From owner-freebsd-doc Sat Jan 30 13:56:54 1999 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id NAA20032 for freebsd-doc-outgoing; Sat, 30 Jan 1999 13:56:54 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from valis.olywa.net (olywa.net [205.163.58.2]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id NAA20024 for ; Sat, 30 Jan 1999 13:56:52 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jpl@olywa.net) Received: from olywa.net ([205.163.58.206]) by valis.olywa.net (Post.Office MTA v3.5.2 release 221 ID# 0-56662U5000L500S0V35) with ESMTP id net for ; Sat, 30 Jan 1999 13:56:33 -0800 Message-ID: <36B382C3.61DB5C9F@olywa.net> Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 14:08:04 -0800 From: John L X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win95; I) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: A 'not quite a newbie' install note.. Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Well the guide said to actually write you so- I previously gave up on a very bad redhat5.1 release, with more UPDATE downloads than the entire FBSD system (and still I didn't know how to configure and recompile the kernel). After this I was very impressed with freebsd, and look forward to giving you some money for some product after it gets going. My difficulties with an FTP install- the 'novice installation' could not recognize my USRobotics modem on COM4. This was tough to figure out, as it would work somewhat by forcing the port location from Term. But ultimately, to set both the interrupt and port, one must work from the 'expert' mode- but there are NO device descriptions here! So,- you guess or go back and forth and boot over and over. I also booted over and over to get in the 'Term' mode while figuring this out, and this involves re-inputing all the setup data every time. Very time consuming. Once setup, it did download at least 50 meg over a 33.8Kbps ppp connection, and fully install, (in spite of some missing components at FTP site 6. It switched smoothly to the main site, but that's bad for your traffic.). My complements overall on this very ambitious function. The RedHat folks long ago abandoned the idea of realistically being able to do this with a modem- the way I just did it! I had a very experience with redhat LILO, because I just left it installed when I reformatted over the redhat partition. When Linux went away, LILO broke, and I couldn't boot windows or Linux. I had to reinstall win95 OSR2 (which I did), or try to figure out if LILO could be configured from a Linux floppy. To AVOID this, I specifically choose NOT to alter the MasterBootRecord during the FBSD install. Maybe this was a big mistake, but it was a valid menu option option. To save the worry, I would just boot FBSD from a floppy, and switch around the drive numbers if I ever decided to boot windows by floppy instead. To my dismay, FBSD install just plain corrupted the MBR and windows wouldn't start even from a DOS floppy boot- 'partiton data corrupted'- a very bad sign on powerup. Fdisk would read the partitions after an start up error, but would not make changes. (Once again, reinstall windows and sit there and hit 'don't replace newer files' for over an hour during the install. It's amazing that I could reinstall just win95 without losing a byte of data or even altering the desktop AND that it fixed a corrupt MBR, which has little to do with an OS install). I can't get FBSD up either, because apparently this install disk doesn't work as a normal boot disk, and though there is an option to list some file and boot specifying the kernel name, the list scrolls off screen. I can't find any way to S or break the listing to actually view it. It's way too fast on this machine, which is only running at 75Mhz. Simply using '1:wd(1,a)' from the install disk isn't enough to boot the hard drive! Isn't there a default kernel name/location? Now I'm looking for an ordinary floppy boot image, if there is such a thing for FBSD. Also I find the references to 'boot disk' a bit confusing coming from the DOS world. 'Boot' means just boot the operating system or hard drive. This is a 'bootstrap install', that's a little different. You wouldn't boot FBSD with this only this disk, I hope, because I found no way to go to a prompt or exit the installation without rebooting. I write because I really want to help make this already good product even easier to understand. Redhat was so horrid that I just decided that though it was somewhat working, it was just plain unpleasant to work in. And the FBSD install was really MUCH less painful even with my fatal error. anyway, thanks- john leclerc jpl@olywa.net To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message