Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 07:51:48 +1100 (EST) From: Sue Blake <sue@zip.com.au> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Cc: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> Subject: frying pan to fire? Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971208073351.24288A-100000@zipper.zip.com.au>
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I have some decisions to make before upgrading to 2.2.5 CD (and commencing
a permanent modem Internet connection). I seek your advice, RTFM pointers,
reassurance or spanking. Failing that I'll muddle on as usual :-)
===
Hardware:
sd0 2gb, pretty fast
dos; extended; NTFS; 1gb FreeBSD 2.2.2 (CD, upgraded from 2.2.1)
sd1 1gb, fast enough
linux only
sd2 500mb slow as old Bill
FAT logical drives for data storage.
No good backup facilities (sd2 FAT, floppies, ancient brain-dead Archive
Viper, paper)
Wetware: 1 year FreeBSD, more experience installing it than using it :-)
Extensive DOS experience. Very keen to read manuals if and only if I have
the prerequisite knowledge that they assume.
Partition Magic available. IBM boot manager working.
Intention: Get rid of Linux, gain 1gb. Upgrade to 2.2.5 CD and configure
for new permanent modem connection. Solve chronic disk space shortage,
particularly for X apps and /usr generally. Make room to install sources
if they're a good thing to have around (why? how much space required?).
For now the system will be used by me and a few friends foes and family,
for web site development, man page reading, and lots of email.
===
She's gonna do... what?!
I could perhaps leave the 2.2.2 alone, it works, my data's there, and
install 2.2.5 on the Linux drive, make a fresh start, copy old stuff over
as required, and later on reformat and acquire the extra 1 gb space from
sd0. A sloppy but comfortable method initially. Later I'll need to know
how to reformat and incorporate the old 2.2.2 drive into a working 2.2.5.
Alternatively I could upgrade the working 2.2.2 on sd0 to 2.2.5, pulling
in sd1 at the same time. This seems to be the Right Thing To Do.
I'm concerned that the last upgrade was not perfect, losing the use of
some existing stuff in bin. Posts here mentioned the loss of ps but my ps
works fine, I lost killall and which and a couple of others, and for some
reason I couldn't follow the remedy given for ps. Maybe an upgrade will
fix this anyway?
I'm not sure whether I ended up using the correct set of /etc files, the
instructions on this seemed ambiguous to me, so I flipped a coin and
edited them into submission :-)
If I take the upgrade-and-kidnap-linux-disk route, is this humanly
possible and how should I organise things?
Putting swap over on sd1 makes sense (64mb RAM, 130mb swap) but will it be
obvious to me how to get rid of the old swap during installation? Does it
still make sense if /usr is on the same disk?
I like playing with different software, some quite large, eg. tex and
emacs and star office would be nice but won't fit, nor will FreeBSD
sources.
I could put all of /usr on the new disk leaving /home (already separate)
on the old, or I could just put X11 stuff and leave /home on the new disk.
Unless there's big performance or impossibility issues.
Sure, many of these decisions are largely dependent on my use and
preferences, but I need at least to be pointed at the smorgasbord, and
shown where the sharp knives are.
And the kernel. I like my funny little kernel the way it is. Can I simply
take the old config file and rebuild it under 2.2.5 without brain input?
Phew! Take your pick. Any comments muchly appreciated.
If I disappear... you'll know I'm learning a lot :-)
Regards,
-*Sue*-
sue@welearn.com.au
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