Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2015 03:07:09 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com> Cc: reg@dwf.com, FreeBSD questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: FreeBSD install. Message-ID: <20150713030709.e8888fe3.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <alpine.BSF.2.20.1507121814060.9702@wonkity.com> References: <201507120402.t6C427Dg001385@deneb.dwf.com> <20150712221641.69f81f00.freebsd@edvax.de> <alpine.BSF.2.20.1507121814060.9702@wonkity.com>
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On Sun, 12 Jul 2015 18:27:40 -0600 (MDT), Warren Block wrote: > On Sun, 12 Jul 2015, Polytropon wrote: > > > On Sat, 11 Jul 2015 22:02:07 -0600, reg@dwf.com wrote: > >> I have been trying for several months to put PCBSD 10.1 and FreeBSD 10.1 > >> on one disk. I finally gave up, and am installing FreeBSD over > >> the top of my previous PCBSD. sigh. > > > > It should be no big problem to allocate two slices, put > > FreeBSD in one, PC-BSD in the other, and add the FreeBSD > > boot manager to select which OS to boot. This has been > > possible for decades now, and it isn't "special". > > > > > > > >> After several attempts to put FreeBSD in a partition on the disk > >> I gave up, and let it have the full 500GB disk. Mumph. > > > > Did you use MBR or GPT partitioning? As far as I remember, > > the GPT approach doesn't support boot manager use yet. > > Grub can do that. Doing it from the installer will require command-line > use and familiarity with the tools: > https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/gpt-multiboot.49055/ Yes, Grub is a possible solution. I just wanted to point out that our _native_ boot manager isn't yet able to operate on GPT, but will work fine with MBR. > >> And why isnt the installer smart enough to install to a partition, > >> every other OS in existence can do that. > > > > Depends on how "every other OS in existence" defines what "partition" > > means. :-) > > I'm fairly sure that the installer will install to a partition if one is > available or created with the partitioning screen. It will still be up > to the user to install boot0, which of course only works with MBR > primary partitions. The encountered problem is that even if a system has been properly installed, it won't boot until either the standard MBR or the boot manager has been installed. This is what has been forgotten, I assume. > The four-partition limit of MBR often means that > the ugly partition-with-a-partition format is required: > https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/creating-a-traditional-mbr-layout-with-bsdinstall.45072/ It's often much easier to use the CLI tools here: gpart or fdisk for partitioning, bsdlabel for creating labels. It's not that hard. :-) On the other hand, sysinstall dealt with this way of installing surprisingly easy, but sysinstall is no more. For everything bsdinstall doesn't natively handle, the CLI tools will still work. With 4 "DOS primary partitions" (slices), up to 4 operating systems can be installed. If the FreeBSD boot manager is in use, it can select which one. Almost all (common) operating systems still support installing this way. Only on systems that _require_ GPT partitioning, it will fail to be applied. Grub is an excellent replacement in such cases. And it's not hard to use either. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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