From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 13 17:42:41 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 514B916A4CE for ; Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:42:41 +0000 (GMT) Received: from ns1.tiadon.com (SMTP.tiadon.com [69.27.132.161]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0F67343D39 for ; Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:42:41 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from kdk@daleco.biz) Received: from [69.27.131.0] ([69.27.131.0]) by ns1.tiadon.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.211); Mon, 13 Dec 2004 11:40:38 -0600 Message-ID: <41BDD4A6.9070303@daleco.biz> Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 11:43:02 -0600 From: "Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P." User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20041210 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Micheal Mand References: <000801c4e0d5$5125bca0$0302a8c0@WorkGroup> In-Reply-To: <000801c4e0d5$5125bca0$0302a8c0@WorkGroup> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-OriginalArrivalTime: 13 Dec 2004 17:40:39.0666 (UTC) FILETIME=[DC7BA520:01C4E13A] cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Platform question X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:42:41 -0000 Micheal Mand wrote: >Hello, > >I am very interested in using FreeBSD on my old Compaq box, >but the only problem is, I can't seem to find where Windows >holds the system information. (Stupid Windows) Does anyone >have any ideas or know which port I should use? > >Thanks in advance for any help, >Mike > > Welcome to FreeBSD! I wouldn't worry **too much** about what Windows thinks about the hardware... Backup your data and go to the Project's site... find the paragraph that references "freshly formatted floppies and these instructions" and go for it! In the rare event that you aren't able to install FBSD, you can reinstall M$ and restore you data and be OK .... In my experience, M$ products do have some problems, but I'm not sure that these will compare to the likelihood that Compaq used some kind of 'fritzy' hardware and their BIOS is typically a terror;it may be that it's an old box with "onboard everything" and a lot of stuff that's either outdated or was m/l "Windows only" at the time (modems tended, in the past, to be a problem here...also some hardware manufacturers are reluctant to release technical data to Open Source developers, and others are defunct) those issues are more likely to cause problems with FreeBSD installation or usage, although I do understand how difficult it can be to get real hardware data from certain versions of Windows(R). My advice on _that_: open the box and write down every number and manufacturer you see and check them against the HCL on the Project web site for the release you wish to install (which is probably 5.3-RELEASE). The "platform", as Jerry says, is "i386", which is the Project's code for "IBM PC compatible architecture" (as opposed to, say, PowerPC, Alpha, PC-98-[Japan] Mainframes, etc...) and that is what most of the documentation will be pointed towards, as i386 counts for the large majority of all FreeBSD (as well as other OS) installations... Have fun with FreeBSD! Kevin KInsey