From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Apr 6 15:20:01 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9E67D37B401 for ; Sun, 6 Apr 2003 15:20:01 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp2.Stanford.EDU (smtp2.Stanford.EDU [171.64.14.116]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C14BD43FB1 for ; Sun, 6 Apr 2003 15:20:00 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from richw@jessejames.stanford.edu) Received: from jessejames.stanford.edu (jessejames.Stanford.EDU [171.64.180.173]) by smtp2.Stanford.EDU (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h36MJvWk012486 for ; Sun, 6 Apr 2003 15:19:59 -0700 (PDT) Received: by jessejames.stanford.edu (8.12.8/8.12.8) id h36MJ5co015114; Sun, 6 Apr 2003 15:19:05 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2003 15:19:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Rich Wales To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20030406215744.A14514.richw@jessejames.stanford.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Subject: Re: Weird boot loader X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 22:20:01 -0000 Georgi Hristov wrote: > > When I boot my system it does not boot automatically, > > but instead presents me with a choice of FreeBSD and > > Disk1 . . . . This is kind of a problem to me, because > > I cannot restart the system over the network, since it > > waits on somebody to push F1 . . . . "Brad" replied: > It should automatically boot the last partition you > selected to boot (after a few seconds). Specifically, it will boot on its own after 10 seconds (unless you changed the "ticks" setting via the "boot0cfg" command). See "man boot0cfg" for more details. > You have to have a bootloader to take the next step > in starting your computer (loading the OS). True, but if a system will only be running FreeBSD (and only from a single partition), there are a few ways to reduce or eliminate the opening menu and its 10-second delay: (1) Reduce the delay by using the "-t" option in "boot0cfg". The default delay is 182 clock ticks (10 seconds), but you could change it to 1 tick (or perhaps even 0, though I haven't tried this myself). or (2) Replace the regular FreeBSD boot manager with a "standard" master boot record (MBR) that goes straight to the first partition on the first drive. (a) You can do this while you're setting up a new system by specifying the "Standard" MBR on a disk. (b) Or, after a system has already been set up, you can use /stand/sysinstall, select your first disk for partitioning, type "W" (without changing the existing partitioning!), confirm that you do want to write changes immediately, and then choose "Standard" in the boot manager dialogue. I've done this on a FreeBSD-only server at home, and it seems to work fine. Rich Wales richw@richw.org http://www.richw.org