From owner-freebsd-hackers Mon Mar 13 05:13:07 1995 Return-Path: hackers-owner Received: (from majordom@localhost) by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.10/8.6.6) id FAA08758 for hackers-outgoing; Mon, 13 Mar 1995 05:13:07 -0800 Received: from larry.infi.net (larry.infi.net [198.22.1.107]) by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.10/8.6.6) with ESMTP id FAA08752 for ; Mon, 13 Mar 1995 05:13:06 -0800 Received: from Jessica.RatsNest.VaBeach.VA.US by larry.infi.net with SMTP (8.6.10/Server1.8) id IAA15188; Mon, 13 Mar 1995 08:13:37 -0500 Message-Id: <199503131313.IAA15188@larry.infi.net> From: "Pavlov's Cat" Organization: Organized? Me? Hah! To: hackers@FreeBSD.org Date: Sat, 11 Mar 1995 20:33:34 -240 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: Adaptek 1542 on other ports Reply-to: SimsS@infi.net Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail/Windows (v1.22) Sender: hackers-owner@FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk In response to some poor guy with Adaptec 1542 problems, Terry writes: > At the boot prompt, instead of hitting return or just waiting, type > /kernel -c. > This will put you in an editor that will let you change BSD's idea > of where the SCSI controller should be. > Once installed this way, you will have to boot the same way each time > or eventually rebuild your kernel. This has been bugging me for a while - I really appreciate the ability to arbitrarily re-vector the hardware stuff sorta on-the-fly like this. In fact, many times it's been the only way to get a box up and running short of building a new kernel on another box. But... Why is it that if a J. Random User goes thru the drill of configuring the plethora of non-standard locations for his misbegotten hardware setup, must he not only remember how he got the thing to boot, but he must also re-enter this stuff *every*flippin'*time*he*reboots*. Now whazzup with that? Isn't this what we have computers for in the first place -- to remember all that triviata that we humans don't have the time/ability/inclination to remember? Is there any _technical_ reason that FreeBSD can't find some sacrosanct place to stash all of this '-c' stuff and magically use that as the default next time 'round? This bites me every time I install a SNAP or generic kernel. For some reason, the sea0 driver wedges my boxes during probe like every time. No sweat - I know how to fix it. But poor ol' J. Random - the guy's making a good faith effort to to wean hisself away from LINUX or, worse, DOS and he invariably gets to this point: Q: Why won't my Hack-o-Rama WonderWidget [work | load | run]? It works under [ DOS | LINUX | WINDOWS ]!!! A: You've got it at the wrong address; use -c when you boot. Once you get the box running, simply pull in the kernel sources, hack up a new config, `config My_Config`, `make world' and use _that_ kernel in the future. [Poor guy - he asks for a drink and he gets a fire hose turned on him!] Anyway - any reason why FreeBSD can't remember what happened in the last '-c' boot? (Now let me run fetch my asbestos BVD's) -- ...sjs... Steve Sims (SJS7) SimsS@Infi.Net Systems Engineer, IPC Technologies, Inc. Virginia Beach, VA "Everyone wants to save the Earth; Nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes." ...P.J. O'Roarke