Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 14:23:00 -0500 From: "Matt Emmerton" <matt@gsicomp.on.ca> To: "Scott Long" <scottl@freebsd.org>, "Matthew D. Fuller" <fullermd@over-yonder.net> Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Discussion on the future of floppies in 5.x and 6.x Message-ID: <00f501c3d61c$d486ac90$1200a8c0@gsicomp.on.ca> References: <20040107235737.I32227@pooker.samsco.home><20040108075811.GJ48603@over-yonder.net><20040108101451.GK48603@over-yonder.net> <20040108033905.A32598@pooker.samsco.home>
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> On Thu, 8 Jan 2004, Matthew D. Fuller wrote: > > On Thu, Jan 08, 2004 at 02:05:14AM -0700 I heard the voice of > > Scott Long, and lo! it spake thus: > > > > > > For 5.x we already have a 3rd floppy that is dedicated to modules. > > > Unfortunately, it doesn't work nearly as well as it should because there > > > is no way to activate it during the boot sequence; it can only be used > > > once sysinstall is running. Also, it too is nearly overflowing. > > > > Well, that's why I suggest more. Have a "network cards" floppy, and a > > "mass storage devices" floppy, etc. We should be able to fit the > > half-dozen most common network cards, the ata drivers, and a half dozen > > of the more common SCSI drivers on the boot kernel. That'll get us far > > enough to be able to load the drivers off the other disks, as well as > > install with just that on many systems. > > > > It won't necessarily be the prettiest process, but I'm in favor of > > letting the floppies be a bit ugly, or even explicitly moving them to > > "experienced users only" status. I just find them far too convenient, as > > well as ubiquitous, to see them sent into the Great Bitbucket In The Sky > > yet. This is exactly what Debian does. I was a bit ticked when I found I had to make 7 floppy images to get a machine installed, but the important part is that it worked. > Well, regardless of how you label it, these floppies still require lots of > care and feeding in order to work. We currently have no way to support > multiple floppies in a convenient way. This can be fixed in a variety > of ways that range from fragile hacks to wonderful designs, but it still > requires someone to put forth the effort. My offer for a 'floppy > maintainer' is quite sincere; I hope that someone takes an interest and > steps up to the challenge. I myself have 4 machines (out of the 6 in front of me) that are Pentium- or Pentium II-class machines that cannot boot from CD-ROM or PXE, thus floppies are my only choice. Thus, I am genuinely interested in the effort to maintain working floppy images and can help out -- but not to the point of being "maintainer" yet. However, I have no experience building releases at all, so someone from re@ will have to help me along. -- Matt Emmerton
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