience *significant* amounts of traffic and if you have slow or expensive mail access and are only interested in keeping up with significant FreeBSD events, you may find it preferable to subscribe instead to: announce@FreeBSD.org All but the freebsd-bugs groups can be freely joined by anyone wishing to do so. Send mail to MajorDomo@FreeBSD.org and include the keyword `help' on a line by itself somewhere in the body of the message. This will give you more information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special interest groups not mentioned here, so send mail to majordomo and ask about them! 6. Acknowledgements ------------------- FreeBSD represents the cumulative work of many dozens, if not hundreds, of individuals from around the world who have worked very hard to bring you this release. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to enumerate everyone who's contributed to FreeBSD, but nonetheless we shall try (in alphabetical order, of course). If you've contributed something substantive to us and your name is not mentioned here, please be assured that its omission is entirely accidental. Please contact hackers@FreeBSD.org for any desired updates to the lists that follow: The Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG), U.C. Berkeley. Bill Jolitz, for his initial work with 386BSD. The FreeBSD Core Team (in alphabetical order by last name): Satoshi Asami <asami@FreeBSD.org> Andrey A. Chernov <ache@FreeBSD.org> John Dyson <dyson@FreeBSD.org> Bruce Evans <bde@FreeBSD.org> Justin Gibbs <gibbs@FreeBSD.org> David Greenman <davidg@FreeBSD.org> Jordan K. Hubbard <jkh@FreeBSD.org> Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@FreeBSD.org> Rich Murphey <rich@FreeBSD.org> Gary Palmer <gpalmer@FreeBSD.org> Søren Schmidt <sos@FreeBSD.org> Peter Wemm <peter@FreeBSD.org> Garrett A. Wollman <wollman@FreeBSD.org> Jörg Wunsch <joerg@FreeBSD.org> The FreeBSD Development Team, excluding core team members (in alphabetical order by last name): Torsten Blum <torstenb@FreeBSD.org> Gary Clark II <gclarkii@FreeBSD.org> Adam David <adam@FreeBSD.org> Peter Dufault <dufault@FreeBSD.org> Frank Durda IV <uhclem@FreeBSD.org> Julian Elischer <julian@FreeBSD.org> Sean Eric Fagan <sef@FreeBSD.org> Stefan Esser <se@FreeBSD.org> Bill Fenner <fenner@FreeBSD.org> John Fieber <jfieber@FreeBSD.org> Lars Fredriksen <lars@freeBSD.org> Thomas Gellekum <tg@FreeBSD.org> Thomas Graichen <graichen@FreeBSD.org> Rod Grimes <rgrimes@FreeBSD.org> James FitzGibbon <jfitz@FreeBSD.org> John Hay <jhay@FreeBSD.org> Jeffrey Hsu <hsu@FreeBSD.org> Ugen J.S. Antsilevich <ugen@FreeBSD.org> Gary Jennejohn <gj@FreeBSD.org> Andreas Klemm <andreas@FreeBSD.org> Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org> L Jonas Olsson <ljo@FreeBSD.org> Eric L. Hernes <erich@FreeBSD.org> Scott Mace <smace@FreeBSD.org> Atsushi Murai <amurai@FreeBSD.org> Mark Murray <markm@FreeBSD.org> Alex Nash <alex@FreeBSD.org> Masafumi NAKANE <max@FreeBSD.org> David E. O'Brien <obrien@FreeBSD.org> Andras Olah <olah@FreeBSD.org> Steve Passe <smp@FreeBSD.org> Bill Paul <wpaul@FreeBSD.org> Joshua Peck Macdonald <jmacd@FreeBSD.org> John Polstra <jdp@FreeBSD.org> Steve Price <steve@FreeBSD.org> Mike Pritchard <mpp@FreeBSD.org> Doug Rabson <dfr@FreeBSD.org> James Raynard <jraynard@FreeBSD.org> Geoff Rehmet <csgr@FreeBSD.org> Martin Renters <martin@FreeBSD.org> Paul Richards <paul@FreeBSD.org> Ollivier Robert <roberto@FreeBSD.org> Chuck Robey <chuckr@FreeBSD.org> Dima Ruban <dima@FreeBSD.org> Wolfram Schneider <wosch@FreeBSD.org> Andreas Schulz <ats@FreeBSD.org> Karl Strickland <karl@FreeBSD.org> Michael Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.org> Paul Traina <pst@FreeBSD.org> Guido van Rooij <guido@FreeBSD.org> Steven Wallace <swallace@FreeBSD.org> Nate Williams <nate@FreeBSD.org> Jean-Marc Zucconi <jmz@FreeBSD.org> Additional FreeBSD helpers and beta testers: Coranth Gryphon Dave Rivers Kaleb S. Keithley Terry Lambert David Dawes Don Lewis Special mention to: Walnut Creek CDROM, without whose help (and continuing support) this release would never have been possible. Dermot McDonnell for his donation of a Toshiba XM3401B CDROM drive. Chuck Robey for his donation of a floppy tape streamer for testing. Larry Altneu and Wilko Bulte for providing us with Wangtek and Archive QIC-02 tape drives for testing and driver hacking. CalWeb Internet Services for the loan of a P6/200 machine for speedy package building. Everyone at Montana State University for their initial support. And to the many thousands of FreeBSD users and testers all over the world, without whom this release simply would not have been possible. We sincerely hope you enjoy this release of FreeBSD! The FreeBSD Core Team $Id: relnotes.hlp,v 1.17.2.1 1996/11/13 11:49:42 jkh Exp $
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