diff --git a/release/texts/FLOPPIES.TXT b/release/texts/FLOPPIES.TXT index c817d8c41b32..7e5e8617f74f 100644 --- a/release/texts/FLOPPIES.TXT +++ b/release/texts/FLOPPIES.TXT @@ -1,57 +1,59 @@ -For a normal CDROM or network installation, all you need to copy onto an -actual floppy from this directory is the boot.flp image (for 1.44MB floppies). +For a normal CDROM or network installation, all you need to copy onto +actual floppies from this directory are the kern.flp and mfsroot.flp +images (for 1.44MB floppies). -If you're on the ALPHA then the boot.flp image is probably larger -than any kind of floppy you have available and you will need to -either netboot it, load it from some other type of media (such -as a jaz drive) or use the kern.flp image described below. - -This release still uses only one installation floppy, the boot.flp -image. For convenience (and for the DEC ALPHA architecture, on which -binaries are quite a bit larger), however, we also provide the -functionality of boot.flp now "decoupled" into a kern.flp image, -which contains just the boot kernel, and mfsroot.flp, which contains -the compressed MFS root image that is normally stored as part of -the kernel itself on the boot.flp image. This allows you to boot -from kern.flp, which will fit on a 1.44MB floppy even on the alpha, -and then use mfsroot.flp from a 2nd floppy. This also allows you -to easily make your own boot or MFS floppies should you need to customize -some aspect of the installation process. As long as the kernel is compiled -with ``options MFS'' and ``options MFS_ROOT'', it will properly look for -and boot an mfsroot.flp image when run. The mfsroot.flp image is simply -a gzip'd filesystem image, something which can be made rather -easily using vnconfig(8). If none of this makes any sense to you, -don't worry about it - just use the boot.flp image as always; nothing -has changed there. - - -NOTE: The *.flp images are NOT DOS files! You cannot simply copy them -to a DOS or UFS floppy as regular files, you need to *image* copy them -to the floppy with fdimage.exe under DOS or `dd' under UNIX. +Get two blank, freshly formatted floppies and image copy kern.flp +onto one and mfsroot.flp onto the other. These images are NOT DOS +files! You cannot simply copy them to a DOS or UFS floppy as +regular files, you need to "image" copy them to the floppy with +fdimage.exe under DOS (see the tools/ directory on your CDROM or +FreeBSD FTP mirror) or the `dd' command in UNIX. For example: -To create the boot floppy image from DOS, you'd do something like +To create the kern floppy image from DOS, you'd do something like this: -C> fdimage boot.flp a: - -Assuming that you'd copied fdimage.exe and boot.flp into a directory -somewhere. If you were doing this from the base of a CD distribution, -then the *exact* command would be: - -E> tools\fdimage floppies\boot.flp a: +C> fdimage kern.flp a: +Assuming that you'd copied fdimage.exe and kern.flp into a directory +somewhere. You would do the same for mfsroot.flp, of course. If you're creating the boot floppy from a UNIX machine, you may find that: - dd if=floppies/boot.flp of=/dev/rfd0 + dd if=floppies/kern.flp of=/dev/rfd0 or - dd if=floppies/boot.flp of=/dev/floppy + dd if=floppies/kern.flp of=/dev/floppy work well, depending on your hardware and operating system environment (different versions of UNIX have totally different names for the floppy drive - neat, huh? :-). + +If you're on an ALPHA machine which netboots its floppy images or +you have a 2.88MB or LS-120 floppy capable of taking a 2.88MB image +on an x86 machine, you may still wish to use the older (but now +twice as large) boot.flp image which we also provide. That contains +the contents of kern.flp and mfsroot.flp on a single floppy, +essentially, and can be used in all of the above scenarios as well +as a handy boot image for those mastering "El Torito" bootable CD +images. See the mkisofs(1) command for more information. + +Going to two installation boot floppies is a step we definitely +would have rather avoided but we simply no longer could due to +general code bloat and FreeBSD's many new device drivers in GENERIC. + +One positive side-effect of this new organizational scheme, however, +is that it also allows one to easily make one's own kern or MFS +floppies should a need to customize some aspect of the installation +process or use a custom kernel for an otherwise unsupported piece of +hardware arise. As long as the kernel is compiled with +``options MFS'' and ``options MFS_ROOT'', it will properly look for +and boot an mfsroot.flp image in memory when run (see how the +/boot/loader.rc file in kern.flp does its thing). The mfsroot.flp +image is also just a gzip'd filesystem image which is used as root, +something which can be made rather easily using vnconfig(8). +If none of that makes any sense to you then don't worry about it - +just use the kern.flp and mfsroot.flp images as described above.