path: root/handbook/install.sgml

<!-- $Id: install.sgml,v 1.38.2.4 1997-03-15 23:29:42 jkh Exp $ -->
<!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project -->

<!--
<!DOCTYPE linuxdoc PUBLIC '-//FreeBSD//DTD linuxdoc//EN'>
-->
<chapt><heading>Installing FreeBSD<label id="install"></heading>

    <p>So, you would like to try out FreeBSD on your system?
      This section is a quick-start guide for what you need to
      do.  FreeBSD can be installed from a variety of media
      including CD-ROM, floppy disk, magnetic tape, an MS-DOS
      partition, and if you have a network connection, via
      anonymous ftp or NFS.  

      Regardless of the installation media you choose, you can
      get started by downloading the <bf>installation disk</bf>
      as described below.  Booting your computer with disk will
      provide important information about compatibility between
      FreeBSD and your hardware which could dictate which
      installation options are possible.  It can also provide
      early clues to compatibility problems that could prevent
      FreeBSD running on your system at all.  If you plan on
      installing via anonymous FTP, then this installation disk
      is all you need to download.

      For more information on obtaining the FreeBSD distribution
      itself, please see <ref id="mirrors" name="Obtaining
      FreeBSD"> in the Appendix.

      So, to get the show on the road, follow these steps:
    <enum>

      <item>Review the <ref id="install:hw" name="supported
	  configurations"> section of this installation guide to
	be sure that your hardware is supported by FreeBSD.  It
	  may be helpful to make a list of any special cards you
	  have installed, such as SCSI controllers, Ethernet
	  adapters or sound cards.  This list should include
	  relevant configuration parameters such as interrupts
	  (IRQ) and IO port addresses.<P></P></item>

      <item>Download the <url
	  url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/&rel.current;-RELEASE/floppies/boot.flp"
	  name="installation boot disk image"> file to your hard
	  drive, and be sure to tell your browser to
	  <em>save</em> rather than <em>display</em>.
	  <bf>Note:</bf> This disk image can only be used with
	  1.44 megabyte 3.5 inch floppy disks.<P></P></item>

      <item>Make the installation boot disk from the image file:
	<itemize>
	  <item>If you are using MS-DOS download 
	    <url 
url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/tools/fdimage.exe"
	      name="fdimage.exe">, then run it like so:
<tscreen><verb>
E:\> tools\fdimage floppies\boot.flp a:
</verb></tscreen> The
	    program will format the A: drive and then copy the
            boot.flp image onto it (assuming that you're at the top
            level of a FreeBSD distribution and the floppy images
            live in the floppies subdirectory).<P></P></item>

	  <item>If you are using a UNIX system:
<tscreen>
% dd if=boot.flp of=<em>disk&lowbar;device</em>
</tscreen>
	    where <em>disk&lowbar;device</em> is the <tt>/dev</tt>
	    entry for the floppy drive.  On FreeBSD systems, this
	    is <tt>/dev/fd0</tt> for the A: drive and
	    <tt>/dev/fd1</tt> for the B: drive.<P></P></item>
	</itemize>
      <P></P></item>

      <item>With the installation disk in the A: drive, reboot your
	computer.  You should get a boot prompt something like this:
	<tscreen>
&gt;&gt; FreeBSD BOOT ...<newline>
Usage: &lsqb;&lsqb;&lsqb;0:&rsqb;&lsqb;wd&rsqb;(0,a)&rsqb;/kernel&rsqb;&lsqb;-abcCdhrsv&rsqb;<newline>
Use 1:sd(0,a)kernel to boot sd0 if it is BIOS drive 1<newline>
Use ? for file list or press Enter for defaults<newline>
Boot: 
	</tscreen>
	If you do <em>not</em> type anything, FreeBSD will automatically boot
	with its default configuration after a delay of about
	five seconds.  As FreeBSD boots, it probes your computer
	to determine what hardware is installed.  The results of
	this probing is displayed on the screen.<P></P></item>

      <item>When the booting process is finished, The main FreeBSD
	installation menu will be displayed.</item>

    </enum>

    <p><bf>If something goes wrong...</bf>

    <p>Due to limitations of the PC architecture, it is
      impossible for probing to be 100 percent reliable.  In the event
      that your hardware is incorrectly identified, or that the
      probing causes your computer to lock up, first check the
	<ref id="install:hw" name="supported
      configurations"> section of this installation guide to be
      sure that your hardware is indeed supported by FreeBSD.  

    <p>If your hardware is supported, reset the computer and when
      the <tt>Boot:</tt> prompt comes up, type <bf>-c</bf>.  This puts
      FreeBSD into a configuration mode where you can supply
      hints about your hardware.  The FreeBSD kernel on the
      installation disk is configured assuming that most hardware
      devices are in their factory default configuration in terms
      of IRQs, IO addresses and DMA channels.  If your hardware
      has been reconfigured, you will most likely need to use the
      <bf>-c</bf> option at boot to tell FreeBSD where things are.

    <p>It is also possible that a probe for a device not present
      will cause a later probe for another device that is present
      to fail.  In that case, the probes for the conflicting
      driver(s) should be disabled.

    <p>In the configuration mode, you can:

    <itemize>
      <item>List the device drivers installed in the kernel.</item>
      <item>Disable device drivers for hardware not present in your
	system.</item>
      <item>Change the IRQ, DRQ, and IO port addresses used by a
	device driver.</item>
    </itemize>

    <p>While at the <tt>config&gt;</tt> prompt, type
      <tt>help</tt> for more information on the available
      commands.  After adjusting the kernel to match how you have
      your hardware configured, type <tt>quit</tt> at the
      <tt>config&gt;</tt> prompt to continue booting with the new
      settings.  

      After FreeBSD has been installed, changes made in the
      configuration mode will be permanent so you do not have
      to reconfigure every time you boot.  Even so, it is likely
      that you will want to build a custom kernel to optimize the
      performance of your system.  See <ref id="kernelconfig"
      name="Kernel configuration"> for more information on
      creating custom kernels.

    <sect><heading>Supported Configurations<label id="install:hw"></heading>

      <p>FreeBSD currently runs on a wide variety of ISA, VLB,
	EISA and PCI bus based PC's, ranging from 386sx to
	Pentium class machines (though the 386sx is not
	recommended).  Support for generic IDE or ESDI drive
	configurations, various SCSI controller, network and
	serial cards is also provided.

	A minimum of four megabytes of RAM is required to run FreeBSD.
	To run the X Window System, eight megabytes of RAM is the
	recommended minimum.

	Following is a list of all disk controllers and Ethernet
	cards currently known to work with FreeBSD.  Other
	configurations may very well work, and we have simply not
	received any indication of this.

      <sect1><heading>Disk Controllers</heading>

	<p>
	  <itemize>
	    <item>WD1003 (any generic MFM/RLL)
	    <item>WD1007 (any generic IDE/ESDI)
	    <item>IDE
	    <item>ATA

	    <item>Adaptec 1505 ISA SCSI controller
	    <item>Adaptec 152x series ISA SCSI controllers
	    <item>Adaptec 1535 ISA SCSI controllers
	    <item>Adaptec 154x series ISA SCSI controllers
	    <item>Adaptec 174x series EISA SCSI controller in
	      standard and enhanced mode.
	    <item>Adaptec 274x/284x/2940/2940U/3940
              (Narrow/Wide/Twin)
	      series EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI controllers
	    <item>Adaptec AIC7850 on-board SCSI controllers
	    <item>Adaptec
	      <!-- AIC-6260 and - actually not working, joerg -->
	      AIC-6360 based boards,
	      which includes the AHA-152x and SoundBlaster SCSI
	      cards.

	      <bf>Note:</bf> You cannot boot from the
	      SoundBlaster cards as they have no on-board BIOS,
	      which is necessary for mapping the boot device into
	      the system BIOS I/O vectors.  They are perfectly
	      usable for external tapes, CDROMs, etc, however.
	      The same goes for any other AIC-6x60 based card
	      without a boot ROM.  Some systems DO have a boot
	      ROM, which is generally indicated by some sort of
	      message when the system is first powered up or
	      reset.  Check your system/board documentation for
	      more details.

	    <item>Buslogic 545S &amp; 545c
		<bf>Note:</bf> that Buslogic was formerly known as "Bustek".
	    <item>Buslogic 445S/445c VLB SCSI controller
	    <item>Buslogic 742A/747S/747c EISA SCSI controller.
	    <item>Buslogic 946c PCI SCSI controller
	    <item>Buslogic 956c PCI SCSI controller

            <item>NCR 53C810/53C815/53C825/53C860/53C875 PCI SCSI controller.
	    <item>NCR5380/NCR53400 (``ProAudio Spectrum'') SCSI controller. 

	    <item>DTC 3290 EISA SCSI controller in 1542 emulation mode.

	    <item>UltraStor 14F/24F/34F SCSI controllers.

	    <item>Seagate ST01/02 SCSI controllers.

	    <item>Future Domain 8xx/950 series SCSI controllers.

	    <item>WD7000 SCSI controllers.

	  </itemize>

	  With all supported SCSI controllers, full support is
	  provided for SCSI-I &amp; SCSI-II peripherals,
	  including Disks, tape drives (including DAT) and CD ROM
	  drives.

	  The following CD-ROM type systems are supported at this
	  time:

	  <itemize>
	    <item>SoundBlaster SCSI and ProAudio Spectrum SCSI (<tt>cd</tt>)
	    <item>Mitsumi (all models) proprietary interface (<tt>mcd</tt>)
	    <item>Matsushita/Panasonic (Creative)
	      CR-562/CR-563 proprietary interface (<tt>matcd</tt>) 
	    <item>Sony proprietary interface (<tt>scd</tt>)
	    <item>ATAPI IDE interface 
                   (experimental and should be considered ALPHA quality!) 
                   (<tt>wcd</tt>)
	  </itemize>

      <sect1><heading>Ethernet cards</heading>

	<p>
	  <itemize>

            <item>Allied-Telesis AT1700 and RE2000 cards

	    <item>SMC Elite 16 WD8013 Ethernet interface, and
	      most other WD8003E, WD8003EBT, WD8003W, WD8013W,
	      WD8003S, WD8003SBT and WD8013EBT based clones.  SMC
	      Elite Ultra is also supported.

	    <item>DEC EtherWORKS III NICs (DE203, DE204, and DE205)
	    <item>DEC EtherWORKS II NICs (DE200, DE201, DE202, and DE422)
	    <item>DEC DC21040/DC21041/DC21140 based NICs:
		<itemize>
		<item>ASUS		PCI-L101-TB
		<item>Accton		ENI1203
		<item>Cogent		EM960PCI
		<item>Compex 		CPXPCI/32C
		<item>D-Link		DE-530
		<item>DEC		DE435
		<item>Danpex		EN-9400P3
		<item>JCIS		Condor JC1260
		<item>Linksys		EtherPCI
		<item>Mylex		LNP101
		<item>SMC		EtherPower 10/100 (Model 9332)
		<item>SMC		EtherPower (Model 8432)
		<item>SMC		EtherPower (2)
		<item>Zynx		ZX342
		</itemize>
	    <item>DEC FDDI (DEFPA/DEFEA) NICs

	    <item>Fujitsu FMV-181 and FMV-182

	    <item>Fujitsu MB86960A/MB86965A

	    <item>Intel EtherExpress

	    <item>Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B 100Mbit.

	    <item>Isolan AT 4141-0 (16 bit)
	    <item>Isolink 4110     (8 bit)

	    <item>Novell NE1000, NE2000, and NE2100 ethernet interface.

	    <item>3Com 3C501 cards

	    <item>3Com 3C503 Etherlink II

	    <item>3Com 3c505 Etherlink/+

	    <item>3Com 3C507 Etherlink 16/TP

	    <item>3Com 3C509, 3C579, 3C589 (PCMCIA) Etherlink III

	    <item>3Com 3C590, 3C595 Etherlink III

	    <item>HP PC Lan Plus (27247B and 27252A)
 
	    <item>Toshiba ethernet cards

	    <item>PCMCIA ethernet cards from IBM and National
	      Semiconductor are also supported.
	  </itemize>

        <p><em>Note:</em> FreeBSD does not currently support
          PnP (plug-n-play) features present on some ethernet
          cards.  If your card has PnP and is giving you problems,
          try disabling its PnP features.

      <sect1><heading>Miscellaneous devices</heading>

	<p>
	  <itemize>
	    <item>AST 4 port serial card using shared IRQ.

	    <item>ARNET 8 port serial card using shared IRQ.

	    <item>BOCA IOAT66 6 port serial card using shared IRQ.

	    <item>BOCA 2016 16 port serial card using shared IRQ.

	    <item>Cyclades Cyclom-y Serial Board.

	    <item>STB 4 port card using shared IRQ.

	    <item>SDL Communications Riscom/8 Serial Board.

	    <item>SDL Communications RISCom/N2 and N2pci sync serial cards.

	    <item>Digiboard Sync/570i high-speed sync serial card.
	
	    <item>Decision-Computer Intl. "Eight-Serial" 8 port serial cards 
                  using shared IRQ.

	    <item>Adlib, SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster Pro,
	      ProAudioSpectrum, Gravis UltraSound, Gravis UltraSound MAX
	      and Roland MPU-401 sound cards.

	    <item>Matrox Meteor video frame grabber.

	    <item>Creative Labs Video spigot frame grabber.

	    <item>Omnimedia Talisman frame grabber.

	    <item>X-10 power controllers.

	    <item>PC joystick and speaker.
	  </itemize>

	  FreeBSD does not currently support IBM's microchannel (MCA) bus.

    <sect><heading>Preparing for the installation</heading>

      <p>There are a number of different methods by which FreeBSD
	can be installed.  The following describes what
	preparation needs to be done for each type.

      <sect1><heading>Before installing from CDROM</heading>

	<p>If your CDROM is of an unsupported type, then please
	  skip to <ref id="install:msdos" name="MS-DOS Preparation">.

	  There is not a lot of preparatory work that needs to be done to
	  successfully install from one of Walnut Creek's FreeBSD CDROMs (other
	  CDROM distributions may work as well, though we cannot say for certain
	  as we have no hand or say in how they are created).  You can either
	  boot into the CD installation directly from DOS using Walnut Creek's
	  supplied ``install.bat'' batch file or you can make a boot floppy with
	  the ``makeflp.bat'' command.  [NOTE:  If you are running
	  FreeBSD 2.1-RELEASE and have an IDE CDROM, use the
	  inst&lowbar;ide.bat or atapiflp.bat batch files instead].

	  For the easiest interface of all (from DOS), type
	  ``view''.  This will bring up a DOS menu utility that
	  leads you through all the available options.

	  If you are creating the boot floppy from a UNIX machine,
	  see <ref id="install" name="the beginning of this
	  guide"> for examples. of how to create the boot floppy.

	  Once you have booted from DOS or floppy, you should then
	  be able to select CDROM as the media type in the Media
	  menu and load the entire distribution from CDROM.  No
	  other types of installation media should be required.

	  After your system is fully installed and you have rebooted
	  from the hard disk, you can mount the CDROM at any time by
	  typing: <tt>mount /cdrom</tt>

	  Before removing the CD again, also note that it is necessary to first
	  type: <tt>umount /cdrom</tt>.  Do not just remove it from the drive!

	  <quote><bf>Special note:</bf> Before invoking the
	    installation, be sure that the CDROM is in the drive
	    so that the install probe can find it.  This is also
	    true if you wish the CDROM to be added to the default
	    system configuration automatically during the install
	    (whether or not you actually use it as the
	    installation media).
	  </quote>

	  Finally, if you would like people to be able to FTP
	  install FreeBSD directly from the CDROM in your
	  machine, you will find it quite easy.  After the machine
	  is fully installed, you simply need to add the
	  following line to the password file (using the vipw
	  command):

<tscreen><verb>
ftp:*:99:99::0:0:FTP:/cdrom:/nonexistent
</verb></tscreen>

	  Anyone with network connectivity to your machine (and permission
	  to log into it) can now chose a Media type of FTP and type
	  in: <tt>ftp://<em>your machine</em></tt> after picking ``Other''
	  in the ftp sites menu.

      <sect1><heading>Before installing from Floppy</heading>

	<p>If you must install from floppy disks, either due to
	  unsupported hardware or simply because you enjoy doing
	  things the hard way, you must first prepare some
	  floppies for the install.

	  You will need, at minimum, as many 1.44MB or 1.2MB floppies as
	  it takes to hold all files in the bin (binary distribution)
	  directory.  If you are preparing these floppies under DOS, then
	  THESE floppies *must* be formatted using the MS-DOS FORMAT
	  command.  If you are using Windows, use the Windows File
	  Manager format command.

	  Do <em>not</em> trust Factory Preformatted floppies!  Format
	  them again yourself, just to make sure.  Many problems
	  reported by our users in the past have resulted from the use
	  of improperly formatted media, which is why I am taking such
	  special care to mention it here!

	  If you are creating the floppies from another FreeBSD machine,
	  a format is still not a bad idea though you do nott need to put
	  a DOS filesystem on each floppy.  You can use the `disklabel'
	  and `newfs' commands to put a UFS filesystem on them instead,
	  as the following sequence of commands (for a 3.5" 1.44MB floppy
	  disk) illustrates:

<tscreen><verb>
        fdformat -f 1440 fd0.1440
        disklabel -w -r fd0.1440 floppy3
        newfs -t 2 -u 18 -l 1 -i 65536 /dev/rfd0
        
(Use "fd0.1200" and "floppy5" for 5.25" 1.2MB disks).
</verb></tscreen>

	  Then you can mount and write to them like any other file
	  system.

	  After you have formatted the floppies, you will need to copy
	  the files onto them.  The distribution files are split into
	  chunks conveniently sized so that 5 of them will fit on a
	  conventional 1.44MB floppy.  Go through all your floppies,
	  packing as many files as will fit on each one, until you have
	  got all the distributions you want packed up in this fashion.
	  Each distribution should go into a subdirectory on the
	  floppy, e.g.: <bf>a:&bsol;bin&bsol;bin.aa</bf>,
	  <bf>a:&bsol;bin&bsol;bin.ab</bf>, and so on.

	  Once you come to the Media screen of the install,
	  select ``Floppy'' and you will be prompted for the rest.



      <sect1><heading>Before installing from a MS-DOS partition<label id="install:msdos"></heading>

	<p>To prepare for installation from an MS-DOS partition,
	  copy the files from the distribution into a directory
	  called <tt>C:&bsol;FREEBSD</tt>.  The directory tree structure
	  of the CDROM must be partially reproduced within this directory
	  so we suggest using the DOS <tt>xcopy</tt>
	  command.  For example, to prepare for a minimal installation of
	  FreeBSD:
<tscreen><verb>
C> MD C:\FREEBSD
C> XCOPY /S E:\BIN C:\FREEBSD\BIN\
C> XCOPY /S E:\MANPAGES C:\FREEBSD\MANPAGES\
</verb></tscreen>
	  assuming that <tt>C:</tt> is where you have free space
	  and <tt>E:</tt> is where your CDROM is mounted.

	  For as many `DISTS' you wish to install from MS-DOS
	  (and you have free space for), install each one under
	  <tt>C:&bsol;FREEBSD</tt> - the <tt>BIN</tt> dist is only the
	  minimal requirement.

      <sect1><heading>Before installing from QIC/SCSI Tape</heading>

	<p>Installing from tape is probably the easiest method,
	  short of an on-line install using FTP or a CDROM
	  install.  The installation program expects the files to
	  be simply tar'ed onto the tape, so after getting all of
	  the files for distribution you are interested in, simply
	  tar them onto the tape with a command like:
<tscreen>
cd /freebsd/distdir<newline>
tar cvf /dev/rwt0 (or /dev/rst0) dist1 .. dist2
</tscreen>

	  When you go to do the installation, you should also
	  make sure that you leave enough room in some temporary
	  directory (which you will be allowed to choose) to
	  accommodate the <bf>full</bf> contents of the tape you have
	  created.  Due to the non-random access nature of tapes,
	  this method of installation requires quite a bit of
	  temporary storage.  You should expect to require as
	  much temporary storage as you have stuff written on
	  tape.

	  <quote><bf>Note:</bf> When going to do the
	    installation, the tape must be in the drive
	    <em>before</em> booting from the boot floppy.  The
	    installation probe may otherwise fail to find it.</quote>


<sect1><heading>Before installing over a network</heading>

      <p>You can do network installations over 3 types of
	communications links:
	<descrip>
        <tag>Serial port</tag> SLIP or PPP 
        <tag>Parallel port</tag> PLIP (laplink cable) 
        <tag>Ethernet</tag> A
        standard ethernet controller (includes some PCMCIA).
	</descrip>

	  SLIP support is rather primitive, and limited primarily
	  to hard-wired links, such as a serial cable running
	  between a laptop computer and another computer.  The
	  link should be hard-wired as the SLIP installation
	  does not currently offer a dialing capability; that
	  facility is provided with the PPP utility, which should
	  be used in preference to SLIP whenever possible.

	  If you are using a modem, then PPP is almost certainly
	  your only choice.  Make sure that you have your service
	  provider's information handy as you will need to know it
	  fairly soon in the installation process.  You will need
	  to know, at the minimum, your service provider's IP
	  address and possibly your own (though you can also
	  leave it blank and allow PPP to negotiate it with your
	  ISP).  You also need to know how to use the various ``AT
	  commands'' to dial the ISP with your particular modem as
	  the PPP dialer provides only a very simple terminal
	  emulator.

	  If a hard-wired connection to another FreeBSD (2.0R or
	  later) machine is available, you might also consider
	  installing over a ``laplink'' parallel port cable.  The
	  data rate over the parallel port is much higher than
	  what is typically possible over a serial line (up to
	  50k/sec), thus resulting in a quicker installation.

	  Finally, for the fastest possible network installation,
	  an ethernet adaptor is always a good choice!  FreeBSD
	  supports most common PC ethernet cards, a table of
	  supported cards (and their required settings) is
	  provided in <ref id="install:hw" name="Supported
	  Hardware">.  If you are using one of the supported
	  PCMCIA ethernet cards, also be sure that it is plugged
	  in <em>before</em> the laptop is powered on!  FreeBSD
	  does not, unfortunately, currently support hot
	  insertion of PCMCIA cards during installation.

	  You will also need to know your IP address on the
	  network, the netmask value for your address class,
	  and the name of your machine.  Your system
	  administrator can tell you which values to use for your
	  particular network setup.  If you will be referring to
	  other hosts by name rather than IP address, you will also
	  need a name server and possibly the address of a
	  gateway (if you are using PPP, it is your provider's IP
	  address) to use in talking to it.  If you do not know
	  the answers to all or most of these questions, then you
	  should really probably talk to your system
	  administrator <em>first</em> before trying this type of
	  installation.

	  Once you have a network link of some sort working, the
	  installation can continue over NFS or FTP.

	<sect2><heading>Preparing for NFS installation</heading>

	  <p>NFS installation is fairly straight-forward: Simply
	    copy the FreeBSD distribution files you want onto a
	    server somewhere and then point the NFS media
	    selection at it.

	    If this server supports only ``privileged port'' access
	    (as is generally the default for Sun workstations),
	    you will need to set this option in the Options menu
	    before installation can proceed.

	    If you have a poor quality ethernet card which
	    suffers from very slow transfer rates, you may also
	    wish to toggle the appropriate Options flag.

	    In order for NFS installation to work, the server
	    must support subdir mounts, e.g., if your FreeBSD
	    &rel.current; distribution directory lives on:
	    <bf>ziggy:/usr/archive/stuff/FreeBSD</bf> Then ziggy will have
	    to allow the direct mounting of
	    <bf>/usr/archive/stuff/FreeBSD</bf>, not just <bf>/usr</bf> or
	    <bf>/usr/archive/stuff</bf>.

	    In FreeBSD's <bf>/etc/exports</bf> file, this is controlled by
	    the ``<tt>-alldirs</tt>'' option.  Other NFS servers may have
	    different conventions.  If you are getting
	    `Permission Denied' messages from the server then
	    it is likely that you do not have this enabled
	    properly.

	<sect2><heading>Preparing for FTP Installation</heading>

	  <p>FTP installation may be done from any mirror site
	    containing a reasonably up-to-date version of FreeBSD
	    &rel.current;.  A full menu of reasonable choices from almost
	    anywhere in the world is provided by the FTP site
	    menu.

	    If you are installing from some other FTP site not
	    listed in this menu, or you are having troubles
	    getting your name server configured properly, you can
	    also specify your own URL by selecting the ``Other''
	    choice in that menu.  A URL can also be a direct IP
	    address, so the following would work in the absence
	    of a name server:

<tscreen><verb>
ftp://192.216.222.4/pub/FreeBSD/&rel.current;-RELEASE
</verb></tscreen>
        
	    There are two FTP installation modes you can use:

	    <descrip>
	      <tag>FTP Active</tag>

		For all FTP transfers, use ``Active'' mode.  This
		will not work through firewalls, but will often
		work with older ftp servers that do not support
		passive mode.  If your connection hangs with
		passive mode (the default), try active!

	      <tag>FTP Passive</tag>

		For all FTP transfers, use ``Passive'' mode.  This
		allows the user to pass through firewalls that do
		not allow incoming connections on random port
		addresses.

	    </descrip>

	    <quote><bf>Note:</bf> Active and passive modes are
	      not the same as a `proxy' connection, where a proxy
	      FTP server is listening and forwarding FTP requests!</quote>

            For a proxy FTP server, you should usually give name of
	    the server you really want as a part of the username,
	    after an @-sign.  The proxy server then 'fakes' the real
	    server.  An example: Say you want to install from
	    ftp.freebsd.org, using the proxy FTP server foo.bar.com,
	    listening on port 1234.

	    In this case, you go to the options menu, set the FTP
	    username to ftp@ftp.freebsd.org, and the password to your
	    e-mail address.  As your installation media, you specify
	    FTP (or passive FTP, if the proxy support it), and the URL
<tscreen><verb>
ftp://foo.bar.com:1234/pub/FreeBSD
</verb></tscreen>
            /pub/FreeBSD from ftp.freebsd.org is proxied under
	    foo.bar.com, allowing you to install from _that_ machine
	    (which fetch the files from ftp.freebsd.org as your
	    installation requests them).

    <sect><heading>Installing FreeBSD</heading>

      <p>Once you have taken note of the appropriate
	preinstallation steps, you should be able to install
	FreeBSD without any further trouble.

	Should this not be true, then you may wish to go back and
	re-read the relevant preparation section above
	for the installation media type you are trying to use,
	perhaps there is a helpful hint there that you missed the
	first time?  If you are having hardware trouble, or
	FreeBSD refuses to boot at all, read the Hardware Guide
	provided on the boot floppy for a list of possible
	solutions.

	The FreeBSD boot floppy contains all the on-line
	documentation you should need to be able to navigate
	through an installation and if it does not then we would
	like to know what you found most confusing.  Send your
	comments to the &a.doc;.
	It is the objective of the
	FreeBSD installation program (sysinstall) to be
	self-documenting enough that painful ``step-by-step''
	guides are no longer necessary.  It may take us a little
	while to reach that objective, but that is the objective!

	Meanwhile, you may also find the following ``typical
	installation sequence'' to be helpful:

	<enum>
	  <item>Boot the boot floppy.  After a boot sequence
	    which can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 3
	    minutes, depending on your hardware, you should be
	    presented with a menu of initial choices.  If the
	    floppy does not boot at all, or the boot hangs at some
	    stage, go read the Q&amp;A section of the Hardware Guide
	    for possible causes.

	  <item>Press F1.  You should see some basic usage
	    instructions on the menu system and general
	    navigation.  If you have not used this menu system
	    before then PLEASE read this thoroughly!

	  <item>Select the Options item and set any special
	    preferences you may have.

	  <item>Select a Novice, Custom or Express install, depending on
	    whether or not you would like the installation to help
	    you through a typical installation, give you a high degree of
	    control over each step of the installation or simply whizz
	    through it (using reasonable defaults when possible) as fast
	    as possible.  If you have never used FreeBSD before then the
	    Novice installation method is most recommended.

	  <item>The final configuration menu choice allows you to
	    further configure your FreeBSD installation by giving you
	    menu-driven access to various system defaults.  Some
	    items, like networking, may be especially important
	    if you did a CDROM/Tape/Floppy installation and have
	    not yet configured your network interfaces (assuming
	    you have any).  Properly configuring such interfaces
	    here will allow FreeBSD to come up on the network
	    when you first reboot from the hard disk.
	</enum>

    <sect><heading>MS-DOS user's Questions and Answers</heading>

    <p>Many FreeBSD users wish to install FreeBSD on PCs inhabited
    by MS-DOS.  Here are some commonly asked questions about
    installing FreeBSD on such systems.

      <p><bf>Help!  I have no space!  Do I need to delete
	  everything first?</bf>

	If your machine is already running MS-DOS and has little
	or no free space available for FreeBSD's installation,
	all is not lost!  You may find the FIPS utility, provided
	in the <tt>tools</tt> directory on the FreeBSD CDROM or
	on the various FreeBSD ftp sites, to be quite useful.

	FIPS allows you to split an existing MS-DOS partition
	into two pieces, preserving the original partition and
	allowing you to install onto the second free piece.  You
	first defragment your MS-DOS partition, using the DOS
	6.xx DEFRAG utility or the Norton Disk tools, then run
	FIPS.  It will prompt you for the rest of the information
	it needs.  Afterwards, you can reboot and install FreeBSD
	on the new free slice.  See the <em>Distributions</em>
	menu for an estimation of how much free space you will need
	for the kind of installation you want.


	<bf>Can I use compressed MS-DOS filesystems from
	  FreeBSD?</bf>

	No.  If you are using a utility such as Stacker(tm) or
	DoubleSpace(tm), FreeBSD will only be able to use
	whatever portion of the filesystem you leave
	uncompressed.  The rest of the filesystem will show up as
	one large file (the stacked/dblspaced file!).  <bf>Do not
	remove that file!</bf> You will probably regret it
	greatly!

	It is probably better to create another uncompressed
	MS-DOS primary partition and use this for communications
	between MS-DOS and FreeBSD.


	<bf>Can I mount my MS-DOS extended partitions?</bf>

	Yes. DOS extended partitions are mapped in at the end of the other
	``slices'' in FreeBSD, e.g. your D: drive might be /dev/sd0s5,
	your E: drive /dev/sd0s6, and so on. This example assumes, of
	course, that your extended partition is on SCSI drive 0. For IDE drives,
	substitute ``wd'' for ``sd'' appropriately. You otherwise mount extended
	partitions exactly like you would mount any other DOS drive, e.g.:

<tscreen><verb>
mount -t msdos /dev/sd0s5 /dos_d
</verb></tscreen>

	<bf>Can I run MS-DOS binaries under FreeBSD?</bf>

	Not yet!  We would like to add support for this someday, but
	are still lacking anyone to actually do the work.  BSDI has
	also donated their DOS emulator to the BSD world and this is slowly
	being ported to FreeBSD-current.

	Send mail to the &a.emulation if you're interested in joining
	this effort!

	In the interim, there is a nice application available in the
	<ref id="ports" name="The Ports Collection"> called pcemu
	which allows you to run many basic MS-DOS text-mode binaries
	by entirely emulating an 8088 CPU.