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From: aberkenlib@bbcnc.org.uk (Aberkenfig Library)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Installation difficulties
Date: 23 Jan 1996 17:29:41 GMT
Organization: Aberkenfig Library
Lines: 70
Message-ID: <4e35u5$3pk@soap.news.pipex.net>
Reply-To: mbhpfpj@afs.mcc.ac.uk
NNTP-Posting-Host: ak038.du.pipex.com
X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.92.6+
{please see end for my e-mail address, do not reply to this address, it is
a public account, and I'm unlikely be able to access the net to search
for/read replies to this group}
Hello FreeBSDers,
I've been trying recently to install FreeBSD and, to be frank, it has been
a real headache. I've always been one to buck the trends, so I decided to
give FreeBSD a swing, rather than the more fashionable Linux (I use OS/2
and Oberon as well).
First off, when I first started trying to install, I was still hooked up to
the net at Uni [no longer the case]. I had heard of the install-by-FTP
feature, so I thought installing FreeBSD would be a simple matter of
getting the boot floppy, and then a couple of hours waiting for all the
transfers. Well that hope was destroyed when FreeBSD failed to detect my
3Com 3c509 ethernet card (only the most popular non-NE2000 network card in
the world). No, it is not a matter of the Plug'n'Pray bit, the card is
about 18 months old, and has no PnP.
Plan b, FTP everything to my DOS partition, and install from there.
:whine.
The readme docs say NOTHING about what files you need to get (for the
various installation options), nor what directory structure it should be
put in.
:ewhine.
After some hit and miss experimenting, and asking on IRC, I managed to get
most but not all I needed (omitting dict, compat1x and compat20
directories, perhaps more).
:whine.
The routine for updating the master boot record is truly screwed. I'm
installing on a primary partition on my SCSI disk in a mixed IDE/SCSI
system with OS/2 BootManager on the IDE drive. If I leave the IDE drive
plugged in while installing FreeBSD, and at the end, specify 'don't update
MBR', the install routine STILL alters the MBR of the IDE drive, rendering
it unbootable. Programmers that alter the MBR when their software has
explicitly been told not to should be shot. Workaround: unplug the IDE
drive while installing FreeBSD on the SCSI drive. Not very satisfactory.
:ewhine.
Which brings me to a question:
Is there a way to automatically boot from sd0 when wd0 is alos present,
whithout having to type hd(1,a)/kernel hurriedly?
OK, next problem. I have a PS/2 mouse. The generic kernel does not support
a PS/2 mouse. So I can't run X at the moment. I gather I need to get the
kernel source and recompile. There is some mention of doing this in the
readme texts, but again, it is rather sketchy.
Could someone please tell me how large the kernel source is (my DOS
partition is running out of free space) and briefly describe what I need to
do to compile support for a PS/2 mouse?
I've just downloaded a compat1x, compat2x and dict, and a bit of the
sources, but it is not evident which are the kernel sources. Aargh!!
I'm ftping from src.doc.ic.ac.uk if that helps...
Please e-mail any replies to mbhpfpj@afs.mcc.ac.uk
Thanks for your time
--
Paul Floyd, Information Storage Research Group, Division of Electrical Eng.,
School of Engineering, University of Manchester
mbhpfpj@afs.mcc.ac.uk