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Xref: sserve comp.os.linux.development:8699 comp.os.minix:23646 comp.periphs:5427 comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit:6141 comp.os.386bsd.development:2056 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msuinfo!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!EU.net!Germany.EU.net!lemis!grog From: grog@lemis.uucp (Greg Lehey) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.minix,comp.periphs,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.os.386bsd.development Subject: Re: [Announcement] 386BSD Release 1.0 Message-ID: <3112@adagio.lemis.uucp> Date: 5 May 94 07:00:52 GMT References: <2q63q2$927@dearg.cuillin.org.uk> <wright.86.000DC700@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov> <2q8qqr$q96@spool.cs.wisc.edu> Followup-To: comp.os.linux.development Organization: LEMIS, 36325 Feldatal, Germany Lines: 58 In article <2q8qqr$q96@spool.cs.wisc.edu> jcargill@oka.cs.wisc.edu (Jon Cargille) writes: >I was confused by this too; I thought PCs weren't very good at booting >off of CD-ROMs, since that requires BIOS support in the SCSI card. >And I thought most SCSI card BIOSes didn't handle it. But I may well >be wrong. > >At any rate, I was curious enough about it that I sent some email to >Lynne Jolitz about it. Here's what she said: > > >> Date: Tue, 3 May 94 10:31:00 -0700 >> >> Yes, it does boot off the cdrom, and it does work with ADAPTEC 1540 series >> controller cards or mitsumi cdrom. >> >> Lynne >> > > >I then wondered whether it required a floppy as a boot-assist, and >followed up to ask her that. But Lynne replied: > > >> Date: Wed, 4 May 94 10:24:21 -0700 >> >> It does not require a floppy -- just the CD itself. >> >> Lynne. >> > > >I didn't know you could do that; sounds interesting at any rate. I'm >curious to hear a report when someone receives the actual disc... ... assuming that anybody is prepared to pay $99 for a disk with unknown content, when they can get FreeBSD for half the price. It's a pity Lynne wasn't more specific. The standard PC BIOS will typically boot from (DOZE) drives A: or C:. There's no reason to assume that C: must be a hard disk - on a SCSI controller, it could just as well be a CD-ROM. If that's what they've done, it's quite an achievement, but it would have to be specific for the controller hardware. I don't see how they can get it to boot from a Mitsumi drive, even with a different CD-ROM, since the machine BIOS doesn't know about Mitsumis. The Mitsumi board BIOS might be able to do it, but I haven't seen any jumper settings indicating that it is prepared to do so. Greg -- --------------------------------------------- Greg Lehey | Tel: +49-6637-1488 LEMIS, Schellnhausen 2, | Fax: +49-6637-1489 36325 Feldatal, Germany | Mail: grog@lemis.de