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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.questions:4720 comp.os.386bsd.misc:797 comp.os.386bsd.development:1154 Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions,comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.386bsd.development Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!decwrl!decwrl!netcomsv!netcom.com!jmonroy From: jmonroy@netcom.com (Jesus Monroy Jr) Subject: [ANSWER to question] How to format a floppy for 386bsd Message-ID: <jmonroyCCKEKC.KJD@netcom.com> Keywords: floppy format Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1993 09:05:00 GMT Lines: 67 mail rgrimes@agora.rain.com more info to add to FDC stuff It was posted. It all looks correct. We need to keep a copy for us and our testers, just in case. BTW, I did not know how to do this. ==============================cut here======================================= mail dsilvia@blunt.net.com Re: Subject: FAQ: floppies that boot ******************************* 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!;^}) ******************************************************************************** ___________________________________________________________________________ Jesus Monroy Jr jmonroy@netcom.com /386BSD/device-drivers /fd /qic /clock /documentation ___________________________________________________________________________