Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 10:08:05 -0500 (EST) From: "User Rdkeys Robert D. Keys" <rdkeys@seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu> To: MGREENSLADE@CSI.compuserve.com (matt greenslade) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Minimum install Message-ID: <199711171508.KAA06128@seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu> In-Reply-To: <199711170850_MC2-287C-AE5@compuserve.com> from matt greenslade at "Nov 17, 97 08:49:10 am"
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> I am having to install FreeBSD from floppies but am not sure of the minimum > install I can get away with. Assume enough hard disk space for the whole > lot but a limited amount of time/floppies to get the job done. What I would > liek to do is install enough to be able to use basic functions to add > further distributions that are non-essential (such as games) later. > > My understanding is that I can get away with just installing everything in > the bin directory on the FTP sites - is that correct or do I need some > other files as well? I do floppy installs all the time. Works great..... but a tad slow. The minimum install calls for the boot disk and /bin files. As a working machine, I would suggest you also add /manpages. Those are all you really need. After that, it might be worthwhile to tar off the ports tree, and selectively add a few chosen ports. For example, I use postscript printers, so I gotta have a2ps-letter. You might also add the gmake and automake and autoconf ports if you do any gnustuff building. You might add a preferred mailer (pine, elm, or somesuch). If you do much writing, you might want a TeX port, although you can add many of these as packages from the packages trees by tarring off onto floppies, and pkg_adding them, after untarring into a work directory somewhere. Packages conserve some space, relative to ports, but are more dated compared to ports. Generally, I like to have the sources around, that come along in a ports build. Those would constitute a minimal comfy working machine. On my boxes, I usually have a bin and a manpages set, and about half a dozen addin floppies with my pet ports. That is all that is really needed for a fine plain lowendian dumbdumb FreeBSD machine. If you are into X and webscraping, then you need to add the X files and whatever your favorite webscraper is. If you do that, it is probably better to find a network you can attach to somewhere, and do it via the net, or use a cdrom for that. In general, you probably don't need the sources trees for floppy installs. I have not had need of rebuilding the sources on remote boxes, yet. If you do, it might be better to tar off the sources on tarball floppies, and untar into a temporary directory and invoke the install script. After you have the machine up on bin, working with dos floppies is slower than from tarballs, in my hands. For a floppy install, make sure you have enough disk space to make it worthwhile. I can get by with a tiny install in a 20M root, a 20M var, a 16M swap, and a 81M /usr filesystem set. That amounts to 137 megs. I would recommend you allow at least 100 megs in the /usr filesystem to be minimally comfy, especially if you add in a few things. More than that is gravy. A good working lowendian machine in my hands usually needs a 160 meg HD for FreeBSD, as the minimum, with 250 megs as a good target to shoot for as comfy. Beyond that is lotsa gravy. Also, make sure your machine has a minimum of 8 megs ram to install in. It won't in less, anymore, in my hands. 8 megs ram with 160 megs HD is a fine tiny FreeBSD machine if you don't do much heavy compiling or X, and watch your filesystem spaces. Good Luck! Bob Keys rdkeys@seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199711171508.KAA06128>