Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 20:19:25 +0930 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: nik@iii.co.uk Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Different kernels for the bindist and boot.flp? Message-ID: <199709181049.UAA00277@word.smith.net.au> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 18 Sep 1997 10:21:51 %2B0100." <19970918102150.17849@strand.iii.co.uk>
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> [Not sent to -questions, since it's not a question about using FreeBSD, > I *think* -hackers is the more appropriate forum for this] You're probably close to right on this one. > I've been thinking about installing FreeBSD from a ZIP drive recently. I'm ... > Since I'm using SCSI, this will (should?) work painlessly. Indeed it should. I've done it several times without grief. > However, if I > had an IDE ZIP drive it wouldn't since (as far as I know) GENERIC doesn't > include the drivers shown at http://www.prism.uvsq.fr/~son/ppa3.html > necessary for IDE ZIP support. This is not a driver for the IDE Zip drive. It is a(n obsolete) driver for the VP0 SCSI adapter inside the parallel-port Zip, and is superseded by the ppbus code and the 'vpo' driver in -current, and also available for 2.2.* from the above page. The IDE zip works "almost" right out of the box. As has recently been observed, getting it "really right" would take a major restructuring of the way we handle ATAPI devices (see NetBSD and Jason Thorpe for more details if you're interested in one approach). I have one of these units on loan for a few days, and I will try to establish bandaid solutions to the current problems during that time. [... multi-boot-floppy proposal ...] > Before I start thinking about a prototype implementation, > > a) Has anyone else looked at doing something like this? Several. Plenty even. Rolling a release is reasonably straightforward, if time-consuming. Rolling a boot floppy standalone is somewhat of an exercise in frustration, but also doable. > b) Does anyone have violent objections to doing something like this? Well, I don't think anyone _else_ is going to do it, especially as you're not actually solving a great problem. If someone wants a boot floppy with the ppa3 driver in the kernel, there are bound to be a few takers for providing such a thing. OTOH, it _is_ a great learning experience, and if nothing else you may well come out of it with some suggestions that'll make it easier for the next novice, so don't take this as any sort of discouragement. > c) Does anyone have any insight on the best way to implement something > like this? Heh. This bit is always fun. Go read /usr/src/release/Makefile. I recommend something for the headache too; take it _first_, to give the drugs a fighting chance. 8) mike
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