Date: Sun, 28 Mar 1999 19:56:13 +0100 From: Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com> To: advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Getting more people to use FreeBSD Message-ID: <19990328195613.A259@marder-1.localhost>
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This may be more appropriate to one of the technical lists but I'm
asking it in the context of advocacy and also it is beyond my
technical ability to discuss it in a technical forum.
Half the battle in getting Windows users to try FreeBSD is getting
them to install it on their PCs and using it. This, of course,
means that they have to re-partition their hard disk and whilst
those of us who frequent these mailing lists may be happy playing
around with boot sectors and partition tables expecting your average
Windows user to mess about with the partitions is likely to be
enough to scare them off.
It would be much easier if they could load FreeBSD onto their
existing HD.
What I would propose, and ask if it is technically possible, is to
be able to create a virtual UFS inside a file on a FAT disk. I'm
thinking along the lines of the way DoubleSpace/Stacker work(ed).
In Windows there would just be a large file (FREEBSD.DAT?), with
the read-only, hidden, & system attributes set, but internally the
contents wuld be laid out like a Unix FS. Ideally it would be
possible to boot FreeBSD from DOS (does DOSBOOT allow that for
anything other than an install?).
I realize that using this method would compromise security and
there would possibly be a performance hit but I'm not proposing it
for use on mission-critical servers.
Obviously the file would need to be contiguous and the system must
not expect to find it in a fixed location on the disk, as Windows
defraggers could move it (the boot loader would need to use the
FAT to locate the starting cluster of the file).
I believe that such a system would be really useful in getting
Windows users to at least give FreeBSD a try. It would make trying
FreeBSD as easy as those 30-day trial versions of Windows applications.
Is this idea feasible, how easy would it be to implement and would
the time and effort be worth it for the potential returns?
Yes, I know the usual response to "why don't we" suggestions is
"don't just suggest it, do it" but, as I said before, this is beyond
my technical ability.
--
FreeBSD - The Power To Serve http://www.freebsd.org
My Webpage http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~markov
_______________________________________________________________
Mark Ovens, CNC Apps Engineer, Radan Computational Ltd. Bath UK
CAD/CAM solutions for Sheetmetal Working Industry
mailto:marko@uk.radan.com http://www.radan.com
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