From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat May 10 17:15:47 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8EF931065673 for ; Sat, 10 May 2008 17:15:47 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kenneth.hatteland@kleppnett.no) Received: from asav4.lyse.net (asav4.lyse.net [81.167.36.150]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1BC858FC1D for ; Sat, 10 May 2008 17:15:46 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kenneth.hatteland@kleppnett.no) Received: from localhost (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by asav4.lyse.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id EB0626C2CE for ; Sat, 10 May 2008 18:47:56 +0200 (CEST) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at lyse.net Received: from terra.hatteland1.org (129.81-166-80.customer.lyse.net [81.166.80.129]) by asav4.lyse.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5BBA96C084 for ; Sat, 10 May 2008 18:47:56 +0200 (CEST) Message-ID: <4825D1BA.4000105@kleppnett.no> Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 18:47:54 +0200 From: kenneth hatteland User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080503) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: RE:: freebsd7 on older machines X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 17:15:47 -0000 ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Fri, 09 May 2008 13:39:49 -0700 From: prad Subject: freebsd7 on older machines To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20080509133949.53b83c29@gom.home> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII i can't seem to boot the cdrom on older hardware (500MHz and down). i read somewhere that the older drives aren't supported by the installation cdrom. i want to create a series of 'dumb terminals' which can ssh -Y into a faster machine. if necessary i suppose i can floppy in and then install via nfs. or i can setup the hd on another machine that does support the install cdrom and then transfer to the older machine. here are the specific questions: 1. do older machines work better with older versions of freebsd? 2. if i dd a hd (with freebsd) onto another hd will i have a problem with the mbr and be unable to boot? 3. are there any other ideas for install? -- In friendship, prad I have with success installed 7.0 on a pentium 133 mhz laptop with 96 meg ram. compiled X and fluxbox from source. The whole installation took a week or so ;) Works like a charm, except firefox is heavy load for this ancient piece of machinery. Also use xfce compiled from source on old 350 - 450mhz machines nicely. I usually use cdrom boot and then ftp install. On machines with no cd, or no working rom drives I use floppy boot versions of FreeBSD and then ftp the rest of the install. When wanting to use cdrom boot where I have no floppy, or bios doesn`t support cdrom boot (ie no bios upgrade to fix it either) I use a floppy tool called "smart boot manager" that when booted enables me to continue on most other media of my desire.( gives a new boot menu with among others cdrom driver loaded) I suggest this option for your convenience...... Kenneth Hatteland, Norway