Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 16:50:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Denis DeLaRoca <denis@acacia.cts.ucla.edu> To: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> Cc: Michael Haro <mharo@area51.fremont.ca.us>, freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Sony VAIO C1 Picturebook Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9906051618540.4861-100000@acacia.cts.ucla.edu> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.990530202148.7287A-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu>
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On Sun, 30 May 1999, Annelise Anderson wrote: > I'm talking about the C1 in comparison to the 505. The screen > is fine with me. I just can't figure out how to install > FreeBSD on it, since I can't boot floppies (usb floppy is > not yet supported). A parallel port usb is supported and I > could connect to another machine that way, but I still can't > boot install floppies. Why don't you browse the Laptop Compatibility pages for FreeBSD at http://www.cse.ucsc.edu/~dkulp/fbsd/laptop.html for further info. I am sure that you can boot from the USB floppy since it is the C1X BIOS that is handling the floppy during the reboot process. Tatsumi Hosokowa in Japan (http://www.jp.FreeBSD.org/PAO/) has done most if not all of the work for the FreeBSD Mobile Support Package, and his PA0 release 2.2.8 boot floppy should allow you to do a full install of FreeBSD 2.2.8 on the C1X -- and come up with a system fully enabled for pcmcia support. With FreeBSD 3.x, the single boot floppy has become now two floppies. And the question and problem with the C1X USB floppy drive is whether one can handle the 2 floppy sequence -- one boots with the kern floppy and when that is done it requests that you insert the 2nd mfsroot floppy and hit enter. For laptops, Linux install has a two floppy sequence also (the 2nd floppy being the pcmcia support) but it fails as the floppy change is not detected successfully on the USB-based floppy... so the question is whether the FreeBSD 3.x install fail similarly or actually successfully detects the floppy change and is able to proceed. The other option for the install is via bootable CD. For the C1X, Sony sells an IDE portable CD-ROM drive. The bootable Redhat 5.2 Linux CD boots fine from this CD-ROM drive... and wo would the bootable FreeBSD CD-ROM from Walnut Creek. I am sure. There shouldn't be anything special about the Sony drive but there is... they tinkered with the powerup sequence and only the Sony drive is properly recognized to be able to boot from it -- reportedly, you can't boot from similar Panasonic IDE drives for example. For FreeBSD, Hosokowa's PA0 boot floppy would conceivable come up with pcmcia scsi support to be able to use a SCSI CD-ROM drive for the install... The Sony IDE CD-ROM drive is expensive, about $300, but it does allow for booting from CD and may prove the most expedient way to install FreeBSD. Annelise, since you already have one of these machines could you find out if the 2-floppy boot sequence works on the C1X's USB floppy? As for the C1S model of the Picturebook, do you know if Sony intends to release it in the US at some point? -- Denis To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message
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