305 lines
11 KiB
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305 lines
11 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
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<! $Id: intro.html,v 1.6 1998/08/19 17:32:59 abial Exp $ >
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<HEAD>
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<TITLE>PicoBSD</TITLE>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<CENTER><h1><B>PicoBSD</B></h1>
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<HR shade align="center" size="8" width="25%"></CENTER>
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<IMG SRC="../../icons/daemon.gif" ALIGN="right">
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<p><b>Contents:</b></p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<A HREF="#what">What is it</a>, and
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<A HREF="#hardware">what hardware is supported?</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<A HREF="#where"><b>Where can I get it?</b></a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<A HREF="#how">How can I use it?</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<A HREF="#create">Create your own, custom version of PicoBSD!</a>
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<p>Get the full PicoBSD Development Kit as well as full CVS repository of
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the project.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<A HREF="#info">Where can I get more info?</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<A HREF="bugs.html">Release history and bugs parade...</a>
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<li>
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<A HREF="#future">Plans for the future.</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<A HREF="#credits">Credits</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<A HREF="#license">Licensing issues</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<A HREF="faq.html">FAQ</a>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<HR shade align="center">
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<HR shade align="center">
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<A NAME="what"><h3>What is it?</h3>
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<p>If you ever dreamed about having really small, tiny, minimal system that
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would offer you benefits of Unix, while still fitting in reasonable space -
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here it is!</p>
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<p>PicoBSD is a one floppy version of
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<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> 3.0-current, which in its
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different variations allows you to have secure dialup access, small diskless
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router or even a dial-in server. And all this on only one standard 1.44MB
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floppy - no need to sacrifice over 100MB of your precious HDD space.</p>
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<p>PicoBSD is... well, pico-sized :-) , and the minimal hardware that
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is required to run it is 386SX CPU with 8MB of RAM (no HDD!).
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</p>
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<A NAME="hardware">
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<p>Here you can find detailed <A HREF="hardware.html">list of supported
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hardware and features</a>.
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<p>Current version of PicoBSD is 0.4, and this means that I consider it
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greatly immature, while on the other hand being somewhat tested and improved
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over previous versions. Does it tell you something? Well, at least you can
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try it - I cannot guarantee that it doesn't burn your house or blow up your
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machine, though the former is unlikely... :-)</p>
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<HR shade align="center">
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<A NAME="where"><h3>Where can I get it?</h3>
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<p><A HREF="bugs.html">DON'T DOWNLOAD IT NOW! Wait a few days for a bugfix...</a></p>
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<p>There are two language editions of PicoBSD - English and Polish one. You'll
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be probably more interested in the former :-) The only difference is in
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the set of fonts included, C locale, and the language of messages.</p>
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<p>You can download them from www.freebsd.org or one of its mirrors:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Dialup version: <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/pb_en-D.bin">English</a>
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(<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/doc_dial/README.en">README</a>) or
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<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/pb_pl-D.bin">Polish</a>
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(<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/doc_dial/README.pl">README</a>)
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</li>
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<li>Networking (formerly known as 'router-like') version: <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/pb_en-N.bin">English</a>
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(<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/doc_net/README.en">README</a>)
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or <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/pb_pl-N.bin">Polish</a>
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(<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/doc_net/README.pl">README</a>)
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</li>
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<li>Router version: <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/pb_en-R.bin">English</a>
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(<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/doc_router/README.en">README</a>)
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or <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/pb_pl-R.bin">Polish</a>
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(<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/doc_router/README.pl">README</a>)
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</li>
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<li>Dial-in server version: waiting for
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<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/beta.html">beta testers</a> ... :-)
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</ul>
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<p><i>(See the <A HREF="hardware.html">feature list</a> for more
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details)</i></p>
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<p>The above floppies were built from 3.0-current sources. Though they
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provide more features, they tend to be less stable than the latest
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RELEASE of FreeBSD. Dinesh Nair back-ported these scripts to the
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latest release (2.2.5), and continues development of PicoBSD using sources
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from that branch. You can find floppies built from 2.2.5 sources
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<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd225/">here</a> or at
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<A HREF="http://info.net-gw.com/picoBSD/">his server</a>.</p>
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<HR shade align="center">
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<A NAME="how"><h3>How can I use it?</h3>
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<p>Previous versions were packed with PKZIP(tm) compatible program - now they
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are simply the raw binary floppy images, so you just need to grab the
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appropriate version of the file.</p>
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<p>I assume you will use 1.44MB floppy to boot the system - other sizes
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(bigger) are not tested.</p>
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<p>The file 'pb_xx-X.bin' must be written onto a blank floppy. It does NOT
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mean that it can be copied using e.g. DOS 'copy' command. You must use a
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program like
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<A HREF="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/tools/rawrite.exe">rawrite.exe</a>
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or
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<A HREF="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/tools/fdimage.exe">fdimage.exe</a>
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to write this file directly on the raw floppy.</p>
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<p>Under DOS you would do something like this:</p>
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<pre>
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C:\> fdimage.exe pb_xx-X.bin a:
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</pre>
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<p>while under Unix you would use something like:</p>
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<pre>
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dd if=pb_xx-X.bin of=/dev/rfd0
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</pre>
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<p>Then boot off this floppy and enjoy!</p>
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<p>If you feel lost, try the 'help' command (it's available only on "dialup"
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floppies)</p>
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<HR shade align="center">
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<A NAME="create">
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<h3>Create your own, custom version of PicoBSD!</h3>
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<p>I made available also the
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<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd/picobsd.tgz">set of tools</a>
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(a.k.a the PicoBSD Development Kit) I used to create the floppies (see also the
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<A HREF="how2build.html">detailed instructions</a>)</p>
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<p>You can also get the copy of
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<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/pcvs.tgz">the CVS repository</a> of
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the project - CVSup operation is still under construction...</p>
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<p> Now, if you don't like the setup of PicoBSD, or you miss
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some program, or (better yet) you want to improve PicoBSD - you can grab the
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copy of exactly the same tools I used and build your own, customized
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version! </p>
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<p>Think of it: if your're an ISP, you can build the dialup version for
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your customers, including some scripts to automatically connect them to
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your site. You can also create a demo disk for your friend (or your boss! :-)).
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You can also build a firewall/router for your office, etc, etc...
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possibilities are really endless and limited only by your imagination.</p>
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<p>You will need at least 10MB of free disk space for building, and of course
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the full system sources installed. I also assume that the sources are
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quite -current. There is also a back-ported version of the scripts prepared by
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<A HREF="mailto:dinesh@alphaque.com">Dinesh Nair</a> which builds ok on
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2.2.6-R systems.</p>
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<p>Version 0.31 was packed with pax(1) - newer versions are packed again
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with tar and gzip to avoid confusion... :-)</p>
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<p>I'm very interested in hearing from you about your experiences - if you
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come up with a setup you think is interesting, please let me know!</p>
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<HR shade align="center">
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<A NAME="info"><h3>Where can I get more info?</h3>
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<p>Almost all of the programs included on the floppies are exactly the
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same versions as in normal FreeBSD installation, so that the normal
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manual pages apply. However, I didn't include the manpages themselves -
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they would take over 200kB!</p>
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<p> For the total newbies, which would use (I assume)
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the 'dialup' version, there is a short README on the floppy which gives
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step by step instructions on how to get a dialup connection. There is also
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a script called 'dialup' which attempts to configure PPP to allow for automatic
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log in to your provider, and for background operation.
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There is also a small help system ('help' command)</p>
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<p> There are some system utilities which are unique to PicoBSD, and at this
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moment they are documented in detail only in source and READMEs :-(.</p>
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<p>As for the new releases which will (hopefully) be prepared in the future:
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just keep an eye on this page. I'll also send announcements to FreeBSD mailing
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lists.</p>
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<HR shade align="center">
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<A NAME="future"><h3>Plans for the future</h3>
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<p>Well, I hope that thanks to your comments I'll be able to continuously
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improve the setup and contents of PicoBSD. I also have specific dreams (if
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dreams can be specific..) - here they are, as an incentive to your
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imagination and coding skills:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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To write a command line tool patterned after Cisco IOS, which could configure
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various aspects of router-like version of PicoBSD. I'm nowhere near with this
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goal - I even don't have any good idea how to do it cleanly (I do have some
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ideas, but I classify them as dirty hacks).
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</li>
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<li>
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To put an XWindow-like GUI on the 'dialup' floppy. (Update: you can look at
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<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/preview/preview2.tgz">preview
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version</a> and send me your comments).
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</li>
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<li>
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To gain some experience with solid state disks, and prepare standard images
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for e.g. 4MB versions of SSD, with Cisco 25xx-like contents... I also hope
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to achieve this goal in the nearest
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future, thanks to involvement of some PicoBSD enthusiast :-)</p>
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(Update: I'm experimenting with an M-System's 16MB flash right now, and
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there is also ongoing development for a driver for their DiskOnChip)
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</li>
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<li>
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To be able to boot from more primitive filesystem than FFS - DOS or Minix
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would be just fine, as they don't waste so much space for their internals.
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</li>
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<li>
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To have an alternative to current MFS - it wastes a lot of space just
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because it mimicks the normal FFS on top of memory blocks...
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</li>
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<li>
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To further minimize the memory footprint of router-like setup. I'd like it
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to be able to run truely effortlessly on 4MB machines... This would
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probably include rewriting oinit(8) to run multithreaded.
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</li>
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<li>
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And many others, too vague to put them here. <b>You</b> can also suggest me
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some others applications/solutions you're dreaming of...
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</li>
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</ul>
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<A NAME="credits"><h3>Credits</h3>
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<p>The following people are either responsible for the very existence of this
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project, or significantly eased my pains of gaining necessary knowledge:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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the whole FreeBSD team for this magnificent OS, and their hard work of
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continuous development,
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</li>
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<li>
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Dinesh Nair, for co-development and preparing of the version which compiles
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on -RELEASE,
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</li>
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<li>
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Joe Greco, for his encouraging example of XKERNEL (some parts of the scripts
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still bear his fingerprints :-) (you can get it
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<A HREF="../../../xkernel.tgz">here</a>).
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</li>
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<li>Goran Hasse of <A HREF="http://www.raditex.se">Raditex AB, Sweden</a>, for
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sending me an M-Systems' flash disk to experiment with.
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</li>
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<li>
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Mike Smith for various tips and encouragement.
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</li>
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<li>
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freebsd-* mailing lists participants, which helped me with some other
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pieces.
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</li>
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<li>
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and many other people who keep encouraging me to continue this work. Thanks,
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guys!
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</li>
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</ul>
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<A NAME="license"><h3>Licensing issues</h3>
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<p>PicoBSD is distributed under BSD copyright,
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which allows you to use it in various ways, including commercial
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applications. So grab it and enjoy! And if you feel that you want to help
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with this project, either by donating some time to write code, or by
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some other donation, just <A HREF="mailto:abial@nask.pl">contact me</a>.</p>
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<h5>Last modified:
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Fri Aug 7 08:35:20 CEST 1998
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</h5>
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<HR shade align="left" size="2" width="100%">
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<CENTER><h5>Any comments? Send them to
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<A HREF="mailto:abial@nask.pl">the author</A> </h5></CENTER>
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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