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* Added lots more introductory material.

Browse Source 
* Removed material that was duplicated in the installation instructions.

* Updated the address for an Australian supplier of CDROMs (supplied by
  David Henshaw via Martin Butkus).

* Give more info about how to get started with the installation.

* Update references to 2.1.0 as "the latest release".

* Added pointer to a Web page explaining how to have multiple operating
  systems on the same machine.

* Moved question about running DOS binaries out of the installation section.

* Added question re boot floppy not loading properly.

* Added explanation of disk geometry, moved things around so that "please
  refer to the previous question" no longer sends the reader with a
  non-booting system to a PLIP cable wiring diagram!

* Mention the time/space requirements for making a custom install floppy.

* Acknowledge a couple of people whose answers I've adapted in various
  places (and who deserve credit anyway for answering so many questions!)
This commit is contained in:
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parent 32d836e991
commit aac8ae6862
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@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
<title>Frequently Asked Questions for FreeBSD 2.X
<author>The FreeBSD FAQ Team, <tt/FAQ@FreeBSD.ORG/
<date> $Id: freebsd-faq.sgml,v 1.54 1996/08/03 09:48:15 jraynard Exp $
<date> $Id: freebsd-faq.sgml,v 1.55 1996/08/04 03:28:14 jkh Exp $
<abstract>
This is the FAQ for FreeBSD systems version 2.X All entries are
assumed to be relevant to FreeBSD 2.0.5+, unless otherwise noted.
@ -16,62 +16,215 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
<sect>
<heading>Preface</heading>
<p>
Welcome to the FreeBSD 2.X FAQ ! This document tries to answer
some of the most frequently asked questions about FreeBSD 2.X (or
later, unless specifically indicated). If there's something you're
having trouble with and you just don't see it here, then please
send mail to:
Welcome to the FreeBSD 2.X FAQ !
<url url="mailto:questions@FreeBSD.ORG" name="FreeBSD-questions
<sect1>
<heading>What is the purpose of this FAQ?</heading>
<p>
As is usual with Usenet FAQs, this document aims to cover the most
frequently asked questions concerning the FreeBSD operating system
(and of course answer them!). Although originally intended to reduce
bandwidth and avoid the same old questions being asked over and over
again, FAQs have become recognised as valuable information resources.
Every effort has been made to make this FAQ as informative as
possible; if you have any suggestions as to how it may be improved,
please feel free to mail them to the
<url url="mailto:questions@FreeBSD.ORG" name="FreeBSD-questions
Mailing list"> or to <url url="mailto:faq@FreeBSD.ORG"
name="FreeBSD FAQ mailing list">
The latest released version is FreeBSD 2.1.0R. FreeBSD-current
refers to the future FreeBSD 2.2. The 2.1 release has been issued
from a special branch of the -current sources and is intended as a
even more stable version of 2.0.5.
There are regular snapshots extracted from 2.2-CURRENT. Check on
<tt>ftp.FreeBSD.ORG</tt> in <tt>/pub/FreeBSD/*-SNAP*</tt>.
<sect1>
<heading>What is FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
FreeBSD 2.X is a UN*X type operating system based on
Briefly, FreeBSD 2.X is a UN*X type operating system based on
U.C. Berkeley's 4.4BSD-lite release for the i386 platform. It is
also based indirectly on William Jolitz's port of U.C. Berkeley's
Net/2 to the i386, 386BSD. There have been many additions and
bug fixes made throughout the entire system, some of the
highlights of which are:
Net/2 to the i386, known as 386BSD. However, a very considerable
number of bug fixes and enhancements have been made to the original
code base, resulting in an extremely powerful and highly sophisticated
operating system.
FreeBSD is used by companies, Internet Service Providers, researchers,
computer professionals, students and home users all over the world
in their work, education and recreation. See some of them in the
<url url="http://www.freebsd.org/gallery.html" name="FreeBSd Gallery.">
For a more detailed description of FreeBSD, see the Introduction to
<url url="http://www.freebsd.org/handbook" name="FreeBSD Handbook.">
<sect1>
<heading>What are the goals of FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
The goals of the FreeBSD Project are to provide software that may
be used for any purpose and without strings attached. Many of us
have a significant investment in the code (and project) and would
certainly not mind a little financial renumeration now and then,
but we're definitely not prepared to insist on it. We believe
that our first and foremost "mission" is to provide code to any
and all comers, and for whatever purpose, so that the code gets
the widest possible use and provides the widest possible benefit.
This is, I believe, one of the most fundamental goals of Free
Software and one that we enthusiastically support.
That code in our source tree which falls under the GNU Public License
(GPL) or GNU Library Public License (GLPL) comes with slightly more
strings attached, though at least on the side of enforced
access rather than the usual opposite. Due to the additional
complexities that can evolve in the commercial use of GPL software,
we do, however, endeavor to replace such software with submissions
under the more relaxed BSD copyright whenever possible.
<sect1>
<heading>Why is it called FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
<itemize>
<item>It may be used free of charge, even by commercial users.
<item>Full source for the operating system is freely available, and
the minimum possible restrictions have been placed upon its
use, distribution and incorporation into other work (commercial
or non-commercial).
<item>Anyone who has an improvement and/or bug fix is free to submit
their code and have it added to the source tree (subject to
one or two obvious provisos).
</itemize>
For those of our readers whose first language is not English, it may be
worth pointing out that the word ``free'' is being used in two ways here,
one meaning ``at no cost'', the other meaning ``you can do whatever you
like''. Apart from one or two things you <tt /cannot/ do with the
FreeBSD code, for example pretending you wrote it, you really can do
whatever you like with it.
<sect1>
<heading>What is the latest version of FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
Version 2.1.5 is the latest version; it was released in mid-July.
<sect1>
<heading>What is FreeBSD-current?</heading>
<p>
FreeBSD-current is the development version of the operating system,
which will in due course become version 2.2. As such, it is really
only of interest to developers working on the system. See the section
``Staying current with FreeBSD'' in the
<url url="http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/" name="FreeBSD Handbook">
<sect1>
<heading> What are ``snapshots''?<label id="snapshots"></heading>
<p>
Every now and again, a ``snapshot'' is taken of the development
code, which is prepared as if it were an official release; recently,
CDROMs have even been cut from the snapshots. The intention is to:-
<itemize>
<item>More robust and extensive PC device support
<item>System V-style IPC, messaging and semaphores
<item>Shared Libraries
<item>Much improved virtual memory code
<item>Better console driver support
<item>Network booting (diskless) support
<item>YP support
<item>Full support of the PCI bus
<item>Loadable kernel modules
<item>Serial Console Support
<item>Merged VM/Buffer Cache
<item>On demand PPP
<item>Sync PPP
<item>Improved SCSI support
<item>Test the latest version of the installation routine.
<item>Allow people who would like to run -current, but who don't
have the time and/or bandwidth to follow it on a day-to-day
basis, an easy way to do so.
<item>
Preserve a fixed reference point as to when the code was
reasonably reliable.
<item>Ensure that a new feature in need of testing has the
greatest possible number of potential testers.
</itemize>
<sect1>
<heading>What do I need to run FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
You'll need a 386 or better PC, with 4 MB or more of RAM and at
least 60 MB of hard disk space. It can run with a low end MDA
card but to run X11R6, a VGA or better video card is needed.
The astute reader will have noticed that the last two items are
somewhat mutually incompatible. As snapshots are based on
development code, no claim is made that a snapshot is regarded as
being of ``production quality'' - for that, you will have to use
official releases.
See the section on <ref id="hardware" name="Hardware compatibility">
<sect1>
<heading>Where can I get FreeBSD</heading>
<heading> What about FreeBSD-stable?</heading>
<p>
Back when FreeBSD 2.0.5 was released, we branched FreeBSD
development into two parts. One branch was named -stable, with the
intention that only well-tested bug fixes and small incremental
enhancements would be made to it (for Internet Service Providers
and other commercial enterprises for whom sudden shifts or
experimental features are quite undesirable). The other branch was
-current, which essentially has been one unbroken line since 2.0
was released. If a little ASCII art would help, this is how it
looks:
<p>
2.0
|
|
|
2.0.5 ---> 2.1 ---> 2.1.5 [-stable]
|
|
[-current] 2.2-SNAPs
|
|
2.2 (scheduled for Q4 '96)
|
|
.
<p>
The -current branch is slowly progressing towards 2.2 and beyond,
whereas the -stable branch will effectively end with 2.1.5.
<sect1>
<heading>Why is the -stable branch ending with 2.1.5? </heading>
<p>
While we'd certainly like to be able to continue both branches of
development, we've found that the version control tools available to
us are not particularly well-suited for this; in fact, they quickly
result in a maintenance nightmare for any branch which lives much
beyond 2-3 months. The -stable branch has, by contrast, lasted for
well over a year and what little sanity the FreeBSD developers have
left would be in serious jeopardy if we continued in this way.
Perhaps in the future we'll figure out another model which gives
everyone what they want, and we are working on such a model, but in
the meantime it's probably best to think of -stable coming to an end
with 2.1.5-RELEASE.
<sect1>
<heading> When are FreeBSD releases made?</heading>
<p>
As a general principle, the FreeBSD core team only release a new
version of FreeBSD when they believe that there are sufficient new
features and/or bug fixes to justify one, and are satisfied that the
changes made have settled down sufficiently to avoid compromising the
stability of the release. Many users regard this caution as one of
the best things about FreeBSD, although it can be a little
frustrating when waiting for all the latest goodies to become
available...
<p>
Releases are made about every 6 months on average.
<sect1>
<heading> Is FreeBSD only available for PCs?</heading>
<p>
At present, yes. If your machine has a different architecture, we
suggest you look at
<htmlurl url="http://www.netbsd.org/" name="NetBSD">
or
<htmlurl url="http://www.openbsd.org/" name="OpenBSD">.
<sect1>
<heading> Who is responsible for FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
The key decisions concerning the FreeBSD project, such as the
overall direction of the project and who is allowed to add code to
the source tree, are made by a ``core team'' consisting of 14
people. There is a much larger group, of about 50 people, who can
make changes to the source tree.
<p>
However, most non-trivial changes are discussed in advance in the
mailing lists, and there are no restrictions on who may take part
in the discussion.
<sect1>
<heading>Where can I get FreeBSD?<label id="where-get"></heading>
<p>
The distribution is available via anonymous ftp from:
<url url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/" name="the FreeBSD FTP site">
@ -92,12 +245,13 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
In Australia, you may find it at:
Advanced MM Distributors<newline>
45 Elstone Ave<newline>
Airport West VIC 3042<newline>
Advanced Multimedia Distributors<newline>
Factory 1/1 Ovata Drive<newline>
Tullamarine, Melbourne<newline>
Victoria<newline>
Australia<newline>
Voice: +61 3 374-1410<newline>
Fax: +61 3 338-7411 fax<newline>
Voice: +61 3 9338 67777<newline>
CDROM Support BBS<newline>
17 Irvine St<newline>
@ -205,11 +359,9 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
<sect1>
<heading>Books on FreeBSD</heading>
<p>
There currently aren't any books written specifically for
FreeBSD, although some people are supposedly working on some.
The FreeBSD Documentation Project exists, you may contact (or
better join them) on the <tt>doc</tt> mailing list:
There is a FreeBSD Documentation Project which you may contact (or
even better, join) on the <tt>doc</tt> mailing list:
<url url="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.ORG" name="&lt;doc@FreeBSD.ORG&gt;">.
A FreeBSD ``handbook'' is being created, and can be found as:
@ -286,67 +438,104 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
<url url="http://www.freebsd.org/" name="Main FreeBSD page">
The FreeBSD handbook has a pretty complete bibliography, look at:
The FreeBSD handbook has a pretty complete
<url url="http://www.FreeBSD.ORG/How/handbook/bibliography.html" name="Bibliography">
<sect>
<heading>FreeBSD goals</heading>
<p>
<sect1>
<heading>Copyrights</heading>
<p>
The goals of the FreeBSD Project are to provide software that may
be used for any purpose and without strings attached. Many of us
have a significant investment in the code (and project) and would
certainly not mind a little financial renumeration now and then,
but we're definitely not prepared to insist on it. We believe
that our first and foremost "mission" is to provide code to any
and all comers, and for whatever purpose, so that the code gets
the widest possible use and provides the widest possible benefit.
This is, I believe, one of the most fundamental goals of Free
Software and one that we enthusiastically support.
That code in our source tree which falls under the GNU Public License
(GPL) or GNU Library Public License (GLPL) comes with slightly more
strings attached, though at least on the side of enforced
access rather than the usual opposite. Due to the additional
complexities that can evolve in the commercial use of GPL software,
we do, however, endeavor to replace such software with submissions
under the more relaxed BSD copyright whenever possible.
<sect>
<heading>Installation</heading>
<p>
<sect1>
<heading>How do I install FreeBSD?</heading>
<heading>Which file do I download to get FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
I'll answer that in a minute, but first a few words of explanation
might be in order. FreeBSD is not an application that you can
run from inside an existing DOS/Windows setup, it is an operating
system in its own right (in the same way as Windows NT or OS/2).
<bf/IMPORTANT NOTE/ if you are installing 2.1.0R from tape, see
the question titled,
<ref id="install-tape" name="Help! I can't install from tape!">
To install it involves making a ``primary partition'' for it on
the hard disk and arranging for it to be booted at system startup.
(FreeBSD gives you the option of installing a boot manager, so you
will be able to choose which operating system to use every time the
system starts up. Alternatively, you can use the boot managers
provided with oher operating systems, such as OS/2 or Linux).
Obviously, this is not as simple as using an operating system that
those nice people you bought your PC from pre-installed for you,
but it's not too difficult provided you read (and, if possible, print
out) all the instructions before starting. It may be a lot to
read, but it's very complete. You should also make full note of the
exhortations to back everything up first and the legal disclaimers.
These are not there for amusement value - we mean it! However,
most people find the installation goes fairly smoothly.
If you are able to be connected to the Internet for the duration
of the FreeBSD installation (lucky you!), the simplest way to
install FreeBSD is to download
<url
url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.5-RELEASE/floppies/boot.flp"
name="the boot image,"> make a boot floppy, boot with it and watch it
pull down all the necessary files. Depending on connection speed and
how much of FreeBSD you wish to install, this could take several hours
(even the minimal installation requires downloading about 15MB of
compressed files).
For people who do not have good Internet connectivity, the best
way to install FreeBSD is to buy a CDROM (see <ref id="where-get"
name="Where to get FreeBSD"> for details). Unfortunately, this
is problematic for some people, as the support for IDE CDROMs in
FreeBSD is still in alpha (not because of some violent antipathy
towards IDE CDROMs, but simply due to a lack of people with the
necessary combination of skill, inclination and time). If you have
an IDE CDROM, you should use the
<url
url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.5-RELEASE/floppies/atapi.flp"
name="special boot floppy for IDE CDROMs."> If that doesn't work
for you, the alternative is to use one of the methods in the next
paragraph.
Finally, if you already have a copy of the necessary files, FreeBSD
can be installed from floppy disks, a DOS hard disk partition or
tape or over a network via SLIP, PPP, NFS, PLIP and Ethernet.
<sect1>
<heading>Where are the instructions for installing FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
Installation instructions can be found as:
<url url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.0-RELEASE/INSTALL"
name="INSTALL from 2.1.0R">
<url url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.5-RELEASE/INSTALL"
name="INSTALL from 2.1.5R">
Release notes are also available as:
<url url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.0-RELEASE/RELNOTES"
name="RELNOTES from 2.1.0R">
<url url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.5-RELEASE/RELNOTES"
name="RELNOTES from 2.1.5R">
On the CDROM, the following files are in the top-most directory:
<verb>
HARDWARE.TXT -- Hardware information
INSTALL -- Installation instructions
README.TXT -- Basic README file
RELNOTES -- Release notes
</verb>
<sect1>
<heading>I have only 4 MB of RAM. Can I install FreeBSD 2.1.0 ?</heading>
<heading>What do I need to run FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
you'll need a 386 or better PC, with 4 MB or more of RAM and at
least 60 MB of hard disk space. It can run with a low end MDA
card but to run X11R6, a VGA or better video card is needed.
See the section on <ref id="hardware" name="Hardware compatibility">
<sect1>
<heading>I have only 4 MB of RAM. Can I install FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
The latest version of FreeBSD (2.1.5) will install on a 4MB
system, provided you use the <url
url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.5-RELEASE/floppies/boot4.flp"
name="special boot floppy for 4MB systems.">
FreeBSD 2.1.0 does not install with 4 MB. To be exact: it does
not install with 640 kB base + 3 MB extended memory. If your
motherboard can remap some of the ``lost'' memory out of the
@ -367,29 +556,6 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
in 4 MB. Someone has even succeeded in booting with 2 MB (the
system was almost unusable though :-))
<sect1>
<heading>Help! I have no space! Must I delete everything first?</heading>
<p>
If your machine is already running DOS and has little or no free
space available for FreeBSD's installation, all is not lost! You
may find the ``<tt/FIPS/'' utility, provided in the
<tt>tools/</tt> subdirectory on the FreeBSD CDROM or on the
various FreeBSD ftp sites, to be quite useful.
<tt/FIPS/ allows you to split an existing DOS partition into two
pieces, preserving the original partition and allowing you to
install onto the second free piece. You first ``defrag'' your
DOS partition, using the DOS 6.xx <tt/DEFRAG/ utility or the
Norton Disk tools, then run <tt/FIPS/. It will prompt you for
the rest of the information it needs. Afterwards, you can reboot
and install FreeBSD on the new free slice. See the Distributions
menu for an estimation of how much free space you'll need for the
kind of installation you want.
NOTE: <tt/FIPS/ may cause problems with the mounting of your
DOS partition under FreeBSD 2.X.
<sect1>
<heading>Can Windows 95 co-exist with FreeBSD?</heading>
@ -397,6 +563,21 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
Install Windows 95 first, after that FreeBSD. FreeBSD's boot
manager will then manage to boot Win95 and FreeBSD.
<sect1>
<heading>How can I have more than one operating system on my PC?</heading>
<p>
Have a look at <url url="http://www.in.net/~jayrich/doc/multios.html" name="The multi-OS page.">
<sect1>
<heading>Can I install on an IDE disk with bad blocks?</heading>
<p>
FreeBSD's bad block (the ``<tt/bad144/'' command) handling is
still not 100&percnt; (to put it charitably) and it must
unfortunately be said that if you've got an IDE or ESDI drive
with lots of bad blocks, then FreeBSD is probably not for you!
That said, it does work on thousands of IDE based systems, so
you'd do well to try it first before simply giving up.
<sect1>
<heading>Can I use compressed DOS filesystems from FreeBSD?</heading>
@ -427,25 +608,34 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
<p>
mount -t msdos /dev/sd0s5 /dos_d
<sect1>
<heading>Strange things happen when I boot the install floppy!</heading>
<p>
If you're seeing things like the machine grinding to a halt or
spontaneously rebooting when you try to boot the install floppy,
here are three questions to ask yourself:-
<enum>
<item>Did you use a new, freshly-formatted, error-free floppy
(preferably a brand-new one striaght out of the box), as
opposed to the magazine coverdisk that's been lying under
the bed for the last three years)?
<item>Did you download the floppy image in binary (or image) mode?
(don't be embarrassed, even the best of us have made this
mistake at least once when FTP'ing things!)
<item>If you're using one of these new-fangled operating systems
like Windows95 or Windows NT, did you shut it down and restart
the system in plain, honest DOS? It seems these OS's can
interfere with programs that write directly to hardware, as
the disk creation program does; even running it inside a DOS
shell in the GUI can cause this problem.
</enum>
There have also been reports of Netscape causing problems when
downloading the boot floppy, so it's probably best to use a different
FTP client if you can.
<sect1>
<heading>Can I run DOS binaries under FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
Not yet, though BSDI has just donated their <tt/rundos/ DOS emulation
subsystem which we're now working on integrating and enhancing.
Send mail to
<url url="mailto:emulation@freebsd.org"
name="The FreeBSD emulation discussion list">
if you're interested in joining this effort!
For now, there is a neat utility called ``<tt/pcemu/'' in the
ports collection which emulates an 8088 and enough BIOS services
to run DOS text mode applications. It requires the X Window
System (provided as XFree86 3.1.2).
<sect1>
<heading>Help! I can't install from tape!<label id="install-tape"></heading>
<heading>Help! I can't install from tape!</heading>
<p>
If you are installing 2.1.0R from tape, you must create the tape
using a tar blocksize of 10 (5120 bytes). The default tar
@ -454,25 +644,6 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
you will get an error that complains about the record size being
too big.
<sect1>
<heading>How can I install onto a large SCSI disk?</heading>
<p>
This depends. If you don't have DOS (or another operating
system) on the system, you can just keep the drive in native mode
and simply make sure that your root partition is below 1024 cylinders so
the BIOS can boot the kernel from it. It you also have DOS/some
other OS on the drive then your best bet is to find out what
parameters that it thinks you have before installing FreeBSD.
When FreeBSD's installation procedure prompts you for these
values, you should then enter them rather than simply going with
the defaults.
There is a freely available utility distributed with FreeBSD
called ``<tt/pfdisk/'' (located in the <tt>tools</tt>
subdirectory on the FreeBSD CDROM or on the various FreeBSD
ftp sites) which can be used for this purpose.
<sect1>
<heading>Can I install on my laptop over PLIP (Parallel Line IP)?</heading>
<p>
@ -503,12 +674,78 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
</verb>
<sect1>
<heading>When I boot FreeBSD I get ``Missing Operating System''.</heading>
<heading>Which geometry should I use for a disk drive?<label id="geometry"></heading>
<p>
(By the "geometry" of a disk, we mean the number of cylinders,
heads and sectors/track on a disk - I'll refer to this as
C/H/S for convenience. This is how the PC's BIOS works out
which area on a disk to read/write from).
This seems to cause a lot of confusion for some reason. First
of all, the <tt /physical/ geometry of a SCSI drive is totally
irrelevant, as FreeBSD works in term of disk blocks. In fact, there
is no such thing as "the" physical geometry, as the sector density
varies across the disk - what manufacturers claim is the "true"
physical geometry is usually the geometry that they've worked out
results in the least wasted space. For IDE disks, FreeBSD does
work in terms of C/H/S, but all modern drives will convert this
into block references internally as well.
All that matters is the <tt /logical/ geometry - the answer that the
BIOS gets when it asks "what is your geometry" and then uses to access
the disk. As FreeBSD uses the BIOS when booting, it's very important
to get this right. In particular, if you have more than one operating
system on a disk, they must all agree on the geometry, otherwise you
will have serious problems booting!
For SCSI disks, the geometry to use depends on whether extended
translation support is turned on in your controller (this is
often referred to as "support for DOS disks &gt;1GB" or something
similar). If it's turned off, then use N cylinders, 64 heads
and 32 sectors/track, where 'N' is the capacity of the disk in
MB. For example, a 2GB disk should pretend to have 2048 cylinders,
64 heads and 32 sectors/track.
If it <tt /is/ turned on (it's often supplied this way to get around
certain limitations in MSDOS) and the disk capacity is more than 1GB,
use M cylinders, 63 heads (*not* 64), and 255 sectors per track, where
'M' is the disk capacity in MB divided by 7.844238 (!). So our
example 2GB drive would have 261 cylinders, 63 heads and 32 sectors
per track.
If you are not sure about this, or FreeBSD fails to detect the
geometry correctly during installation, the simplest way around
this is usually to create a small DOS partition on the disk. The
correct geometry should then be detected (and you can always remove
the DOS partition in the partition editor if you don't want to keep
it).
Alternatively, there is a freely available utility distributed with
FreeBSD called ``<tt/pfdisk.exe/'' (located in the <tt>tools</tt>
subdirectory on the FreeBSD CDROM or on the various FreeBSD
ftp sites) which can be used to work out what geometry the other
operating systems on the disk are using. You can then enter this
geometry in the partition editor.
<sect1>
<heading>Any restrictions on how I divide the disk up?</heading>
<p>
See question above. This is classically a case of FreeBSD and
DOS or some other OS conflicting over their ideas of disk
geometry. You will have to reinstall FreeBSD, but obeying the
Yes. You must make sure that your root partition is below 1024
cylinders so the BIOS can boot the kernel from it. (Note that this
is a limitation in the PC's BIOS, not FreeBSD).
For a SCSI drive, this will normally imply that the root partition
will be in the first 1024MB (or in the first 4096MB if extended
translation is turned on - see previous question). For IDE, the
corresponding figure is 504MB.
<sect1>
<heading>When I boot FreeBSD I get ``Missing Operating System''.</heading>
<p>
This is classically a case of FreeBSD and DOS or some other OS
conflicting over their ideas of disk <ref id="geometry"
name="geometry."> You will have to reinstall FreeBSD, but obeying the
instructions given above will almost always get you going.
<sect1>
@ -570,14 +807,29 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
need to worry about tuning your filesystem! :-)
<sect1>
<heading>I have an IDE drive with lots of bad blocks on it...</heading>
<heading>I have bad blocks on my hard drive!</heading>
<p>
FreeBSD's bad block (the ``<tt/bad144/'' command) handling is
still not 100&percnt; (to put it charitably) and it must
unfortunately be said that if you've got an IDE or ESDI drive
with lots of bad blocks, then FreeBSD is probably not for you!
That said, it does work on thousands of IDE based systems, so
you'd do well to try it first before simply giving up.
With SCSI drives, the drive should be capable of re-mapping
these automatically. However, many drives are shipped with
this feature disabled, for some mysterious reason...
To enable this, you'll need to edit the first device page mode,
which can be done on FreeBSD by giving the command (as root)
<verb>
scsi -f /dev/rsd0c -m 1 -e -P 3
</verb>
and changing the values of AWRE and ARRE from 0 to 1:-
<verb>
AWRE (Auto Write Reallocation Enbld): 1
ARRE (Auto Read Reallocation Enbld): 1
</verb>
For other drive types, you are dependent on support from the
operating system. Unfortunately, the ``bad144'' command that
FreeBSD supplies for this purpose needs a considerable amount
of work done on it...
IDE drives are <em/supposed/ to come with built-in bad-block
remapping; if you have documentation for your drive, you may want
@ -590,7 +842,8 @@ Any entries with a &lt;XXX&gt; are under construction.
<p>
No. FreeBSD 2.X comes with bounce buffers which allows your bus
mastering controller access to greater than 16MB. (Note that this
is not required if you have a PCI motherboard).
should only be required if you are using ISA devices, although
one or two broken EISA and VLB devices may need it as well).
<sect1>
<heading>I keep seeing messages like ``<tt/ed1: timeout/''.</heading>
@ -1417,6 +1670,22 @@ pseudo-device vn #Vnode driver (turns a file into a device)
<p>
Please refer to the answer to the previous question.
<sect1>
<heading>Can I run DOS binaries under FreeBSD?</heading>
<p>
Not yet, though BSDI has just donated their <tt/rundos/ DOS emulation
subsystem which we're now working on integrating and enhancing.
Send mail to
<url url="mailto:emulation@freebsd.org"
name="The FreeBSD emulation discussion list">
if you're interested in joining this effort!
For now, there is a neat utility called ``<tt/pcemu/'' in the
ports collection which emulates an 8088 and enough BIOS services
to run DOS text mode applications. It requires the X Window
System (provided as XFree86 3.1.2).
<sect1>
<heading>My programs occasionally die with ``Signal 11'' errors.</heading>
<p>
@ -1623,15 +1892,6 @@ pseudo-device vn #Vnode driver (turns a file into a device)
but the `<tt/`vt08/'' is quite important -- it must point to a vt
that won't be used by <tt/getty/'s about a second later.
<sect1>
<heading>What's FreeBSD-current?</heading>
<p>
Read this:
<url url="http://www.freebsd.org/How/handbook/current.html"
name="Handbook entry on FreeBSD-CURRENT">
it will tell you all you need to know.
<sect1>
<heading>What is this thing called ``<tt/sup/'', and how do I use it?</heading>
@ -1717,17 +1977,19 @@ pseudo-device vn #Vnode driver (turns a file into a device)
control over your machine to the eternal damnation of your soul.
Given a choice, I think I'd prefer to get used to the scratchy
noises, myself!
<sect1>
<heading>How do I create customized installation disks?</heading>
<p>
The entire process of creating installation disks and source and
binary archives is automated by various targets in
<tt>/usr/src/release/Makefile</tt>. The information there should
be enough to get you started.
be enough to get you started. However, it should be said that this
involves doing a ``make world'' and will therefore take up a lot of
time and disk space.
<sect1>
<heading>&quot;make world&quot; clobbers my existing installed binaries.</heading>
<heading>``make world'' clobbers my existing installed binaries.</heading>
<p>
Yes, this is the general idea; as its name might suggest,
@ -1896,8 +2158,8 @@ pseudo-device vn #Vnode driver (turns a file into a device)
write to the printer status port for setting addresses, plus that
use that address + <tt/0x800/, and a third I/O port for reading
that can be located anywhere between <tt/0x200/ and <tt/0x3ff/.
<sect>
<heading>Kernel Configuration</heading>
<p>
@ -3173,6 +3435,10 @@ domain foo.bar.edu
FreeBSD Doc Team
<tag/Jordan Hubbard/
Janitorial services (I don't do windows)
<tag/Doug White/
Services above and beyond the call of duty on freebsd-questions
<tag/Joerg Wunsch/
Services above and beyond the call of duty on Usenet
<tag/Garrett Wollman/
Networking and formatting
<tag/Jim Lowe/