Return to BSD News archive
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!pacbell.com!unet!blunt!dsilvia
From: dsilvia@blunt.net.com (Dave Silvia)
Subject: FAQ: floppies that boot
Message-ID: <1993Apr6.190634.16367@unet.net.com>
Sender: news@unet.net.com
Nntp-Posting-Host: blunt
Organization: Network Equipment Technologies
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1993 19:06:34 GMT
Lines: 48
******************************* FAQ ****************************************
Q: How do I get a bootable floppy?
A: Several ways, ranging from brain-dead-but-works to simplest.
Classification into categories is left to the reader (is there
really a difference between 'brain-dead' and 'simple'?:')
1) rawrite (or dd) dist.fs (or fixit.fs) to a disk,
mount it, cd to the mount point, and execute:
rm -rf .
you now have a bootable floppy!;^}
2) Take your existing dist.fs or fixit.fs boot disk and
diskcopy it on a DOS machine. Mount and rm as in 1)
above. Again, you have a bootable floppy!;^}
3) Run disklabel on the floppy, e.g.:
disklabel -w -r fd0a floppy5
where 'floppy5' is a 'name' for an entry in the disktab
file in /etc. You'll get a couple of ioctl errors because
writing a label to a floppy isn't supported (yet?), but
the boot blocks have indeed been written.
4) Write the boot blocks to the floppy:
cat /usr/mdec/fdboot /usr/mdec/bootfd | dd of=/dev/rfd0a
or, more simply:
cat /usr/mdec/fdboot /usr/mdec/bootfd > /dev/rfd0a
Methods 3) and 4) require you to run newfs on the floppy, e.g.:
newfs /dev/rfd0a floppy5
If you have a floppy that was originally bootable, but the boot
blocks were somehow damaged, you can use method 3) or 4) to
restore bootability (do _NOT_ run newfs). You _could_, through
the convolutions of copying a floppy whose boot blocks are damaged
to a temporary location and then recopying to a bootable floppy,
use method 1) or 2) (if you really want to!;^})
********************************************************************************