Re: How to boot FreeBSD from DOS through a 3c905c ?

["Robert Szelepcsenyi" <robert@ifi.savba.sk>]

David Gilbert <dgilbert@velocet.ca> wrote:

> Well... if you're actually in a booted DOS machine... then use the
> fbsdboot.exe program.  What you need to do is copy your kernel over to
> your DOS hard drive (or floppy) and the have your user type (or put in
> a bat file) fbsdboot kernel.
>
> Dave.

I tried that with no success. The fsbdboot utility keeps compaining "invalid
format". It also complains about the disk label. I have not been able to
boot any kernel using it. I tried all possible setups. The utility seems to
be braindead. There is no documentation for it. Can anybody provide me with
any documentation? The README file that comes with the utility only
addresses the issue of igh memory managers. There is no mention of the
format of a kernel to boot.

> I suppose I should say a little more about that.  You do need the
> kernel compiled with the NFS_ROOT option and one or more of the BOOTP
> kernel options.  The kernel will load from the DOS drive, then it will
> boot and use bootp to find a server.  Any network card supported by
> FreeBSD can be compiled into the kernel and no special boot roms are
> required.

> (You still need to have bootp setup right to specify the nfs root and
> nfs swap mount points, etc.)

Thanks for these instructions, which I found very helpful. Following them
posed no problem. Everything concerning FreeBSD works fine for me. I run
into problems when I have to deal to with DOS or anything Microsoft-ish. The
reason why I am trying to boot FreeBSD from DOS is that the utility that
comes with the Managed Boot Agent in the 3c905c refuses to process a boot
diskette that is not in DOS format. I would like to know whether there is a
way of converting a non DOS boot diskette into a downloadable file. I have
successfully made a pure FreeBSD boot diskette, which works fine, but I
can't convert it into a file the boot agent can download from the net.


Robert


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