Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 11:14:02 -0500 (CDT) From: "M. L. Dodson" <bdodson@nagling.utmb.edu> To: steelr@apk.net Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: installation Message-ID: <199708281614.LAA06159@nagling.utmb.edu> In-Reply-To: <34051533.E30D8A40@apk.net> References: <34051533.E30D8A40@apk.net>
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Jason, Jason, Jason. Where to start? I guess the first thing is that you will get many more replies to questions when you learn and abide by a few things broadly described as in the area of "good net practices". I know you are used to Win95 holding your hand, but please try to press the "Return" (may be labeled "<-| Enter") key about every 65-70 characters or so. The people who can help you already run some flavor of Unix, and the news readers there don't wrap the lines like the products from Redmond do. We like to control our own computers, not have Bill Gates do it for us. Jason P writes: > Hi, I'm going to warn you upfront that I do not posess a great deal of knowledge in command line or > computer's in general. But I really want to install bsd. I think its something that can really help me > to broaden my horizon's (per say). All of the following > questions I will ask will be based on the documentation read at > ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.7.1-RELEASE/INSTALL.TXT. I want you to know that I am not one of > those who doesn't read anything and then expects everything to be > done for me. Then you can do the following to help yourself. Run, do not walk, to the nearest large bookstore and look through the Computer section for books on Unix. It is nearly impossible to learn Unix from scratch if you are not already substantially computer literate. I don't have any recommendation for books for complete novices. Spend some time getting comfortable with the level of instruction, then buy the ONE best choice based on what you learned. > The current status is > this: I did d/l the 2 files needed for the boot and I ran the image file as shown. I tried it once and > it aborted with a *cannot read error* (i'm running 486dx4/100 win95. But then I formatted another disk > and ran again and I pretty sure that it copied ok. I'm afraid to run the boot disc as a result of > compatibility problems > that I may encounter and that is basically what I wrote for in the > first place. It will not hurt to boot the disk. If something intelligent comes up, you know that the disk was prepared correctly. You can always turn off the machine at that point if you are afraid to go further. > So, here it goes. > 1)I read about using a boot manager included in the installation. So does this mean that I don't have to > partition my drive in order to run bsb? BSD must absolutely have a primary partition of its own. If you do not have one free, you will have to make one. > 2)I have a 1.24 gig ide h/d and I have about 500 megs left. What do you mean by "left"? Free space in your Windows partition, or free, unpartitioned, space on the disk? > This is where i'm stuck. I was told that I > would have to partition my h/d so that bsb and win95 dont collide. Yes. > I have > never partitioned a drive before and I do not have a way to backup > the 800megs used on the drive. Then you are out of luck. > So I'm > thinking either A: i have to buy another h/d to run bsd or B: I have to buy an external backup device > just to backup the files to partition. I've been told by alot > of people that if i tried to make a partition using the dos fdisk that all of my data would be > erased and that is why I have to backup the whole drive. Yes. > Additionally I was told that I would have to > reinstall win95 again. This sounds like an awful lot of work > 2)I have to keep win95 on my pc (girlfriend will kill me if I delete it) So I'm just trying to > find the best way for bsd and win95 to coexist. You will have to come to grips with the unambiguous fact that BSD will have to have some space all its own. If you have the money, a backup system is the way to go. Be sure you get one that can be used in both Windows and BSD. > 3) the floppy that I made from the boot and the fimage files. I dont wanna use this until i > resolve the issue of where bsd is going to run right??? It is always a good idea to have a plan before starting a new venture. > Because right now I'm scared to > boot with the disk until I either get a new h/d or figure out how > to partition my disk. You can boot with it to test whether it works. Just cut the power to the machine after you find out whether it boots or not. > 4) Is there just one nice and simple clear cut file to use for installing. Instead of downloading all > of the gzar files?? I'm so used to installing windows applications where > you just click on the icon...I suppose thats the problem(subjected to win too long) > thats why I want to use the bsb os to get more/some knowledge of computer's and not > just clicking on pretty little icon's. I think you just need to read a lot more before you start this installation. You are obviously uncomfortable with what you need to do. Not doing anything is a clear possibility. Unix is not for everyone, no matter how much they might want to master it. It will require considerable dedication on your part to become proficient. We didn't learn what we know by osmosis. > 5) I read all about the fips utility and that sounds like something for me to utilies. But > do I have a dos partition currently?? i dont know. I says that if you dont have alot of space to use > this but I have plenty of h/d space. From what I can tell I think the fips will > help me out. But what worries me is the line that says just delete the partition by examining the size. > 6) Last one, promise :) Re: Installation: I have a normal dialup connection to the net > tcp/ip ppp. i also could access ftp server's so does that mean that when I do resolve the > space issue (partition vs new h/d) that all I will need is the boot floppy?? The installation > will happen directly from the ftp server?? Then It would automatically get the files I need > for the download/installation because thats another thing I dont understan I followed the example given > and downloaded all of the files in the info directory. I cant find anywere any documentation that say's > for 2.1..etc get such and such files and for this version get > such and such files. From what I can see all I have to download is all the files in the bin > directory huh?? > Well, if you reading this line right now chances are you'v read all of this rederick of mine > and for that I am TRULEY grateful. Any help would be greatly appreciated. > thank you in advance....Jason Place. Jason, I think you need to spend a month or two reading before you consider installation of BSD. It will be time well spent if you decide to go ahead. If you decide not to proceed, you will have saved yourself a lot of grief. -- M. L. Dodson bdodson@scms.utmb.edu 409-772-2178 FAX: 409-772-1790
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