Install Free BSD without floppy and bootable CD-ROM-drive

[ygb]

I have notebook IP-120MHz, without FDD
He is not boot from CD. It is very old.

How can i install FreeBSD on in?

It has Windows partition

I see utilit setup.exe in the list of files in /tools, but
has NOT found it.

Help me, please!

mailto:YGB@mail.ru

P.S. Sorry for my English.

[Anthony Atkielski]

ygb writes:

> I have notebook IP-120MHz, without FDD
> He is not boot from CD. It is very old.
>
> How can i install FreeBSD on in?

Create a boot floppy. You can then boot from the floppy and install
from the CD.

A fully procedure for doing this may be found here:

[url]http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install-pre.html[/url]

Look at part 2.2.7 on that page. It explains how to create the
floppies.

--
Anthony

[stheg olloydson]

it was said by Anthony Atkielski

>
>ygb writes:
>

>> I have notebook IP-120MHz, without FDD
>> He is not boot from CD. It is very old.
>>
>> How can i install FreeBSD on in?

>
>Create a boot floppy. You can then boot from the floppy and install
>from the CD.
>
>A fully procedure for doing this may be found here:
>
>[url]http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install-pre.html[/url]
>
>Look at part 2.2.7 on that page. It explains how to create the
>floppies.
>
>--
>Anthony

Hello,

Because you don't have a floppy drive, Mr. Atkielski's suggestion will
not work. The link he gave you is a good one. Skip section 2.2.7 and
read section 2.13 instead. It explains how to install if you do not
have a floppy drive.

HTH,

Stheg

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[Anthony Atkielski]

stheg olloydson writes:

> Because you don't have a floppy drive, Mr. Atkielski's suggestion will
> not work. The link he gave you is a good one. Skip section 2.2.7 and
> read section 2.13 instead. It explains how to install if you do not
> have a floppy drive.

If you have neither a CD drive or a floppy drive, I don't see how you
can install FreeBSD at all. The only option then is network (or tape),
but to use either of these you have to persuade your existing OS on the
machine to load something from them and turn control over to it (like a
boot). Most operating systems are understandably lacking in mechanisms
to do this (although there is a program under NT that will wipe the
system clean in one move--I don't think it ships any more, since it was
too dangerous).

--
Anthony

[Kevin Kinsey]

Anthony Atkielski wrote:

>stheg olloydson writes:
>
>

>>Because you don't have a floppy drive, Mr. Atkielski's suggestion will
>>not work. The link he gave you is a good one. Skip section 2.2.7 and
>>read section 2.13 instead. It explains how to install if you do not
>>have a floppy drive.
>>
>>

>
>If you have neither a CD drive or a floppy drive, I don't see how you
>can install FreeBSD at all. The only option then is network (or tape),
>but to use either of these you have to persuade your existing OS on the
>machine to load something from them and turn control over to it (like a
>boot). Most operating systems are understandably lacking in mechanisms
>to do this (although there is a program under NT that will wipe the
>system clean in one move--I don't think it ships any more, since it was
>too dangerous).
>
>

Section 2.13 assumes the use of a boot floppy or bootable CD in all
cases, unless I'm reading incorrectly, which is possible but doesn't
seem likely.

You've got to bootstrap a kernel into RAM *somehow* to do the work.
This section discusses alternative distribution media, but doesn't explain
an alternate booting of a kernel+sysinstall.

Without a bootable CD and no floppy hardware, the only alternatives
I can think of are:

1. Install FreeBSD on the HDD by moving it to another machine that
has a floppy drive, then move it back.

2. If your BIOS supports network booting, it might be possible to
get the laptop started "diskless", and then run sysinstall over the
network. Sound like a big project to me, though. I've toyed with the
idea of starting a diskless LAN (mostly for fun), but haven't had guts
to try it yet.

3. Anything else your BIOS might support that you can figure out
how to get started with, but I have no idea what devices those might
be....

Kevin Kinsey

[stheg olloydson]

it was said by Kevin Kinsey:

> Anthony Atkielski wrote:
>

> >stheg olloydson writes:
> >
> >

> >>Because you don't have a floppy drive, Mr. Atkielski's suggestion

> will

> >>not work. The link he gave you is a good one. Skip section 2.2.7

> and

> >>read section 2.13 instead. It explains how to install if you do not
> >>have a floppy drive.
> >>
> >>

> >
> >If you have neither a CD drive or a floppy drive, I don't see how

> you

> >can install FreeBSD at all. The only option then is network (or

> tape),

> >but to use either of these you have to persuade your existing OS on

> the

> >machine to load something from them and turn control over to it

> (like a

> >boot). Most operating systems are understandably lacking in

> mechanisms

> >to do this (although there is a program under NT that will wipe the
> >system clean in one move--I don't think it ships any more, since it

> was

> >too dangerous).
> >
> >

>
> Section 2.13 assumes the use of a boot floppy or bootable CD in all
> cases, unless I'm reading incorrectly, which is possible but doesn't
> seem likely.

The documentation is a bit ambiguous. It states that the install files
need to be where sysinstall can find them, but it doesn't state how to
get sysinstall to run in the first place. Just below this section it
does say:

"You have a FreeBSD disk, and FreeBSD does not recognize your CD/DVD
drive, but MS-DOS/Windows® does. You want to copy the FreeBSD
installations files to a DOS partition on the same computer, and then
install FreeBSD using those files."

This certainly implies that one can install FBSD from a DOS partition
if one copies the correct files in the correct manner. That method is
explained in section 2.13.4.
Luckily for me, I have never had to confront this issue, so I have no
idea if you or I am correct.

>
> You've got to bootstrap a kernel into RAM *somehow* to do the work.
> This section discusses alternative distribution media, but doesn't
> explain
> an alternate booting of a kernel+sysinstall.
>
> Without a bootable CD and no floppy hardware, the only alternatives
> I can think of are:
>
> 1. Install FreeBSD on the HDD by moving it to another machine that
> has a floppy drive, then move it back.
>
> 2. If your BIOS supports network booting, it might be possible to
> get the laptop started "diskless", and then run sysinstall over the
> network. Sound like a big project to me, though. I've toyed with
> the
> idea of starting a diskless LAN (mostly for fun), but haven't had
> guts
> to try it yet.
>
> 3. Anything else your BIOS might support that you can figure out
> how to get started with, but I have no idea what devices those might
> be....
>
> Kevin Kinsey
>

Something not mentioned but really needs to be is hardware
compatibilty. the OP, ygb, should check the Hardware Notes to see if
his/her system will even work under FBSD. Because the laptop is older,
the amount of RAM may determine which release to run, 4.11 or 5.3.
Going through the effort the install may take only to discover the end
result is unusable would be unfortunate.

Best regards,

stheg


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[stheg olloydson]

it was said:

> Hello stheg,
>

<snip no longer relevant posts>

>
> Hardvare configuration:
>
> Intel Pentium 120MHz
> 80Mb RAM (!)
> 4,3 Gb HDD Hitachi
> CD-ROM -8x Panasonic (I CAN NOT boot from it)
>
> NO LAN, NO FDD, 2,5"-HDD - I can't connect this HDD
> to desktop and install FreeBSD on it.
>
> BUT I read in file /tools/00_index.txt (line 1):
>
> setup.exe Prepare for installation from a DOS partition.
>
>
> I hope it help me, but I can not FOUND IT -
> I can't found setup.exe in the installatoin CD-ROM,
> in the ftp-server on freebsd.org
>
> Where I can found this utilite???
>

Hello,

Please include the list in all replies. As I said, I have never done
what you are trying to do, and this is one of those questions that
needs someone who has done it to step in with some good advice, so I
really cannot be of very much help.

Judging by what I have read, at some point you could install from a DOS
partition without using floppies, but that is now not possible. The
file you mention is dated 1997, but was updated in 1999. In the same
directory is a readme dated in 1999 that lists the directory's
contents, and it does not mention setup.exe. In fact, it doesn't
mention most of the stuff in the directory. So I think both are
out-of-date and useless.
The install.txt file, dated Nov. 2004, in the root directory on a 5.3
CD says this:

"1.5.3 Installing from a DOS partition

To prepare for installation from an MS-DOS partition you should simply
copy the files from the distribution into a directory called FREEBSD on
the Primary DOS partition (C:). For example, to do a minimal
installation of FreeBSD from DOS using files copied from the CDROM, you
might do something like this:

C:\> MD C:\FREEBSD
C:\> XCOPY /S E:\BASE C:\FREEBSD\BASE

Assuming that E: was where your CD was mounted.

For as many distributions as you wish to install from DOS (and you have
free space for), install each one in a directory under C:\FREEBSD - the
BIN dist is only the minimal requirement.

Once you've copied the directories, you can simply launch the
installation from floppies as normal and select ``DOS'' as your media
type when the time comes."



As you can see, it says you MUST use floppies for a DOS install. Maybe
this is different for 4.11; I don't know. If it is not different, your
only hope seems to be either an NFS, SLIP, or PLIP install. But before
checking into this, I strongly suggest you check your hardware
compatibility. If you want to run 4.11, see this link about the
hardware it supports:

[url]http://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/4-STABLE/hardware/i386/index.html[/url]

If you want to run 5.3, see this link about the hardware it supports:

[url]http://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/5-STABLE/hardware/i386/index.html[/url]

Good luck,

stheg

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[Hauan David A]

----Original Message-----
From: ygb [mailto:YGB@mail.ru]
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:18 AM
To: [email]questions@freebsd.org[/email]
Subject: Install Free BSD without floppy and bootable CD-ROM-drive


I have notebook IP-120MHz, without FDD
He is not boot from CD. It is very old.

How can i install FreeBSD on in?

It has Windows partition

I see utilit setup.exe in the list of files in /tools, but
has NOT found it.

Help me, please!

See this how-to
[url]http://www.freebsddiary.org/plip.php[/url]
dave



mailto:YGB@mail.ru

P.S. Sorry for my English.

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[Kevin Kinsey]

----Original Message-----

>From: ygb [mailto:YGB@mail.ru]
>Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:18 AM
>To: [email]questions@freebsd.org[/email]
>Subject: Install Free BSD without floppy and bootable CD-ROM-drive
>
>
>I have notebook IP-120MHz, without FDD
>He is not boot from CD. It is very old.
>
>How can i install FreeBSD on in?
>
>It has Windows partition
>
>I see utilit setup.exe in the list of files in /tools, but
>has NOT found it.
>
>Help me, please!
>
>
>

Hauan David A wrote:

>See this how-to
>[url]http://www.freebsddiary.org/plip.php[/url]
>dave
>
>

Thanks for that link. It's a good article. But
we're still not helping the OP.

To quote from this article:

"Slap in your boot disk, select your options, and get
yourself up to the point of choosing your installation
method. Choose FTP install, and you should be
prompted to set up your network interface. Choose lp0,"

So, where is he supposed to "slap in" this "boot disk",
as he still has no FDD, and his BIOS won't boot from
CD-ROM?

Until someone invents hot-swappable motherboards
(gg), I don't see that he can do this either. The installation
program *has to be* executing in memory on the machine
to be installed.

Now, if some manufacturer's BIOS supported etherboot
via PLIP interface, I could see some possibilities, though it's
a rather desperate endeavor.

Or am I just really, really dense here?

Kevin KInsey

[Anthony Carmody]

Kevin Kinsey wrote:

> ----Original Message-----
>

>> From: ygb [mailto:YGB@mail.ru] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:18 AM
>> To: [email]questions@freebsd.org[/email]
>> Subject: Install Free BSD without floppy and bootable CD-ROM-drive
>> I have notebook IP-120MHz, without FDD
>> How can i install FreeBSD on in?
>> It has Windows partition
>> I see utilit setup.exe in the list of files in /tools, but
>> has NOT found it.
>> Help me, please!

> Hauan David A wrote:
>

>> See this how-to
>> [url]http://www.freebsddiary.org/plip.php[/url]
>> dave
>>
>>

> Thanks for that link. It's a good article. But
> we're still not helping the OP.
> To quote from this article:
>
> "Slap in your boot disk, select your options, and get
> yourself up to the point of choosing your installation
> method. Choose FTP install, and you should be
> prompted to set up your network interface. Choose lp0,"
>
> So, where is he supposed to "slap in" this "boot disk",
> as he still has no FDD, and his BIOS won't boot from
> CD-ROM?
>
> Until someone invents hot-swappable motherboards
> (gg), I don't see that he can do this either. The installation
> program *has to be* executing in memory on the machine
> to be installed.
>
> Now, if some manufacturer's BIOS supported etherboot
> via PLIP interface, I could see some possibilities, though it's
> a rather desperate endeavor.
>
> Or am I just really, really dense here?
>
> Kevin KInsey
> _______________________________________________
> [email]freebsd-questions@freebsd.org[/email] mailing list
> [url]http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions[/url]
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to
> "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
>

i think my old thinkpad will boot from the CDROM if i hit a certain F
keys on boot. can you download the hardware manual from somewhere?
--
Regards,
Anthony John Carmody