FLOPPY INSTALLATION NOTES FreeBSD Release 1.1.5 Welcome to FreeBSD! This document has been put together in an effort to make initial installation of the system from floppy as easy as possible. Its goal is to provide a simple description for those eager to get started as soon as possible. Please see the file README.INSTALL if you're just starting out with FreeBSD and need more detailed installation instructions. If you're completely new to FreeBSD and don't even know quite what it is, then read RELNOTES.FreeBSD (you may want to do this anyway - it's the most often updated repository for general information). 1. To install FreeBSD you will need 3 (or 4 if you choose to add the optional DOS floppy) floppies, as well as the bulk of the distribution on some other medium (floppy, tape, CD, etc). If you've retrieved this release from the net, you'll first have to make the floppies yourself using the supplied images. Due to the differences in PC configurations, we've found it necessary to provide multiple initial boot images that provide kernels for different types of systems. If your disk controller is one of: MFM / RLL / IDE / ST506 Adaptec 154x series Adaptec 174x series Buslogic 545S Then please use the disk image: kcopy_ah.flp to construct your boot floppy. If your disk controller is one of: Bustek 742a UltraStore 14F or 34F Then please use the disk image: kcopy_bt.flp to construct your boot floppy. Next, make a second floppy from the disk image: filesyst.flp You'll need this for the second stage of the boot process. Finally, make a third floppy from the disk image: cpio.flp You'll need this for the last stage of the boot process. If you want to use any of the optional tools in the tools subdirectory of the ftp distribution site, these should be copied directly to a DOS formatted disk (using, either mcopy or mount -t pcfs). This disk is referred to later as the optional "dos" floppy. If installing more than one operating system on a disk, then it is recommended that the dos floppy at least include the os-bs boot manager. If downloading files via a modem and SLIP is not available, then the dos floppy should include kermit. You'll have the option of loading the programs that are on the dos floppy in the last stage of the boot process. 2. Boot the first floppy. When it asks you to insert the file system floppy, insert the second floppy ``filesyst.flp.'' Follow the instructions that floppy gives you. If partitions already exist on the hard disk, then by default FreeBSD attempts to install itself at the end of these. Before rebooting, note the type of disk it says to copy the kernel to: ``sd0a'' or ``wd0a'' (``sd0a'' is for SCSI systems, ``wd0a'' is for all others.) When the system halts, go on to the next step. 3. Boot the first floppy again, but this time when it asks you to insert the file system floppy, just press the return key. Follow the instructions that the floppy gives you. When you see the ``kc>'' prompt, type ``copy'' (without quotes). At the next prompt, ``copy kernel to>'', type either ``sd0a'' or ``wd0a'' as given in the previous step. When the system halts, go on to the next step. 4. Making sure that there's no floppy in the drive, press return to boot from the hard disk. After it has booted and is asking what drive the cpio floppy is in, insert the third floppy ``cpio.flp'' into a floppy drive and answer the question about what drive it is in. Note that 0 is the same as DOS drive A:, and 1 is the same as DOS drive B: 5. After the cpio floppy has been copied to the disk, remove it from the drive. If there are programs on the dos-floppy that you would like installed, then insert this disk in a floppy drive, again specifying the drive to read from. 6. After the cpio (or optional dos) floppy has been copied to the disk, enter `halt' at the command prompt. 7. When the system asks you to press the return key to reboot, first remove the floppy and then press the return key to boot from the hard disk. 8. At this point you will get 4 errors from the fsck on boot, these are normal and are caused by files that were open when the /dev entries were built - just ignore them. The system will correct these errors and then halt, after which you should press the return key again to reboot with a clean system. 9. Congratulations, you've got the mini FreeBSD system on your disk! 10. Follow the instructions about set_tmp_dir and extract that will come on your screen after you've pressed the return key. 11. Run the configure command to set up some of the /etc files by typing ``configure''. You will have to edit /etc/netstart after this if you have a networking interface. 12. Reboot so that the system comes up multiuser by typing ``reboot''. 13. You are now running FreeBSD! Congratulations! You may now continue with installing the source distribution, or stop here for now. 14. The file /magic contains the special sh commands used during installation. Should you need to use them you can do the following. /bin/sh . /magic 15. If your disk has several operating systems, you may want to install the Thomas Wolfram's os-bs boot manager for selecting which system to boot. This works well with DOS, OS/2, FreeBSD and other systems. To install it, boot the system with MS-DOS and insert the dos-floppy of the FreeBSD install suite in floppy drive A:. Then enter the DOS commands: > A: > os-bs135 > cd os-bs > os-bs A menu should now appear on the screen. Use the cursor keys to highlight the install option and hit ENTER. Simply follow the instructions from there. For more information about the ob-bs program, including its capabilities and limitations, see the file `readme.1st' in the os-bs directory. If you choose not to install os-bs, then fdisk can be used to change the boot system. This is done by making the primary partition for the boot system active. FreeBSD has an fdisk command that can be used for this purpose as well. 16. In addition to the FreeBSD source and binary distributions, many additional packages, such as X11 and TeX, may be obtained from freebsd.cdrom.com - please have a look around! You may also find this a good time to read the release notes in RELNOTES.FreeBSD. End of $Id: README.1ST,v 1.1 1994/06/28 09:01:53 jkh Exp $