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From: terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C)
Subject: Re: trying to boot off Tiny BSD (dist.fs)
Message-ID: <1993Feb19.182129.24913@fcom.cc.utah.edu>
Sender: news@fcom.cc.utah.edu
Organization: Weber State University (Ogden, UT)
References: <1993Feb18.170205.4213@nic.csu.net>
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 18:21:29 GMT
Lines: 49
In article <1993Feb18.170205.4213@nic.csu.net> jtmack@rincon.sfsu.edu (James T. Mack) writes:
>
> I have a CD-ROM that I borrowed from a friend with the 386BSD on
>it and have been trying to get it to boot from a floppy for some time now.
>I have read almost all the FAQ's and doc I could get my hands on but am
>still having no luck.
> So far I have used the "rawrite" to create a binary image on a
>3.5" floppy of the "dist.fs" file. When I reboot my machine my drive
>just runs and reads nothing, giving no sign of life. I know no one who
>has used or tried to use BSD so I am alone on getting this boot disk to
>work. I have a Packard Bell 386sx (the creeeper) with an adaptec 1452
>controller along with a 640meg Maxtor scsi drive. Am I doing something
>wrong or is my machine just not going to take it? Any help would be
>appreciated...email or here.
You need a patched kernel to boot initially; the dist.fs and fixit.fs files
on the CDROM are not patched. Basically, about 50% of packard bell
machines require the HP Vectra/AT&T CMOS boot fix(*), which exists in all but
the earliest kernels, such as the ones on the CDROM.
If the CDROM has an "unofficial" directory mirrored from agate, then you
should be OK as long as it wasn't cut too long ago. One of the other
advantages of a patched kernel is it will allow you to mount CDROMs if
your CDROM drive is SCSI.
You say you have an "adaptec 1452 controller"; I assume you mean a 1542.
If it isn't a 1542B (I hear there is now a 1542C as well, no data on it),
then you will need a kernel patched with Julian's SCSI drivers -- unlikely
to be on your disk, but avaialble on patched kernels from ref.tfs.com and
agate.berkeley.edu. Other than that, the 1542A is not supported.
(*) I spent about 6 hours running back and forth to Sears one day making
all the Packard Bell machines boot from a single disk with modified
boot code (and a couple of off brands as well) back when I was
considering something that wasn't upgradable to a 486/100 DX/2
(ie: at least a 485/50 DX). Power corrupts 8-).
Terry Lambert
terry@icarus.weber.edu
terry_lambert@novell.com
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.
--
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"I have an 8 user poetic license" - me
Get the 386bsd FAQ from agate.berkeley.edu:/pub/386BSD/386bsd-0.1/unofficial
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