Downloading and Installing FreeBSD 9.0

FreeBSD 9.0 is here and ready to download and install. The FreeBSD Handbook is the most detailed and complete set of instructions that I have ever seen for an Open Source Operating System (in my six years of installing and running Linux). Below are some excerpts that I thought would be interesting and help in deciding if you want to try BSD out. I downloaded the FreeBSD-9.0-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso and Booted it up in Virtual Box. I expected to get a GUI - Graphic Desktop Environment. But, I only got a Command Line Login Terminal. I was able to login as "root" (with no password). I tried "startx" and "wizard" which works in many Linux Distros, to get the X11 Desktop up and running. But, they are not recognized in BSD. I saw some info that said you could use the command "man man" to get to the Manual and "man -f keyword" will search for what ever key word or words that you enter. But, I couldn't find anything on getting the X-Server to work with a GUI Desktop. It may be that my Virtual Box Configuration, just doesn't work with the BSD Default Desktop. I never did find out which one that is... I did find out that you can install Gnome-2 and KDE though. So, it looks like BSD still has a Learning Curve for me. I actually looked into BSD before I ever tried out Linux, six years ago. But, a friend who is a programmer, told me that Linux was easier to get started with. And boy was her right!:) I've kept BSD in the back of my mind for all of these years. I had originally download 10GB from the BSD Servers. Back in the days when I was running Windows 98!:O I had no real idea of what I needed. So, I just got it all. And I was on a Dial-UP Connection, back then!:O I would set the Downloads at night, using Download Accelerator Plus (DAP). It only took me about a week to get it all!;) I kept those files for years. I wanted to put BSD on a 486 that I had - have. Till I finally realized, that I didn't want the older versions of BSD. Because updates and advances are good in BSD and Linux. Unlike Windblows, where their OS's become Obsolete with the next generation. And the new ones wont run on older Hardware, most of the time. Anyway, BSD still says it will run on a 486! And I now have several machines from 486 to 1.8GHz... So, I'm sure that if I take the time to learn how to install BSD 9.0, that it will run great on one or several of them...

Don

FreeBSD Handbook

The FreeBSD Documentation Project

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About FreeBSD

What is FreeBSD?

FreeBSD is an advanced operating system for x86 compatible (including Pentium® and Athlon™), amd64 compatible (including Opteron™, Athlon™64, and EM64T), ARM, IA-64, PowerPC, PC-98 and UltraSPARC® architectures. It is derived from BSD, the version of UNIX® developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It is developed and maintained by a large team of individuals. Additional platforms are in various stages of development.

Cutting edge features

FreeBSD offers advanced networking, performance, security and compatibility features today which are still missing in other operating systems, even some of the best commercial ones.

Powerful Internet solutions

FreeBSD makes an ideal Internet or Intranet server. It provides robust network services under the heaviest loads and uses memory efficiently to maintain good response times for thousands of simultaneous user processes.

Advanced Embedded Platform

FreeBSD brings advanced network operating system features to appliance and embedded platforms, from higher-end Intel-based appliances to Arm, PowerPC, and shortly MIPS hardware platforms. From mail and web appliances to routers, time servers, and wireless access points, vendors around the world rely on FreeBSD's integrated build and cross-build environments and advanced features as the foundation for their embedded products. And the Berkeley open source license lets them decide how many of their local changes they want to contribute back.

Run a huge number of applications

With over 20,000 ported libraries and applications, FreeBSD supports applications for desktop, server, appliance, and embedded environments.

Easy to install

FreeBSD can be installed from a variety of media including CD-ROM, DVD, or directly over the network using FTP or NFS. All you need are these directions.

FreeBSD is free

While you might expect an operating system with these features to sell for a high price, FreeBSD is available free of charge and comes with full source code. If you would like to purchase or download a copy to try out, more information is available.

Contributing to FreeBSD

Read More...
http://www.freebsd.org/about.html

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2.2 Hardware Requirements

2.2.1 Minimal Configuration

The minimal configuration to install FreeBSD varies with the FreeBSD version and the hardware architecture.

A summary of this information is given in the following sections. Depending on the method you choose to install FreeBSD, you may also need a floppy drive, a supported CDROM drive, and in some case a network adapter. This will be covered by the Section 2.3.7.

2.2.1.1 FreeBSD/i386 and FreeBSD/pc98

Both FreeBSD/i386 and FreeBSD/pc98 require a 486 or better processor and at least 24 MB of RAM. You will need at least 150 MB of free hard drive space for the most minimal installation.

Note: In case of old configurations, most of time, getting more RAM and more hard drive space is more important than getting a faster processor.

2.2.1.2 FreeBSD/amd64

There are two classes of processors capable of running FreeBSD/amd64. The first are AMD64 processors, including the AMD Athlon™64, AMD Athlon64-FX, AMD Opteron™ or better processors.

The second class of processors that can use FreeBSD/amd64 includes those using the Intel® EM64T architecture. Examples of these processors include the Intel Core™ 2 Duo, Quad, Extreme processor families, and the Intel Xeon™ 3000, 5000, and 7000 sequences of processors.

If you have a machine based on an nVidia nForce3 Pro-150, you must use the BIOS setup to disable the IO APIC. If you do not have an option to do this, you will likely have to disable ACPI instead. There are bugs in the Pro-150 chipset that we have not found a workaround for yet.

2.2.1.3 FreeBSD/sparc64

To install FreeBSD/sparc64, you will need a supported platform (see Section 2.2.2).

You will need a dedicated disk for FreeBSD/sparc64. It is not possible to share a disk with another operating system at this time.

2.2.2 Supported Hardware

A list of supported hardware is provided with each FreeBSD release in the FreeBSD Hardware Notes. This document can usually be found in a file named HARDWARE.TXT, in the top-level directory of a CDROM or FTP distribution or in sysinstall's documentation menu. It lists, for a given architecture, what hardware devices are known to be supported by each release of FreeBSD. Copies of the supported hardware list for various releases and architectures can also be found on the Release Information page of the FreeBSD Web site.

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6.7 Desktop Environments

Contributed by Valentino Vaschetto.

This section describes the different desktop environments available for X on FreeBSD. A “desktop environment” can mean anything ranging from a simple window manager to a complete suite of desktop applications, such as KDE or GNOME.

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Chapter 2 Installing FreeBSD 8.`x` and Earlier

Table of Contents
2.1 Synopsis
2.2 Hardware Requirements
2.3 Pre-installation Tasks
2.4 Starting the Installation
2.5 Introducing Sysinstall
2.6 Allocating Disk Space
2.7 Choosing What to Install
2.8 Choosing Your Installation Media
2.9 Committing to the Installation
2.10 Post-installation
2.11 Troubleshooting
2.12 Advanced Installation Guide
2.13 Preparing Your Own Installation Media

Restructured, reorganized, and parts rewritten by Jim Mock. The sysinstall walkthrough, screenshots, and general copy by Randy Pratt.

2.1 Synopsis

FreeBSD is provided with a text-based, easy to use installation program. FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE and later use the installation program known as bsdinstall, with releases prior to 9.0-RELEASE using sysinstall for installation. This chapter describes the use of sysinstall to install FreeBSD. The use of bsdinstall is covered in Chapter 3.

After reading this chapter, you will know:

How to create the FreeBSD installation disks.
How FreeBSD refers to, and subdivides, your hard disks.
How to start sysinstall.
The questions sysinstall will ask you, what they mean, and how to answer them.

Before reading this chapter, you should:

Read the supported hardware list that shipped with the version of FreeBSD you are installing, and verify that your hardware is supported.

Note: In general, these installation instructions are written for i386™ (“PC compatible”) architecture computers. Where applicable, instructions specific to other platforms will be listed. Although this guide is kept as up to date as possible, you may find minor differences between the installer and what is shown here. It is suggested that you use this chapter as a general guide rather than a literal installation manual.

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Getting FreeBSD

Release Information

Detailed descriptions of past, present, and future releases. Look here first to determine what the latest version of FreeBSD is.

Installing FreeBSD

There are many options for installing FreeBSD, including installation from CD-ROM, DVD, floppy disk, an MS-DOS® partition, magnetic tape, anonymous FTP, and NFS. Please read through the installation guide before downloading the entire FreeBSD distribution.

Buying FreeBSD

FreeBSD can be acquired on CD-ROM or DVD from FreeBSD Mall, or one of the other CD-ROM and DVD Publishers.

Download FreeBSD

Read More and Download...
http://www.freebsd.org/where.html

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2.3 Pre-installation Tasks

2.3.1 Inventory Your Computer

Before installing FreeBSD you should attempt to inventory the components in your computer. The FreeBSD installation routines will show you the components (hard disks, network cards, CDROM drives, and so forth) with their model number and manufacturer. FreeBSD will also attempt to determine the correct configuration for these devices, which includes information about IRQ and IO port usage. Due to the vagaries of PC hardware this process is not always completely successful, and you may need to correct FreeBSD's determination of your configuration.

If you already have another operating system installed, such as Windows® or Linux, it is a good idea to use the facilities provided by those operating systems to see how your hardware is already configured. If you are not sure what settings an expansion card is using, you may find it printed on the card itself. Popular IRQ numbers are 3, 5, and 7, and IO port addresses are normally written as hexadecimal numbers, such as 0x330.

We recommend you print or write down this information before installing FreeBSD. It may help to use a table, like this:

Table 2-1. Sample Device Inventory

Device Name	IRQ	IO port(s)	Notes
First hard disk	N/A	N/A	40 GB, made by Seagate, first IDE master
CDROM	N/A	N/A	First IDE slave
Second hard disk	N/A	N/A	20 GB, made by IBM, second IDE master
First IDE controller	14	0x1f0
Network card	N/A	N/A	Intel® 10/100
Modem	N/A	N/A	3Com® 56K faxmodem, on COM1
...

Once the inventory of the components in your computer is done, you have to check if they match the hardware requirements of the FreeBSD release you want to install.

2.3.2 Backup Your Data

If the computer you will be installing FreeBSD on contains valuable data, then ensure you have it backed up, and that you have tested the backups before installing FreeBSD. The FreeBSD installation routine will prompt you before writing any data to your disk, but once that process has started it cannot be undone.

2.3.3 Decide Where to Install FreeBSD

If you want FreeBSD to use your entire hard disk, then there is nothing more to concern yourself with at this point -- you can skip this section.

However, if you need FreeBSD to co-exist with other operating systems then you need to have a rough understanding of how data is laid out on the disk, and how this affects you.

2.3.3.1 Disk Layouts for FreeBSD/i386

A PC disk can be divided into discrete chunks. These chunks are called partitions. Since FreeBSD internally also has partitions, the naming can become confusing very quickly, therefore these disk chunks are referred to as disk slices or simply slices in FreeBSD itself. For example, the FreeBSD utility fdisk which operates on the PC disk partitions, refers to slices instead of partitions. By design, the PC only supports four partitions per disk. These partitions are called primary partitions. To work around this limitation and allow more than four partitions, a new partition type was created, the extended partition. A disk may contain only one extended partition. Special partitions, called logical partitions, can be created inside this extended partition.

Each partition has a partition ID, which is a number used to identify the type of data on the partition. FreeBSD partitions have the partition ID of 165.

In general, each operating system that you use will identify partitions in a particular way. For example, MS-DOS®, and its descendants, like Windows, assign each primary and logical partition a drive letter, starting with C:.

FreeBSD must be installed into a primary partition. FreeBSD can keep all its data, including any files that you create, on this one partition. However, if you have multiple disks, then you can create a FreeBSD partition on all, or some, of them. When you install FreeBSD, you must have one partition available. This might be a blank partition that you have prepared, or it might be an existing partition that contains data that you no longer care about.

If you are already using all the partitions on all your disks, then you will have to free one of them for FreeBSD using the tools provided by the other operating systems you use (e.g., fdisk on MS-DOS or Windows).

If you have a spare partition then you can use that. However, you may need to shrink one or more of your existing partitions first.

A minimal installation of FreeBSD takes as little as 100 MB of disk space. However, that is a very minimal install, leaving almost no space for your own files. A more realistic minimum is 250 MB without a graphical environment, and 350 MB or more if you want a graphical user interface. If you intend to install a lot of third-party software as well, then you will need more space.

You can use a commercial tool such as PartitionMagic®, or a free tool such as GParted, to resize your partitions and make space for FreeBSD. Both PartitionMagic and GParted are known to work on NTFS. GParted is available on a number of Live CD Linux distributions, such as SystemRescueCD.

Problems have been reported resizing Microsoft® Vista partitions. Having a Vista installation CDROM handy when attempting such an operation is recommended. As with all such disk maintenance tasks, a current set of backups is also strongly advised.

Warning: Incorrect use of these tools can delete the data on your disk. Be sure that you have recent, working backups before using them.

Example 2-1. Using an Existing Partition Unchanged

Suppose that you have a computer with a single 4 GB disk that already has a version of Windows installed, and you have split the disk into two drive letters, C: and D:, each of which is 2 GB in size. You have 1 GB of data on C:, and 0.5 GB of data on D:.

This means that your disk has two partitions on it, one per drive letter. You can copy all your existing data from D: to C:, which will free up the second partition, ready for FreeBSD.

Example 2-2. Shrinking an Existing Partition

Suppose that you have a computer with a single 4 GB disk that already has a version of Windows installed. When you installed Windows you created one large partition, giving you a C: drive that is 4 GB in size. You are currently using 1.5 GB of space, and want FreeBSD to have 2 GB of space.

In order to install FreeBSD you will need to either:

Backup your Windows data, and then reinstall Windows, asking for a 2 GB partition at install time.
Use one of the tools such as PartitionMagic, described above, to shrink your Windows partition.

2.3.4 Collect Your Network Configuration Details

If you intend to connect to a network as part of your FreeBSD installation (for example, if you will be installing from an FTP site or an NFS server), then you need to know your network configuration. You will be prompted for this information during the installation so that FreeBSD can connect to the network to complete the install.

2.3.4.1 Connecting to an Ethernet Network or Cable/DSL Modem

If you connect to an Ethernet network, or you have an Internet connection using an Ethernet adapter via cable or DSL, then you will need the following information:

IP address
IP address of the default gateway
Hostname
DNS server IP addresses
Subnet Mask

If you do not know this information, then ask your system administrator or service provider. They may say that this information is assigned automatically, using DHCP. If so, make a note of this.

2.3.4.2 Connecting Using a Modem

If you dial up to an ISP using a regular modem then you can still install FreeBSD over the Internet, it will just take a very long time.

You will need to know:

The phone number to dial for your ISP
The COM: port your modem is connected to
The username and password for your ISP account

2.3.5 Check for FreeBSD Errata

Although the FreeBSD project strives to ensure that each release of FreeBSD is as stable as possible, bugs do occasionally creep into the process. On very rare occasions those bugs affect the installation process. As these problems are discovered and fixed, they are noted in the FreeBSD Errata, which is found on the FreeBSD web site. You should check the errata before installing to make sure that there are no late-breaking problems which you should be aware of.

Information about all the releases, including the errata for each release, can be found on the release information section of the FreeBSD web site.

2.3.6 Obtain the FreeBSD Installation Files

The FreeBSD installation process can install FreeBSD from files located in any of the following places:

Local Media

A CDROM or DVD
A USB Memory Stick
A MS-DOS partition on the same computer
A SCSI or QIC tape
Floppy disks

Network

An FTP site, going through a firewall, or using an HTTP proxy, as necessary
An NFS server
A dedicated parallel or serial connection

If you have purchased FreeBSD on CD or DVD then you already have everything you need, and should proceed to the next section (Section 2.3.7).

If you have not obtained the FreeBSD installation files you should skip ahead to Section 2.13 which explains how to prepare to install FreeBSD from any of the above. After reading that section, you should come back here, and read on to Section 2.3.7.

2.3.7 Prepare the Boot Media

The FreeBSD installation process is started by booting your computer into the FreeBSD installer--it is not a program you run within another operating system. Your computer normally boots using the operating system installed on your hard disk, but it can also be configured to use a “bootable” floppy disk. Most modern computers can also boot from a CDROM in the CDROM drive or from a USB disk.

Tip: If you have FreeBSD on CDROM or DVD (either one you purchased or you prepared yourself), and your computer allows you to boot from the CDROM or DVD (typically a BIOS option called “Boot Order” or similar), then you can skip this section. The FreeBSD CDROM and DVD images are bootable and can be used to install FreeBSD without any other special preparation.

To create a bootable memory stick, follow these steps:

Acquire the Memory Stick Image

The memory stick image can be downloaded from the ISO-IMAGES/ directory from ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/arch/ISO-IMAGES/version/FreeBSD-version-RELEASE-arch-memstick.img. Replace arch and version with the architecture and the version number which you want to install, respectively. For example, the memory stick images for FreeBSD/i386 9.0-RELEASE are available from ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/9.0/FreeBSD-9.0-RELEASE-i386-memstick.img.

The memory stick image has a .img extension. The ISO-IMAGES/ directory contains a number of different images, and the one you will need to use will depend on the version of FreeBSD you are installing, and in some cases, the hardware you are installing to.

Important: Before proceeding, back up the data you currently have on your USB stick, as this procedure will erase it.
Write The Image File to the Memory Stick
Using FreeBSD To Write the Image

Warning: The example below lists /dev/da0 as the target device where the image will be written. Be very careful that you have the correct device as the output target, or you may destroy your existing data.
1. Writing the Image with dd(1)
  
  The .img file is not a regular file you copy to the memory stick. It is an image of the complete contents of the disk. This means that you cannot simply copy files from one disk to another. Instead, you must use dd(1) to write the image directly to the disk:
```
# dd if=FreeBSD-9.0-RELEASE-i386-memstick.img of=/dev/da0 bs=64k 
```
  If an Operation not permitted error is displayed, make certain that the target device is not in use, mounted, or being automounted by some well-intentioned utility program. Then try again.
Using Windows® To Write the Image

Warning: Make sure you use the correct drive letter as the output target, or you may overwrite and destroy existing data.
1. Obtaining Image Writer for Windows
  
  Image Writer for Windows is a free application that can correctly write an image file to a memory stick. Download it from https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/ and extract it into a folder.
2. Writing The Image with Image Writer
  
  Double-click the Win32DiskImager icon to start the program. Verify that the drive letter shown under Device is the drive with the memory stick. Click the folder icon and select the image to be written to the memory stick. Click Save to accept the image file name. Verify that everything is correct, and that no folders on the memory stick are open in other windows. Finally, click Write to write the image file to the drive.

To create boot floppy images, follow these steps:

Acquire the Boot Floppy Images

Important: Please note, as of FreeBSD 8.X, floppy disk images are no longer available. Please see above for instructions on how to install FreeBSD using a USB memory stick or just use a CDROM or a DVD.

The boot disks are available on your installation media in the floppies/ directory, and can also be downloaded from the floppies directory, ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/arch/version-RELEASE/floppies/. Replace arch and version with the architecture and the version number which you want to install, respectively. For example, the boot floppy images for FreeBSD/i386 8.2-RELEASE are available from ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/8.2-RELEASE/floppies/.

The floppy images have a .flp extension. The floppies/ directory contains a number of different images, and the ones you will need to use depends on the version of FreeBSD you are installing, and in some cases, the hardware you are installing to. In most cases you will need four floppies, boot.flp, kern1.flp, kern2.flp, and kern3.flp. Check README.TXT in the same directory for the most up to date information about these floppy images.

Important: Your FTP program must use binary mode to download these disk images. Some web browsers have been known to use text (or ASCII) mode, which will be apparent if you cannot boot from the disks.
Prepare the Floppy Disks

You must prepare one floppy disk per image file you had to download. It is imperative that these disks are free from defects. The easiest way to test this is to format the disks for yourself. Do not trust pre-formatted floppies. The format utility in Windows will not tell about the presence of bad blocks, it simply marks them as “bad” and ignores them. It is advised that you use brand new floppies if choosing this installation route.

Important: If you try to install FreeBSD and the installation program crashes, freezes, or otherwise misbehaves, one of the first things to suspect is the floppies. Try writing the floppy image files to new disks and try again.
Write the Image Files to the Floppy Disks

The .flp files are not regular files you copy to the disk. They are images of the complete contents of the disk. This means that you cannot simply copy files from one disk to another. Instead, you must use specific tools to write the images directly to the disk.

If you are creating the floppies on a computer running MS-DOS / Windows, then we provide a tool to do this called fdimage.

If you are using the floppies from the CDROM, and your CDROM is the E: drive, then you would run this:
```
E:\> tools\fdimage floppies\boot.flp A: 
```
Repeat this command for each .flp file, replacing the floppy disk each time, being sure to label the disks with the name of the file that you copied to them. Adjust the command line as necessary, depending on where you have placed the .flp files. If you do not have the CDROM, then fdimage can be downloaded from the tools directory on the FreeBSD FTP site.

If you are writing the floppies on a UNIX® system (such as another FreeBSD system) you can use the dd(1) command to write the image files directly to disk. On FreeBSD, you would run:
```
# dd if=boot.flp of=/dev/fd0 
```
On FreeBSD, /dev/fd0 refers to the first floppy disk (the A: drive). /dev/fd1 would be the B: drive, and so on. Other UNIX variants might have different names for the floppy disk devices, and you will need to check the documentation for the system as necessary.

You are now ready to start installing FreeBSD.

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2.4 Starting the Installation

Important: By default, the installation will not make any changes to your disk(s) until you see the following message:
Last Chance: Are you SURE you want continue the installation?  If you're running this on a disk with data you wish to save then WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO MAKE PROPER BACKUPS before proceeding!  We can take no responsibility for lost disk contents! 
The install can be exited at any time prior to the final warning without changing the contents of the hard drive. If you are concerned that you have configured something incorrectly you can just turn the computer off before this point, and no damage will be done.

2.4.1 Booting

2.4.1.1 Booting for the i386™

Start with your computer turned off.
Turn on the computer. As it starts it should display an option to enter the system set up menu, or BIOS, commonly reached by keys like F2, F10, Del, or Alt+S. Use whichever keystroke is indicated on screen. In some cases your computer may display a graphic while it starts. Typically, pressing Esc will dismiss the graphic and allow you to see the necessary messages.
Find the setting that controls which devices the system boots from. This is usually labeled as the “Boot Order” and commonly shown as a list of devices, such as Floppy, CDROM, First Hard Disk, and so on.

If you are booting from the CDROM then make sure that the CDROM is selected. If you are booting from a USB disk or a floppy disk then make sure that is selected instead. In case of doubt, you should consult the manual that came with your computer, and/or its motherboard.

Make the change, then save and exit. The computer should now restart.
If you prepared a “bootable” USB stick, as described in Section 2.3.7, then plug in your USB stick before turning on the computer.

If you are booting from CDROM, then you will need to turn on the computer, and insert the CDROM at the first opportunity.

Note: For FreeBSD 7.X, installation boot floppies are available and can be prepared as described in Section 2.3.7. One of them will be the first boot disc: boot.flp. Put this disc in your floppy drive and boot the computer.

If your computer starts up as normal and loads your existing operating system, then either:
1. The disks were not inserted early enough in the boot process. Leave them in, and try restarting your computer.
2. The BIOS changes earlier did not work correctly. You should redo that step until you get the right option.
3. Your particular BIOS does not support booting from the desired media.

FreeBSD will start to boot. If you are booting from CDROM you will see a display similar to this (version information omitted):

Booting from CD-Rom... 645MB medium detected CD Loader 1.2  Building the boot loader arguments Looking up /BOOT/LOADER... Found Relocating the loader and the BTX Starting the BTX loader  BTX loader 1.00 BTX version is 1.02 Consoles: internal video/keyboard BIOS CD is cd0 BIOS drive C: is disk0 BIOS drive D: is disk1 BIOS 636kB/261056kB available memory  FreeBSD/i386 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1  Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf /boot/kernel/kernel text=0x64daa0 data=0xa4e80+0xa9e40 syms=[0x4+0x6cac0+0x4+0x88e9d] \

If you are booting from floppy disc, you will see a display similar to this (version information omitted):

Booting from Floppy... Uncompressing ... done  BTX loader 1.00  BTX version is 1.01 Console: internal video/keyboard BIOS drive A: is disk0 BIOS drive C: is disk1 BIOS 639kB/261120kB available memory  FreeBSD/i386 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1  Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf /kernel text=0x277391 data=0x3268c+0x332a8 |  Insert disk labelled "Kernel floppy 1" and press any key...

Follow these instructions by removing the boot.flp disc, insert the kern1.flp disc, and press Enter. Boot from first floppy; when prompted, insert the other disks as required.

Whether you booted from CDROM, USB stick or floppy, the boot process will then get to the FreeBSD boot loader menu:

Figure 2-1. FreeBSD Boot Loader Menu

Either wait ten seconds, or press Enter.

2.4.1.2 Booting for SPARC64®

Most SPARC64® systems are set up to boot automatically from disk. To install FreeBSD, you need to boot over the network or from a CDROM, which requires you to break into the PROM (OpenFirmware).

To do this, reboot the system, and wait until the boot message appears. It depends on the model, but should look about like:

Sun Blade 100 (UltraSPARC-IIe), Keyboard Present Copyright 1998-2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved. OpenBoot 4.2, 128 MB memory installed, Serial #51090132. Ethernet address 0:3:ba:b:92:d4, Host ID: 830b92d4.

If your system proceeds to boot from disk at this point, you need to press L1+A or Stop+A on the keyboard, or send a BREAK over the serial console (using for example ~# in tip(1) or cu(1)) to get to the PROM prompt. It looks like this:

ok          ok {0}

: This is the prompt used on systems with just one CPU.
: This is the prompt used on SMP systems, the digit indicates the number of the active CPU.

At this point, place the CDROM into your drive, and from the PROM prompt, type boot cdrom.

2.4.2 Reviewing the Device Probe Results

The last few hundred lines that have been displayed on screen are stored and can be reviewed.

To review the buffer, press Scroll Lock. This turns on scrolling in the display. You can then use the arrow keys, or PageUp and PageDown to view the results. Press Scroll Lock again to stop scrolling.

Do this now, to review the text that scrolled off the screen when the kernel was carrying out the device probes. You will see text similar to Figure 2-2, although the precise text will differ depending on the devices that you have in your computer.

Figure 2-2. Typical Device Probe Results

avail memory = 253050880 (247120K bytes) Preloaded elf kernel "kernel" at 0xc0817000. Preloaded mfs_root "/mfsroot" at 0xc0817084. md0: Preloaded image </mfsroot> 4423680 bytes at 0xc03ddcd4  md1: Malloc disk Using $PIR table, 4 entries at 0xc00fde60 npx0: <math processor> on motherboard npx0: INT 16 interface pcib0: <Host to PCI bridge> on motherboard pci0: <PCI bus> on pcib0 pcib1:<VIA 82C598MVP (Apollo MVP3) PCI-PCI (AGP) bridge> at device 1.0 on pci0 pci1: <PCI bus> on pcib1 pci1: <Matrox MGA G200 AGP graphics accelerator> at 0.0 irq 11 isab0: <VIA 82C586 PCI-ISA bridge> at device 7.0 on pci0 isa0: <iSA bus> on isab0 atapci0: <VIA 82C586 ATA33 controller> port 0xe000-0xe00f at device 7.1 on pci0 ata0: at 0x1f0 irq 14 on atapci0 ata1: at 0x170 irq 15 on atapci0 uhci0 <VIA 83C572 USB controller> port 0xe400-0xe41f irq 10 at device 7.2 on pci 0 usb0: <VIA 83572 USB controller> on uhci0 usb0: USB revision 1.0 uhub0: VIA UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr1 uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered pci0: <unknown card> (vendor=0x1106, dev=0x3040) at 7.3 dc0: <ADMtek AN985 10/100BaseTX> port 0xe800-0xe8ff mem 0xdb000000-0xeb0003ff ir q 11 at device 8.0 on pci0 dc0: Ethernet address: 00:04:5a:74:6b:b5 miibus0: <MII bus> on dc0 ukphy0: <Generic IEEE 802.3u media interface> on miibus0 ukphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto ed0: <NE2000 PCI Ethernet (RealTek 8029)> port 0xec00-0xec1f irq 9 at device 10. 0 on pci0 ed0 address 52:54:05:de:73:1b, type NE2000 (16 bit) isa0: too many dependant configs (8) isa0: unexpected small tag 14 orm0: <Option ROM> at iomem 0xc0000-0xc7fff on isa0 fdc0: <NEC 72065B or clone> at port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq2 on isa0 fdc0: FIFO enabled, 8 bytes threshold fd0: <1440-KB 3.5'' drive> on fdc0 drive 0 atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> at port 0x60,0x64 on isa0 atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> flags 0x1 irq1 on atkbdc0 kbd0 at atkbd0 psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0 psm0: model Generic PS/@ mouse, device ID 0 vga0: <Generic ISA VGA> at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0 sc0: <System console> at flags 0x100 on isa0 sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300> sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on isa0 sio0: type 16550A sio1 at port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on isa0 sio1: type 16550A ppc0: <Parallel port> at port 0x378-0x37f irq 7 on isa0 pppc0: SMC-like chipset (ECP/EPP/PS2/NIBBLE) in COMPATIBLE mode ppc0: FIFO with 16/16/15 bytes threshold plip0: <PLIP network interface> on ppbus0 ad0: 8063MB <IBM-DHEA-38451> [16383/16/63] at ata0-master UDMA33 acd0: CD-RW <LITE-ON LTR-1210B> at ata1-slave PIO4 Mounting root from ufs:/dev/md0c /stand/sysinstall running as init on vty0

Check the probe results carefully to make sure that FreeBSD found all the devices you expected. If a device was not found, then it will not be listed. A custom kernel allows you to add in support for devices which are not in the GENERIC kernel, such as sound cards.

After the procedure of device probing, you will see Figure 2-3. Use the arrow key to choose a country, region, or group. Then press Enter, it will set your country easily.

Figure 2-3. Selecting Country Menu

If you selected United States as country, the standard American keyboard map will be used, if a different country is chosen the following menu will be displayed. Use the arrow keys to choose the correct keyboard map and press Enter.

Figure 2-4. Selecting Keyboard Menu