Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 13:59:40 +0930 (CST) From: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au> To: dburr@POBoxes.com (Donald Burr) Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Some questions about FreeBSD Message-ID: <199707240429.NAA14196@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.970721222211.711A-100000@voyager.starfleet.gov> from Donald Burr at "Jul 22, 97 03:05:10 am"
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(Sorry about the delay here...) ) Donald Burr stands accused of saying: G'day back! > 1. One of the reasons why I have been running Linux is the fact that its > PCMCIA support is much better, and in fact, Linux actually had PCMCIA > support when FreeBSD did not. (One of the machines on my homebrew > network is a laptop.) But I notice that FreeBSD's PCMCIA support > seems to be improving. How good is the support in 2.2.2? For the drivers that have support, it's pretty good. As a general rule, if the stock code doesn't support what you want, the PAO addons will. What card(s) do you want to use? > 2. All of my other machines have fairly standard (i.e. fully supported) > install media (CD-ROMs), except my Laptop. My laptop does have a SCSI > CD-ROM (NEC 8x, uncertain of the model number), but my laptop doesn't > have a built-in SCSI adapter. Yep -- you guessed it -- the SCSI > adapter is a PCMCIA. I was looking at my older (2.2.1) CD-ROM and > noticed the "boot-pao.flp" floppy image, which apparently allows you > to install FreeBSD using PCMCIA media (ATAPI CD-ROMs, SCSI, etc.) But > when I went to look for this on the 2.2.2 CD-ROM -- it wasn't there! > All I found was the standard "boot.flp" is this capability no longer > available, or is it built in to boot.flp? OR is it a separate package > that I need to get somewhere else (if so, where?) Try looking at www.jp.freebsd.org; the PAO homepage is on that server, and they generate and serve their boot floppies locally. > 3. I'm not sure if my PCMCIA SCSI adapter is even supported. It is a New > Media Toast'n'Jam (a combo SCSI/sound card), I believe it uses the > "aha1520" (aic-something-or-other) driver. Can this controller be > used with FreeBSD's PCMCIA support? I believe this card has been supported for some time. > 4. I also have a PCMCIA network adapter -- an IBM Home and Away. (This > is a combo 10BaseT ethernet + 14.4 modem card -- I don't care about > the 14.4 modem, because I have a USRobotics Sportster external). Is > this card supported by the PCMCIA package, and if I need to, can I use > it to do a network install (I can mount my FreeBSD CD-ROM on one of my > desktop machines, after all). Combo cards are somewhat problematic, and many don't work entirely correctly. Having said that, I believe that the network adapter either will, or could be convinced to, work just ine. > 5. Last question: I have been running Linux because of its "IP > Masquerading" feature -- which allows a private (i.e. unlicensed) > home network to share a single dial-up IP connection. Since we have > only one phone line in the house, and sometimes two or three of us > (yes, I have roomies) have to use the Internet at once to get e-mail, > etc., we set up IP masquerading so that this is feasible. Now I hear > that FreeBSD's usermode PPP (iijppp) supports an "-alias" flag that > does something similar. Is anyone actually using this? How well does > it work, and how does it compare to Linux's IP masquerading > implementation? Aliasing is available both for PPP and generic networking situations, using a common library developed by Charles Mott and co. Reports indicate that it works extremely well. -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control. (ph) +61-8-8267-3493 [[ ]] Unix hardware collector. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[
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