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From: tim@maths.tcd.ie (Timothy Murphy)
Subject: 386bsd0.1 -- install.tex
Message-ID: <1992Aug2.184255.28195@maths.tcd.ie>
Summary: Translation of INSTALL.NOTES into LaTeX
Keywords: 386BSD INSTALL.NOTES LaTeX
Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1992 18:42:55 GMT
Lines: 245
A translation of INSTALL.NOTES from the 386BSD v0.1 distribution
into LaTeX may be retrieved from ftp.maths.tcd.ie
in pub/386bsd-0.1/install.tex .
Here is a disembowelled version of the file.
=========================================================
\documentstyle[12pt,a4]{article}
\begin{document}
\title{Installation Notes\\
for\\
386BSD Release 0.1
\thanks{This \LaTeX\ file was translated from
the file INSTALL.NOTES in the 386BSD 0.1 distribution
by Timothy Murphy ({\tt tim@maths.tcd.ie}1),
using a semi-automatic Perl script.}}
\author{William Jolitz\\
Lynne Jolitz}
\date{July 1992}
\maketitle
\section{386BSD Release 0.1}
Welcome to 386BSD Release 0.1, the second edition of
the 386BSD operating system created by William and Lynne
Jolitz. Like its predecessor, 386BSD Release 0.0, Release
0.1 comprises an entire and complete UNIX-like operating
system for the 80386/80486-based AT Personal Computer.
386BSD Release 0.1 is an enhanced version of the original
release done by William F. Jolitz, the developer of
386BSD. 386BSD Release 0.0 was based on the Networking
Software, Release 2 from the University of California at
Berkeley EECS Department, and included much of the 386BSD
work done earlier by Bill and contributed by us to the
University. The latest release, 386BSD Release 0.1, contains
new work by the developer and many new items which
have been freely contributed by other software developers
for incorporation into 386BSD (see the file CONTRIB.LIST).
These contributions have increased the functionality and
made it more robust. As a courtesy to the developer and the
many people who have generously contributed these software
enhancements, we request that users abide by and properly
maintain all attributions, copyrights, and copylefts contained
within this release.
386BSD is intended to foster new research and development
in operating systems and networking technology by providing
this base technology in a broadly accessible manner.
As such, like its predecessor, 386BSD Release 0.1 is freely
redistributable and modifiable.
\section{Features of 386BSD Release 0.1}
\section{386BSD Documentation and Sources of Information}
\section{386BSD Release 0.1 Contents:}
\section{Manifests}
\section{Scope and Goals of 386BSD Releases:}
\section{Devices Supported in this Release:}
\section{A Tour through the Tiny 386BSD Installation Floppy}
\section{Booting Up Tiny 386BSD}
\section{Elements of Tiny 386BSD}
\section{Files of Tiny 386BSD}
\section{The baseutils.cpio.Z file}
\section{386BSD Installation Procedures}
\section{Resizing MS-DOS and Creating a Partition}
\section{Installing the 386BSD Base System}
\section{Bad Sector Mapping}
\section{Loading the 386BSD Binary Distribution}
\section{Extracting and Loading the 386BSD Binary on the Disk}
\section{DES Encryption}
\section{A Personal Perspective}
Life often goes in cycles, so they say. Ten years or so
ago, another system developed by Bill (also unfunded, by the
way) went out the door -- the 2.8 BSD release for the PDP11.
(At that time, the PDP-11 was the ``inexpensive'' computer
of choice for universities and research groups). 2.8
BSD was the first complete BSD operating system and utilities
release for the PDP-11, and it was very successful.
However, the PDP-11 architecture was eventually superceded
by other faster machines such as the VAX.
By choosing such a popular platform as the 386/486 PC,
we had hoped that 386BSD would go even further than 2.8 BSD
ever could. We have already seen how a ``populist'' system on
an inexpensive platform could excite interest and new work,
and we hoped that 386BSD would reignite a new era of
innovation.
As we look back over the last two decades, we feel it
is important to remind everyone of some of the history of
BSD development, so you can understand why we feel that making
386BSD available and accessible, and evolving it in new
directions, is so very important. Perhaps Dennis Ritchie and
Ken Thompson expressed it best when they discussed their
perspective on UNIX in their now-classic {\em The UNIX Time
Sharing System} paper presented to the ACM in 1974. It is
perhaps fitting that words written over 18 years ago by the
Developers of UNIX should still be relevant to us using
386BSD today:
\begin{quotation}
Perhaps paradoxically, the success of the UNIX system
is largely due to the fact that it was not
designed to meet any predefined objectives. The
first version was written when one of us (Thompson),
dissatisfied with the available computer facilities,
discovered a little-used PDP-7 and set out to create
a more hospitable environment. This (essentially
personal) effort was sufficiently successful to gain
the interest of the other author and several colleagues,
and later to justify the acquisition of the
PDP-11/20, specifically to support a text editing
and formatting system. When in turn the 11/20 was
outgrown, the system had proved useful enough to
persuade management to invest in the PDP-11/45, and
later in the PDP-11/70 and Interdata 8/32 machines,
upon which it developed to its present form. Our
goals throughout this effort, when articulated at
all, have always been to build a comfortable relationship
with the machine and to explore ideas and
inventions in operating systems and other software.
We have not been faced with the needs to satisfy
someone else's requirements, and for this freedom we
are thankful.
\end{quotation}
We hope that the existence and growth of 386BSD will quash
the cynical notion, cultivated over the last decade, that
the individual is irrelevant to progress. That was, and has
always been, nonsense. It is only through the creativity of
unencumbered minds that new ideas will develop and flourish.
We realize that Release 0.1 still has far to go. However,
we are very proud of what we, with the aid of our
dedicated user base, have accomplished so far.
\section{The Future of 386BSD: It's up to You}
386BSD Release 0.0 has met with tremendous enthusiasm
and support, and we hope that 386BSD Release 0.1, a stable
robust version of 386BSD with enhanced functionality, will
allow more people to try 386BSD.
But ironically, the very success of 386BSD has made it
impossible for us to continue doing out-of-pocket personal
releases. Complete releases such as we are doing are
demanding, time-consuming, and expensive. It has been most
frustrating to us that while the vision, the will, the
experience, and the leadership are all present, the practical
constraints have become too great for us to ignore.
Over the course of these releases, many people have
become confused as to what 386BSD actually is. As such, we
feel is important to underscore the basic differences
between a commercial release and a research release such as
386BSD. While both are extremely costly to develop,
engineer, and release, they actually have very different
agendas.
Commercial releases efforts are defined by well-established
customer demands, prior product releases, and
(occasionally) strategic marketing directions. In addition,
if something needs to be added, it can be ``tossed in'' to
satisfy immediate needs (the old ``give the customer what he
thinks he wants'' mentality). Long-term objectives are generally
given short shrift.
Unlike commercial releases, releases targeted to the
research and educational communities are much more demanding
in that the developer must possess a broad understanding of
long-term technological trends and objectives and incorporate
them into each release, while still maintaining functionality.
As a consequence, research releases and new work
are generally done only under the appropriate supervision
and auspices of a well-funded University project.
However, we have discovered that any group selected to
shape these releases must demonstrate leadership, vision,
good judgment, and a devotion to ethical behavior in all
their dealings. A development group chosen merely on the
basis of convenience and cynicism (i.e. a ``political'' solution)
will result in the immediate desecration of these
goals.
If new research directions are to be fully explored and
developed using 386BSD, then 386BSD itself must evolve.
These first two releases, historic though they may be, are
just the beginning of this process, and not an end in themselves.
Over the course of our 386BSD series in DDJ, we have
occasionally touched upon many areas of new technology with
which 386BSD and other UNIX-like operating systems must contend,
such as symmetric multiprocessing, multimedia
applications, and gigabit networks. We are fully aware of
how to focus 386BSD to head in these directions, and we have
spoken to many others in the research community who want to
work on and share in this vision.
However, if the benefits which 386BSD offers are to be
``claimed'' by the entire research and educational community,
the costs must be borne by all of us as well.
Quite frankly, if 386BSD is to have any future, it will
require considerable resources and assistance, as well as
the continued goodwill and enthusiasm of its user base. Your
interest, involvement, and support of 386BSD and its goals
will ultimately determine the future of 386BSD and successive
releases.
\end{document}
=========================================================
--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: tim@maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland