Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 09:57:15 -0000 From: "Bond, Jeffery" <Jeff.Bond@nectech.co.uk> To: "'ph@phutch.demon.co.uk'" <ph@phutch.demon.co.uk> Cc: "'FreeBSD questions'" <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: FreeBSD newbie looking for tips Message-ID: <014CB6ADC0BCD0118B1B006097827D5B3D3378@EXCHANGE>
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Peter Hutchinson wrote: >Hi > >Having worked with successive MSDOS and various embodiments of Windows at a >high level for many years, I would now really like to get started with UNIX. >I have some slight experience of an old XENIX box, although more in terms of >use rather than setup/administration. What I would ideally like to do is >install freebsd onto a new partition on an existing MSDOS/Win95/FAT16 disk, >and would appreciate any tips/annecdotes/important considerations before >beginning. I've read a lot of docs and readme-type stuff at www.freebsd.org, >and what I've seen so far looks encouraging. > >What I would really like to know is: >- - what would you consider a reasonable partition size for a mid-range >freebsd installation ? (I have a 1.2GB IDE drive that is already pretty full >but am considering purchasing a second unit that I would probably run >exclusively as a single DOS partition, with the boot portions of DOS and >freebsd in its entirity remaining on the existing disk). The machine is an >AST P133 (Intel) with 24mb RAM, ATAPI CDROM, SiS video and ESS1788 >soundblaster-compatible soundcard. > >- - is the FIPS utility available on the ftp sites really any good at >shrinking an active, primary DOS partition without reformatting or >reinstalling ? Does Win95 cope with it and if so how well ? (I've heard it >can screw entire filesystems at boot on a bad day). What are the chances of >screwing the drive completely ? Is there a boot manager set up/provided by >either fips or the freebsd install ? > >- - is installing via ftp a practical possibility over a 28.8 analogue >modem line, or am I going to be paying the phone bill off for the next 20 >years ? > >- - any good books or online resources you would recommend for someone in >my position :-) > >Thanks for any help/advice you can give. Also, sorry if this would be better >posted/mailed elsewhere ! > > Hi Peter, I've run FreeBSD and Windows95 from the same disk for a while now with no real problems. The thing that I found with FreeBSD is that the install process is not always that logical, and sometimes it might seem that you will never get something to work properly. I have had such problems, and there has ALWAYS been a way to get everything to work. A simple email to this list and you usually get a flood of very helpful responses. It's much much better than any support that you might pay for with commercial software. Here are some points to consider 1) FIPS has always worked fine for me, except that I could only get it to shrink a partition, and not grow it again. 2) The BOOTEASY bootloader works great. It will not correctly identify Win95 FAT32 partitions correctly, but will boot them nevertheless. (It justs displays ?? instead of the partition type). 3) If you want to mount a Win95 partition under FreeBSD, make sure it's a primary dos partition with a FAT16 filesystem. FAT32 or extended DOS partitions won't work (at least for me). 4) FreeBSD's way of partitioning is weird (or maybe just different). i.e. You only need ONE partition set aside for the whole of FreeBSD. FreeBSD then 'labels' this single partition and internally splits it into a swap partition, root partition, /usr partition, and whatever else you want. This is totally different from Linux, which just uses regular partitions. 5) Try and install the FreeBSD partition on the first hard disk you have, i. e. the primary master device. It'll make booting simpler. I had trouble when I installed FreeBSD on my secondary master with win95 on the primary master. Because the primary slave was not present, FreeBSD got confused about the drive numbers, and a kernel hack was necessary to fix it. (At least there was a fix). 6) Definately buy the CDROM from Walnut Creek, it only costs 30 quid. I looked everywhere for a UK supplier but there isn't one. I ordered via their secure web site, and it arrived on my doormat within two weeks. I'm sure you'll get a flood of responses from other list members telling you different things, which are going to be just as valid. The points I've mentioned just come from my personal experience. Have fun, Jeff --------------------------------------------------- Jeffery Bond <mailto:jeffbond@compuserve.com> <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jeffbond>; --------------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe questions" in the body of the message
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