Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 00:59:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> To: Jean-Mark Dupoux <jeanm@dupx.freeserve.co.uk> Cc: "FreeBSD-Questions@FreeBSD.ORG" <FreeBSD-Questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Installing from dos problem Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.10.9910190038380.18534-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu> In-Reply-To: <380BF387.A34D1FE6@dupx.freeserve.co.uk>
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I'm not sure your problem here is the amount of space allocated to the partitions. But if I were doing a 2 gb drive, I'd use dos fdisk to create a dos partition (it probably needs to be 400 megabytes if you want Windows in it) at the beginning of the disk, and I'd install either dos or windows in it--before install FreeBSD. Second partition would be created (again with dos fdisk) at the end of the hard drive, so the second dos partition is the last 600 megs (or however much you want) on the hard drive. Then I'd install FreeBSD in the empty space in the middle, in one FreeBSD slice (primary dos partition) and I wouldn't use defaults. With this size hard drive in a machine without a lot of ram, you want a fair amount of swap. So I'd do maybe 42 megs for /, 48 or or even 60 for swap, 30 for /var, and the rest for /usr. You don't need a lot for var and you can move log files out of there if it gets crowded. Also I wouldn't do the minimum install. You have room here to install X if you want it, kernel sources, and (most important) the ports collection (which is not the ports themselves, just the framework for downloading and installing them). I think the SVGA server (you might check on this) is the one you need for your card for X; don't install others or lots of fonts as these take up a lot of space and you can do them later. Are you sure before you move from the partition editor to the label editor (with q) you press S (as I recall) to get an A next to the C in the partition in which you've chosen to install--i.e., you make it bootable? Annelise On Tue, 19 Oct 1999, Jean-Mark Dupoux wrote: > In response to advice that more detailed information would help in > solving installation problem (sorry if this was a little sketchy first > time around) > > my pc is: > > 486 dx4 - 160mhz > 28 mb DRAM > 2gb seagate IDE hdd > isa / pci bus motherboard - ALI chipset 487/89 > S3 - virge display adapter > > (some minor peripherals, eg serial // i-o card, sound card etc..) > > install worked fine through booting from kern / mst floppies and > detecting hardware / selecting drivers at floppy boot, > (the program was very accurate with device detections) > > i removed unwanted settings for network and scsi adapters etc in the > harware selections screen, and then moved to partition label / editing > screen > > the program detected very accurately disk geometry > i.e. geometry from bios / dos-detected / freebsd-detected all matched > exactly > 4092 cyls /16 heads /63 sectors /512 b per sector, so the settings > was easy to make (nearly always "default" or "auto") > > > 1200 mb was given to single dos partition > 800mb free space was claimed during installation by freebsd, and then > split > using <A> auto-option of 60/20/40/735 MB for </>, swap, </var>, </usr> > respectively > > minimum install (only \bin and \manpages) was selected, > but the program then ran into trouble. > > the following messages were the last things displayed before giving > up: > > "extracting bin into / directory", followed by > > "write failure on transfer", and > > "wrote -1 bytes of 1024 bytes, unable to transfer from wd0s1" > > the install then offered to "try extract again", which i clicked "yes" > > a few times, but the result was still the same. > > when i rebooted, dos still worked fine, which i could start from the > freebsd boot selector (F1/F2) > but freebsd did not get past the first line, (returned "no kernel" > for every command) > > It occurred to me afterwards that there may still be an issue with > the freebsd slice starting after 1024 cyls, > so i backed-up, put in 2 x 160 mb partitions ( 1 each of dos and > freebsd) before a 800mb dos partition and the rest was free space to > claim for freebsd when i booted from floppies and run install. > this was to try installing below 1024 cyls. > i then continued with install option selections, put in </> and > </usr> in freebsd small sector, <swap>, </var> and </usr/local> in > freebsd large sector, chos "minimum install" and hit "ok" > the result was exactly the same as before. > > this was a bit disappointing really, especially since the install > program seemed to do such a good job of talking to the system for > detecting devices etc .. > > i hope this more detailed information can bring us a little nearer to > some kind of an answer anyhow. > > Jean-Mark > > > > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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