*BSD News Article 29237


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From: jackson@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Bruce Jackson)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Impressions: FreeBSD vs Linux
Date: 6 Apr 1994 21:38:31 GMT
Organization: University of North Texas, Denton
Lines: 43
Message-ID: <2nva4n$8t9@hermes.unt.edu>
References: <CMzw69.92K@tower.nullnet.fi> <2nf0fo$76u@sbus.entropic.com> <2nm6tb$m6u@klaava.Helsinki.FI> <2nmeb4$ro@menudo.uh.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: ponder.csci.unt.edu

In article <2nmeb4$ro@menudo.uh.edu>, cosc19v2 <cosc19v2@menudo.uh.edu> wrote:

>Here is my experience in installing NetBSD.  I somewhat succeeded, so
>if people are interested in, they may continue to read.

>How good if that hassle would just work. If you followed the instruction 
>correctly, it doesn't work either.

>After wasting lots of time in figuring out using trial-and-error method,
>I finally found a way how to install DOS/*BSD in one IDE drive :

[long ordeal deleted]

The way I did it was much easier.  The only item you need is a
bootable DOS disk with typical utilities like fdisk, a partition
editor, and os-bs from FreeBSD (I've never found this on the NetBSD
archives).  The DOS partition should be on the beginning of your hard
disk and space left for NetBSD.  If you use drive translation than you
must enter the same number of cylinders, heads, and sectors in the
install script that DOS thinks its dealing with.

Go thorugh the NetBSD install script and when it asks you for the size of
the BSD partiton answer the size of the disk minus the size of the DOS
partition in sectors.  When it asks for the offset enter the size of the
DOS partition.

After you have the base system installed, boot the DOS disk and use the
partition editor to make the DOS area back into a DOS partition and
make it active.  Boot off of the hard disk and then run os-bs.

I've used this method on both IDE and SCSI disks with no problem although
as everything else goes, your millege may vary.

I don't know what the install notes say.  I tend to only read the docs
when all else fails.  I haven't used Linux in a while but so far I've
had less trouble with os-bs than lilo.  Certainly Linux and *BSD are
all excellent systems.  *BSD is not _THAT_ hard to install although
Linux does have an edge in this department.

-- 
 Bruce Jackson         | Univ. of North Texas   | jackson@cs.unt.edu
 UNIX Systems Admin.   | P. O. Box 13886        | GAB 550E (817)565-2279
 Dept. of Computer Sci.| Denton, Tx. 76203-3886 | FAX: (817)565-2799