From owner-freebsd-questions Mon May 31 22:31:38 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from resnet.uoregon.edu (resnet.uoregon.edu [128.223.144.32]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D28C215145 for ; Mon, 31 May 1999 22:31:29 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu) Received: from localhost (dwhite@localhost) by resnet.uoregon.edu (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id WAA09961; Mon, 31 May 1999 22:31:24 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu) Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 22:31:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Doug White To: Kent Boortz Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Some FAQ's..... In-Reply-To: <19990530134344Q.kent@erlang.ericsson.se> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Sun, 30 May 1999, Kent Boortz wrote: > ...or maybe not FAQ's but things that I spent hours to find out. > Could someone please correct the text below and maybe add it to the FAQ? > I'm sure it would save others time too. I'm not sure I can do much with this since you're not specific enough. I wrote this Q so I'm curious to know what exactly you're getting hung up on. > Q: I have one IDE disk as the boot disk and one SCSI disk with FreeBSD and > get "panic cannot mount root"? > > The boot process (XXX: or who is confused?) gets confused by the fact > that you are mixing IDE and SCSI disks. This message comes as an > surprice because much of the boot is already done and why suddenly > fail to find the disk? The reason is that the boot manager and the > kernel finds the disk differently. > > Manually you can do one of > > Bypass the BTX boot by hitting space when the spinning \ | / - > shows up and type in > > 1:da(0,a)/kernel > > Hit space when the BTX boot is starting and type > > set root_disk_unit=0 > boot > > (XXX: I expected "set num_ide_disks=1" to work but it didn't) Why? There's no reference to that variable anywhere. > To make this permanent you can put "1:da(0,a)/kernel" into > "/boot.config" or "set root_disk_unit=0" into "/boot/loader.rc" > (XXX: is this 3.X only?) /boot.config works on 2.2.X and later. > (XXX: Is the file renamed "/boot/loader.config" in later releases?) It's /boot/loader.rc now (Don't ask). > Q: What boot manager *should* I use? > > It depends. If we look at the free versions they all have limitations > > boot0 Can't boot FreeBSD or any operating system that starts > above cylinder XXXX. Require more than one block > that in very rare occasions interfere with some > operating systems. (XXX: Why is this one better than > the old BootEasy?) (XXX: Add note that this is the > boot manager that ships with FreeBSD 3.X and up?) > (XXX: where to find it?) boot0: 1. Labels the partitions correctly. :-) 2. Isn't quite so brain dead (depending on the release level). > BootEasy Can't boot FreeBSD or any operating system that starts > above cylinder XXXX. (XXX: Add note that this was the > boot manager that shiped with FreeBSD 2.X and below?) > (XXX: where to find it?) /tools/ on the CD. > LILO Linux boot loader. Require partition to put > some data on (XXX True? FAT16? ext2?) > (XXX: What can it do?) (XXX: where to find it?) In any Linux distribution. > (XXX: Are there more free alternatives?) Yes. > Before you add any of these make sure you save the old MBR so if > something fails you can go back and access the disk as before. > This is often a function built into the boot manager installation > program or you can use (XXX: what?). You restore them (XXX How?) You're getting lost in the clouds here ... > (XXX: Maybe adding notes about how to install and administer them. > Can they be installed/administered from DOS and/or FreeBSD? Why not > install from Windows? Boot block Virus protection?) No one has written the docs, I guess. From FreeBSD, dd works great. :) Doug White Internet: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu | FreeBSD: The Power to Serve http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite | www.freebsd.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message