Computer History Wiki - User contributions [en]

User talk:Mph94

2023-03-20T21:51:01Z

Mph94: replied to jnc and inquired about images

==4.x BSD==

Hello and welcome! I also have a bit of an interest in the 4.x BSD series. I managed to follow the instructions in MIT's Chaosnet patch set for 4.1BSD, and I'm currently trying to make 4.3BSD and X10 talk to an emulated VAXstation 100. I have ready to run disk images in http://lars.nocrew.org/tmp/Chaotic-4.1BSD.tar.bz2 and https://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/prebuilt-emulator-images-with-interesting-software-installed [[User:Larsbrinkhoff |Larsbrinkhoff ]] ([[User talk:Larsbrinkhoff |talk]]) 13:11, 2 March 2023‎

== Talk page formatting ==

Hi, we generally follow the Wikipedia style for Talk: pages: i) use a section header, and ii) sign all comments using the MediaWiki '''<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>''' special form, which turns into a sig and a timestamp. (See the end of this entry to see how it looks. Yes, the information is all available through the 'history' tab, but after a while it can be work to figure out who wrote what. See [[Help talk:Introduction to Categories]] for an example of how these suggestions make Talk: pages easier to follow.)

Use of the 'Show preview' button allows you to see how your formatting will look without filling the article history with a lot of minor updates. Thanks! [[User:Jnc|Jnc]] ([[User talk:Jnc|talk]]) 11:27, 20 March 2023 (CET)

Hi, thanks for the heads up and the tip. As you can tell I have literally zero experience with wiki markup and protocol so the advice is very much appreciated! [[User:Mph94|Mph94]] ([[User talk:Mph94|talk]]) 22:50, 20 March 2023 (CET)

== Question(s) about my Virtualbox Tutorial ==

I'm going to continue working on the [[Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox]] article. Right now it needs to be completed, reformatted to be easier to read, and condensed.

I have two questions:
* Is there a way to resize images and/or generate thumbnails? The guru meditation picture I inserted is a lot larger than I thought it would end up being (because I assumed that it would be a thumbnail).
* What would be the best way to share the floppy images people need to boot from? Neozeed used uuencode to post a copy of the boot42 image for vax, but it's fairly small. 2.88 megs (the approximate size of two floppies) isn't really huge but it might be unwieldy for people to cut/paste and work with. I'm considering using github to share virtual machines the way that he used sourceforge, but I'm not sure that is allowed (by github) or not. I'd appreciate any insight or suggestions you can give me on how to share images in a stable and semi-permanent (so the links will still be around in 2033, etc) way. [[User:Mph94|Mph94]] ([[User talk:Mph94|talk]]) 22:50, 20 March 2023 (CET)

Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox

2023-03-20T05:11:48Z

Mph94:

'''!THIS PAGE IS NOT YET COMPLETE. DO NOT RELY ON IT UNTIL I REMOVE THIS NOTICE!'''

Notes:

I am not a professional, and this is likely to be the wrong way to do this. But it will get the job done.

NOTES:
1)because FreeBSD 2.0 doesn't understand the SCSI driver Virtualbox provides, this will require some sort of DOS.

2)This will involve multiple reboots and copying files from the CD to the DOS partition, which is extremely wasteful.

3)You will need to add a floppy controller to the VM, if you don't see it look for "i82078(floppy)" in the "add controller" drop-down.

4)You will need some sort of dos boot disk with some sort ATAPI driver configured so that you can read the CD-ROM.

5)Obviously you'll need a copy of FreeBSD 2.0. You can find that here: [https://archive.org/details/cdrom-freebsd-2.0-1 2.0] or a copy of [http://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/2.0.5/ 2.0.5]

6)For whatever reason, Virtualbox does NOT like the way that FreeBSD resets the computer. You will frequently get a dialog box like this:
[[File:Screenshot_2023-03-19_202151.png]]

whenever it tries to reboot.
----
Preparing to install
----
Step 1: create a VM, make sure the type is set to "FreeBSD (32-bit)". I recommend the following specs:
* 16mb to 32mb of ram
* At least two ide drives (1st drive 600mb to 4GB, 2nd drive 350MB to 512MB)
* Disable audio,
* Disable USB

Step 2:
Boot into DOS and create two partitions, a master partition to store BSD installation packages on and then an extended partition. If you're using FreeDOS, their fdisk will ask you if you want to use "large disk" support, that's incompatible so choose "no". Make the first partition large enough to fit packages and install files from the CD, but less than 504mb. 420mb is a safe number and usually the one I pick.

Step 3:
Reboot and format the DOS drive. You will be booting from DOS any time you need it so there is no need to specify "/s", just "format c:" will suffice.

Step 4: Assuming your CD-ROM drive is "D" (and that you have your FreeBSD iso attached) copy d:\tools\dos_tools\rawrite.exe to either your floppy drive or to your hard-drive. If you copy it to your hard drive you might want to change your PATH to "PATH=c:\;a:\" or similar.

Step 5:
Eject your DOS floppy and create two floppy images using Virtualbox. The first one should be named "FreeBSD-2.0-boot.img" and the second "FreeBSD-2.0-cpio.img". Use rawrite to copy them to the virtual floppy disk ("rawrite FILENAME a:")

Step 6:
copy the distribution folders to drive c, ideally using xcopy. eg: "xcopy /s /e bindist c:\bindist"
Do that for the following folders: BINDIST COMPAT1x DICT GAMES MANPAGES PROFLIBS SRCDIST. (command.com has a for loop but I don't know or trust it so I do them manually). Leave out XFREE86_ because it is unsupported in Virtualbox.

----
Installation:
----

Step 1:
Attach the FreeBSD 2.0 boot image to your virtual floppy drive and reboot. Taking a screenshot (HOSTKEY+e) to use for later reference never hurt nobody.

Step 2:
By this point the installation program was largely designed and would be unchanged for some twenty-odd years. If you installed FreeBSD in the 2000s or 2010s it will look largely familar to you,albeit with missing features. Pick "Install"

Step 3:
Pick "(F)disk" and disk 0
Edit partition one and accept fdisks' suggestions. Write to disk when prompted, and be sure to type "b" to install the bootloader to the mbr.

Step 4:
Pick Disklabel and disk 0
create the root directory by editing 'a', it's probably better to keep your root partition small to prevent boot loader/boot time confusion so pick a size under 300mb.
write and then edit the 'b' slice, it's probably appropriate to keep this at 64mb. when finished write and then pick 'a' to assign it as the swap partition.
slices 'c' and 'd' are not available to us, so next edit the 'e' slice and give it the remaining disk space, and then 'assign' it as /usr

quit this and then tell the installer you're ready to proceed. If all goes well you should

File:Screenshot 2023-03-19 202151.png

2023-03-20T04:30:13Z

Mph94: Mph94 uploaded a new version of File:Screenshot 2023-03-19 202151.png

Virtualbox Guru Meditation error triggered by FreeBSD rebooting.

Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox

2023-03-20T04:27:02Z

Mph94:

'''!THIS PAGE IS NOT YET COMPLETE. DO NOT RELY ON IT UNTIL I REMOVE THIS NOTICE!'''

Notes:

I am not a professional, and this is likely to be the wrong way to do this. But it will get the job done.

NOTES:
1)because FreeBSD 2.0 doesn't understand the SCSI driver Virtualbox provides, this will require some sort of DOS.

2)This will involve multiple reboots and copying files from the CD to the DOS partition, which is extremely wasteful.

3)You will need to add a floppy controller to the VM, if you don't see it look for "i82078(floppy)" in the "add controller" drop-down.

4)You will need some sort of dos boot disk with some sort ATAPI driver configured so that you can read the CD-ROM.

5)Obviously you'll need a copy of FreeBSD 2.0. You can find that here: [https://archive.org/details/cdrom-freebsd-2.0-1 2.0] or a copy of [http://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/2.0.5/ 2.0.5]

6)For whatever reason, Virtualbox does NOT like the way that FreeBSD resets the computer. You will frequently get a dialog box like this:
[[File:Screenshot_2023-03-19_202151.png]]

whenever it tries to reboot.
----
Preparing to install
----
Step 1: create a VM, make sure the type is set to "FreeBSD (32-bit)". I recommend the following specs:
16mb to 32mb of ram
1.8gb hard disk (to be sure it can be read by DOS and BSD)
Disable audio,
Disable USB

Step 2:
Boot into DOS and create two partitions, a master partition to store BSD installation packages on and then an extended partition. If you're using FreeDOS, their fdisk will ask you if you want to use "large disk" support, that's incompatible so choose "no". Make the first partition large enough to fit packages and install files from the CD, but less than 504mb. 420mb is a safe number and usually the one I pick.

Step 3:
Reboot and format the DOS drive. You will be booting from DOS any time you need it so there is no need to specify "/s", just "format c:" will suffice.

Step 4: Assuming your CD-ROM drive is "D" (and that you have your FreeBSD iso attached) copy d:\tools\dos_tools\rawrite.exe to either your floppy drive or to your hard-drive. If you copy it to your hard drive you might want to change your PATH to "PATH=c:\;a:\" or similar.

Step 5:
Eject your DOS floppy and create two floppy images using Virtualbox. The first one should be named "FreeBSD-2.0-boot.img" and the second "FreeBSD-2.0-cpio.img". Use rawrite to copy them to the virtual floppy disk ("rawrite FILENAME a:") (TODO: upload and share my boot images).

Step 6:
copy the distribution folders to drive c, ideally using xcopy. eg: "xcopy /s /e bindist c:\bindist"
Do that for the following folders: BINDIST COMPAT1x DICT GAMES MANPAGES PROFLIBS SRCDIST. (command.com has a for loop but I don't know or trust it so I do them manually). Leave out XFREE86_ because it is unsupported in Virtualbox.

----
Installation:
----

Step 1:
Attach the FreeBSD 2.0 boot image to your virtual floppy drive and reboot. Taking a screenshot (HOSTKEY+e) to use for later reference never hurt nobody.

Step 2:
By this point the installation program was largely designed and would be unchanged for some twenty-odd years. If you installed FreeBSD in the 2000s or 2010s it will look largely familar to you,albeit with missing features. Pick "Install"

Step 3:
Pick "(F)disk" and disk 0
Pick W and write
Delete slice 2 and then select W
Edit slice 2 and replace it with a FreeBSD partition.
type "B" to write the bootmanager to the MBR
Q to return to the previous screen.

Step 4:
Pick Disklabel and disk 0
Partition the disk

create the root directory

It will tell you to type "W" to save changes to disk; do so.
type 'd' and delete partition 'f'. Then type "w" to save your changes.
Create the "a" partition by typing "e" and typing a. To avoid potential boot issues you probably want to make this disk smaller, I would advise making it 40mb to 60mb. You want it to begin under the 1024 cylinder if possible.
type "a" for "assign" and type /

b:edit 'b' and create a 64mb swap file, write, then a for assign.

c:edit the f slice and give it the rest of the disk space, write, then assign it /usr

When you're done, your screen ought to look similar to this:
[fdisk]
[back to diskspace editor]
Type 'p' to proceed and tell the installer that yes, we do want to proceed:
[installer]

Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox

2023-03-20T04:26:39Z

Mph94:

'''!THIS PAGE IS NOT YET COMPLETE. DO NOT RELY ON IT UNTIL I REMOVE THIS NOTICE!'''

Notes:

I am not a professional, and this is likely to be the wrong way to do this. But it will get the job done.

NOTES:
1)because FreeBSD 2.0 doesn't understand the SCSI driver Virtualbox provides, this will require some sort of DOS.

2)This will involve multiple reboots and copying files from the CD to the DOS partition, which is extremely wasteful.

3)You will need to add a floppy controller to the VM, if you don't see it look for "i82078(floppy)" in the "add controller" drop-down.

4)You will need some sort of dos boot disk with some sort ATAPI driver configured so that you can read the CD-ROM.

5)Obviously you'll need a copy of FreeBSD 2.0. You can find that here: [https://archive.org/details/cdrom-freebsd-2.0-1 2.0] or a copy of [http://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/2.0.5/ 2.0.5]

6)For whatever reason, Virtualbox does NOT like the way that FreeBSD resets the computer. You will frequently get a dialog box like this:
[[File:Screenshot_2023-03-19_202151.png]]
whenever it tries to reboot.
----
Preparing to install
----
Step 1: create a VM, make sure the type is set to "FreeBSD (32-bit)". I recommend the following specs:
16mb to 32mb of ram
1.8gb hard disk (to be sure it can be read by DOS and BSD)
Disable audio,
Disable USB

Step 2:
Boot into DOS and create two partitions, a master partition to store BSD installation packages on and then an extended partition. If you're using FreeDOS, their fdisk will ask you if you want to use "large disk" support, that's incompatible so choose "no". Make the first partition large enough to fit packages and install files from the CD, but less than 504mb. 420mb is a safe number and usually the one I pick.

Step 3:
Reboot and format the DOS drive. You will be booting from DOS any time you need it so there is no need to specify "/s", just "format c:" will suffice.

Step 4: Assuming your CD-ROM drive is "D" (and that you have your FreeBSD iso attached) copy d:\tools\dos_tools\rawrite.exe to either your floppy drive or to your hard-drive. If you copy it to your hard drive you might want to change your PATH to "PATH=c:\;a:\" or similar.

Step 5:
Eject your DOS floppy and create two floppy images using Virtualbox. The first one should be named "FreeBSD-2.0-boot.img" and the second "FreeBSD-2.0-cpio.img". Use rawrite to copy them to the virtual floppy disk ("rawrite FILENAME a:") (TODO: upload and share my boot images).

Step 6:
copy the distribution folders to drive c, ideally using xcopy. eg: "xcopy /s /e bindist c:\bindist"
Do that for the following folders: BINDIST COMPAT1x DICT GAMES MANPAGES PROFLIBS SRCDIST. (command.com has a for loop but I don't know or trust it so I do them manually). Leave out XFREE86_ because it is unsupported in Virtualbox.

----
Installation:
----

Step 1:
Attach the FreeBSD 2.0 boot image to your virtual floppy drive and reboot. Taking a screenshot (HOSTKEY+e) to use for later reference never hurt nobody.

Step 2:
By this point the installation program was largely designed and would be unchanged for some twenty-odd years. If you installed FreeBSD in the 2000s or 2010s it will look largely familar to you,albeit with missing features. Pick "Install"

Step 3:
Pick "(F)disk" and disk 0
Pick W and write
Delete slice 2 and then select W
Edit slice 2 and replace it with a FreeBSD partition.
type "B" to write the bootmanager to the MBR
Q to return to the previous screen.

Step 4:
Pick Disklabel and disk 0
Partition the disk

create the root directory

It will tell you to type "W" to save changes to disk; do so.
type 'd' and delete partition 'f'. Then type "w" to save your changes.
Create the "a" partition by typing "e" and typing a. To avoid potential boot issues you probably want to make this disk smaller, I would advise making it 40mb to 60mb. You want it to begin under the 1024 cylinder if possible.
type "a" for "assign" and type /

b:edit 'b' and create a 64mb swap file, write, then a for assign.

c:edit the f slice and give it the rest of the disk space, write, then assign it /usr

When you're done, your screen ought to look similar to this:
[fdisk]
[back to diskspace editor]
Type 'p' to proceed and tell the installer that yes, we do want to proceed:
[installer]

File:Screenshot 2023-03-19 202151.png

2023-03-20T04:25:33Z

Mph94: Virtualbox Guru Meditation error triggered by FreeBSD rebooting.

Virtualbox Guru Meditation error triggered by FreeBSD rebooting.

Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox

2023-03-20T04:23:49Z

Mph94:

'''!THIS PAGE IS NOT YET COMPLETE. DO NOT RELY ON IT UNTIL I REMOVE THIS NOTICE!'''

Notes:

I am not a professional, and this is likely to be the wrong way to do this. But it will get the job done.

NOTES:
1)because FreeBSD 2.0 doesn't understand the SCSI driver Virtualbox provides, this will require some sort of DOS.

2)This will involve multiple reboots and copying files from the CD to the DOS partition, which is extremely wasteful.

3)You will need to add a floppy controller to the VM, if you don't see it look for "i82078(floppy)" in the "add controller" drop-down.

4)You will need some sort of dos boot disk with some sort ATAPI driver configured so that you can read the CD-ROM.

5)Obviously you'll need a copy of FreeBSD 2.0. You can find that here: [https://archive.org/details/cdrom-freebsd-2.0-1 2.0] or a copy of [http://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/2.0.5/ 2.0.5]

6)For whatever reason, Virtualbox does NOT like the way that FreeBSD resets the computer. You will frequently get a dialog box like this:
[[File:Example.jpg]]
whenever it tries to reboot.
----
Preparing to install
----
Step 1: create a VM, make sure the type is set to "FreeBSD (32-bit)". I recommend the following specs:
16mb to 32mb of ram
1.8gb hard disk (to be sure it can be read by DOS and BSD)
Disable audio,
Disable USB

Step 2:
Boot into DOS and create two partitions, a master partition to store BSD installation packages on and then an extended partition. If you're using FreeDOS, their fdisk will ask you if you want to use "large disk" support, that's incompatible so choose "no". Make the first partition large enough to fit packages and install files from the CD, but less than 504mb. 420mb is a safe number and usually the one I pick.

Step 3:
Reboot and format the DOS drive. You will be booting from DOS any time you need it so there is no need to specify "/s", just "format c:" will suffice.

Step 4: Assuming your CD-ROM drive is "D" (and that you have your FreeBSD iso attached) copy d:\tools\dos_tools\rawrite.exe to either your floppy drive or to your hard-drive. If you copy it to your hard drive you might want to change your PATH to "PATH=c:\;a:\" or similar.

Step 5:
Eject your DOS floppy and create two floppy images using Virtualbox. The first one should be named "FreeBSD-2.0-boot.img" and the second "FreeBSD-2.0-cpio.img". Use rawrite to copy them to the virtual floppy disk ("rawrite FILENAME a:") (TODO: upload and share my boot images).

Step 6:
copy the distribution folders to drive c, ideally using xcopy. eg: "xcopy /s /e bindist c:\bindist"
Do that for the following folders: BINDIST COMPAT1x DICT GAMES MANPAGES PROFLIBS SRCDIST. (command.com has a for loop but I don't know or trust it so I do them manually). Leave out XFREE86_ because it is unsupported in Virtualbox.

----
Installation:
----

Step 1:
Attach the FreeBSD 2.0 boot image to your virtual floppy drive and reboot. Taking a screenshot (HOSTKEY+e) to use for later reference never hurt nobody.

Step 2:
By this point the installation program was largely designed and would be unchanged for some twenty-odd years. If you installed FreeBSD in the 2000s or 2010s it will look largely familar to you,albeit with missing features. Pick "Install"

Step 3:
Pick "(F)disk" and disk 0
Pick W and write
Delete slice 2 and then select W
Edit slice 2 and replace it with a FreeBSD partition.
type "B" to write the bootmanager to the MBR
Q to return to the previous screen.

Step 4:
Pick Disklabel and disk 0
Partition the disk

create the root directory

It will tell you to type "W" to save changes to disk; do so.
type 'd' and delete partition 'f'. Then type "w" to save your changes.
Create the "a" partition by typing "e" and typing a. To avoid potential boot issues you probably want to make this disk smaller, I would advise making it 40mb to 60mb. You want it to begin under the 1024 cylinder if possible.
type "a" for "assign" and type /

b:edit 'b' and create a 64mb swap file, write, then a for assign.

c:edit the f slice and give it the rest of the disk space, write, then assign it /usr

When you're done, your screen ought to look similar to this:
[fdisk]
[back to diskspace editor]
Type 'p' to proceed and tell the installer that yes, we do want to proceed:
[installer]

Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox

2023-03-20T02:45:06Z

Mph94:

'''!THIS PAGE IS NOT YET COMPLETE. DO NOT RELY ON IT UNTIL I REMOVE THIS NOTICE!'''

Notes:

I am not a professional, and this is likely to be the wrong way to do this. But it will get the job done.

NOTES:
1)because FreeBSD 2.0 doesn't understand the SCSI driver Virtualbox provides, this will require some sort of DOS.

2)This will involve multiple reboots and copying files from the CD to the DOS partition, which is extremely wasteful.

3)You will need to add a floppy controller to the VM, if you don't see it look for "i82078(floppy)" in the "add controller" drop-down.

4)You will need some sort of dos boot disk with some sort ATAPI driver configured so that you can read the CD-ROM.

5)Obviously you'll need a copy of FreeBSD 2.0. You can find that here: [https://archive.org/details/cdrom-freebsd-2.0-1 2.0] or a copy of [http://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/2.0.5/ 2.0.5]
----
Preparing to install
----
Step 1: create a VM, make sure the type is set to "FreeBSD (32-bit)". I recommend the following specs:
16mb to 32mb of ram
1.8gb hard disk (to be sure it can be read by DOS and BSD)
Disable audio,
Disable USB

Step 2:
Boot into DOS and create two partitions, a master partition to store BSD installation packages on and then an extended partition. If you're using FreeDOS, their fdisk will ask you if you want to use "large disk" support, that's incompatible so choose "no". Make the first partition large enough to fit packages and install files from the CD, but less than 504mb. 420mb is a safe number and usually the one I pick.

Step 3:
Reboot and format the DOS drive. You will be booting from DOS any time you need it so there is no need to specify "/s", just "format c:" will suffice.

Step 4: Assuming your CD-ROM drive is "D" (and that you have your FreeBSD iso attached) copy d:\tools\dos_tools\rawrite.exe to either your floppy drive or to your hard-drive. If you copy it to your hard drive you might want to change your PATH to "PATH=c:\;a:\" or similar.

Step 5:
Eject your DOS floppy and create two floppy images using Virtualbox. The first one should be named "FreeBSD-2.0-boot.img" and the second "FreeBSD-2.0-cpio.img". Use rawrite to copy them to the virtual floppy disk ("rawrite FILENAME a:") (TODO: upload and share my boot images).

Step 6:
copy the distribution folders to drive c, ideally using xcopy. eg: "xcopy /s /e bindist c:\bindist"
Do that for the following folders: BINDIST COMPAT1x DICT GAMES MANPAGES PROFLIBS SRCDIST. (command.com has a for loop but I don't know or trust it so I do them manually). Leave out XFREE86_ because it is unsupported in Virtualbox.

----
Installation:
----

Step 1:
Attach the FreeBSD 2.0 boot image to your virtual floppy drive and reboot. Taking a screenshot (HOSTKEY+e) to use for later reference never hurt nobody.

Step 2:
By this point the installation program was largely designed and would be unchanged for some twenty-odd years. If you installed FreeBSD in the 2000s or 2010s it will look largely familar to you,albeit with missing features. Pick "Install"

Step 3:
Pick "(F)disk" and disk 0
Pick W and write
Delete slice 2 and then select W
Edit slice 2 and replace it with a FreeBSD partition.
type "B" to write the bootmanager to the MBR
Q to return to the previous screen.

Step 4:
Pick Disklabel and disk 0
Partition the disk

create the root directory

It will tell you to type "W" to save changes to disk; do so.
type 'd' and delete partition 'f'. Then type "w" to save your changes.
Create the "a" partition by typing "e" and typing a. To avoid potential boot issues you probably want to make this disk smaller, I would advise making it 40mb to 60mb. You want it to begin under the 1024 cylinder if possible.
type "a" for "assign" and type /

b:edit 'b' and create a 64mb swap file, write, then a for assign.

c:edit the f slice and give it the rest of the disk space, write, then assign it /usr

When you're done, your screen ought to look similar to this:
[fdisk]
[back to diskspace editor]
Type 'p' to proceed and tell the installer that yes, we do want to proceed:
[installer]

Talk:Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox

2023-03-20T02:31:14Z

Mph94:

Preliminary version, I need to experiment with installing it to a second hard drive in VB because I am getting write errors with the configuration I have now. I suspect that's because I'm trying to install it into a single 1.8gb partition. After I experiment with an alternate configuration I will adjust the article and upload appropriate screenshots.

Apologies for the mess! -mph94 march 19 2023

Talk:Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox

2023-03-20T02:30:48Z

Mph94: Created page with "Preliminary version, I need to experiment with installing it to a second hard drive in VB because I am getting write errors with the configuration I have now. I suspect that's..."

Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox

2023-03-20T02:27:15Z

Mph94:

'''!THIS PAGE IS NOT YET COMPLETE. DO NOT RELY ON IT UNTIL I REMOVE THIS NOTICE!'''

Notes:

I am not a professional, and this is likely to be the wrong way to do this. But it will get the job done.

NOTES:
1)because FreeBSD 2.0 doesn't understand the SCSI driver Virtualbox provides, this will require some sort of DOS.
2)This will involve multiple reboots and copying files from the CD to the DOS partition, which is extremely wasteful.
3)You will need to add a floppy controller to the VM, if you don't see it look for "i82078(floppy)" in the "add controller" drop-down.
4)You will need some sort of dos boot disk with some sort ATAPI driver configured so that you can read the CD-ROM.
5)Obviously you'll need a copy of FreeBSD 2.0. You can find that here: [https://archive.org/details/cdrom-freebsd-2.0-1 2.0] or a copy of [http://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/2.0.5/ 2.0.5]
----
Preparing to install
----
Step 1: create a VM, make sure the type is set to "FreeBSD (32-bit)". I recommend the following specs:
16mb to 32mb of ram
1.8gb hard disk (to be sure it can be read by DOS and BSD)
Disable audio,
Disable USB

Step 2:
Boot into DOS and create two partitions, a master partition to store BSD installation packages on and then an extended partition. If you're using FreeDOS, their fdisk will ask you if you want to use "large disk" support, that's incompatible so choose "no". Make the first partition large enough to fit packages and install files from the CD, but less than 504mb. 420mb is a safe number and usually the one I pick.

Step 3:
Reboot and format the DOS drive. You will be booting from DOS any time you need it so there is no need to specify "/s", just "format c:" will suffice.

Step 4: Assuming your CD-ROM drive is "D" (and that you have your FreeBSD iso attached) copy d:\tools\dos_tools\rawrite.exe to either your floppy drive or to your hard-drive. If you copy it to your hard drive you might want to change your PATH to "PATH=c:\;a:\" or similar.

Step 5:
Eject your DOS floppy and create two floppy images using Virtualbox. The first one should be named "FreeBSD-2.0-boot.img" and the second "FreeBSD-2.0-cpio.img". Use rawrite to copy them to the virtual floppy disk ("rawrite FILENAME a:") (TODO: upload and share my boot images).

Step 6:
copy the distribution folders to drive c, ideally using xcopy. eg: "xcopy /s /e bindist c:\bindist"
Do that for the following folders: BINDIST COMPAT1x DICT GAMES MANPAGES PROFLIBS SRCDIST. (command.com has a for loop but I don't know or trust it so I do them manually). Leave out XFREE86_ because it is unsupported in Virtualbox.

----
Installation:
----

Step 1:
Attach the FreeBSD 2.0 boot image to your virtual floppy drive and reboot. Taking a screenshot (HOSTKEY+e) to use for later reference never hurt nobody.

Step 2:
By this point the installation program was largely designed and would be unchanged for some twenty-odd years. If you installed FreeBSD in the 2000s or 2010s it will look largely familar to you,albeit with missing features. Pick "Install"

Step 3:
Pick "(F)disk" and disk 0
Pick W and write
Delete slice 2 and then select W
Edit slice 2 and replace it with a FreeBSD partition.
type "B" to write the bootmanager to the MBR
Q to return to the previous screen.

Step 4:
Pick Disklabel and disk 0
Partition the disk

create the root directory

It will tell you to type "W" to save changes to disk; do so.
type 'd' and delete partition 'f'. Then type "w" to save your changes.
Create the "a" partition by typing "e" and typing a. To avoid potential boot issues you probably want to make this disk smaller, I would advise making it 40mb to 60mb. You want it to begin under the 1024 cylinder if possible.
type "a" for "assign" and type /

b:edit 'b' and create a 64mb swap file, write, then a for assign.

c:edit the f slice and give it the rest of the disk space, write, then assign it /usr

When you're done, your screen ought to look similar to this:
[fdisk]
[back to diskspace editor]
Type 'p' to proceed and tell the installer that yes, we do want to proceed:
[installer]

Installing FreeBSD 2.0 On Virtualbox

2023-03-20T02:26:49Z

Mph94: PRELIMINARY VERSION -INCOMPLETE

'''!THIS PAGE IS NOT YET COMPLETE. DO NOT RELY ON IT UNTIL I REMOVE THIS NOTICE!'''
Notes:

I am not a professional, and this is likely to be the wrong way to do this. But it will get the job done.

NOTES:
1)because FreeBSD 2.0 doesn't understand the SCSI driver Virtualbox provides, this will require some sort of DOS.
2)This will involve multiple reboots and copying files from the CD to the DOS partition, which is extremely wasteful.
3)You will need to add a floppy controller to the VM, if you don't see it look for "i82078(floppy)" in the "add controller" drop-down.
4)You will need some sort of dos boot disk with some sort ATAPI driver configured so that you can read the CD-ROM.
5)Obviously you'll need a copy of FreeBSD 2.0. You can find that here: [https://archive.org/details/cdrom-freebsd-2.0-1 2.0] or a copy of [http://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/2.0.5/ 2.0.5]
----
Preparing to install
----
Step 1: create a VM, make sure the type is set to "FreeBSD (32-bit)". I recommend the following specs:
16mb to 32mb of ram
1.8gb hard disk (to be sure it can be read by DOS and BSD)
Disable audio,
Disable USB

Step 2:
Boot into DOS and create two partitions, a master partition to store BSD installation packages on and then an extended partition. If you're using FreeDOS, their fdisk will ask you if you want to use "large disk" support, that's incompatible so choose "no". Make the first partition large enough to fit packages and install files from the CD, but less than 504mb. 420mb is a safe number and usually the one I pick.

Step 3:
Reboot and format the DOS drive. You will be booting from DOS any time you need it so there is no need to specify "/s", just "format c:" will suffice.

Step 4: Assuming your CD-ROM drive is "D" (and that you have your FreeBSD iso attached) copy d:\tools\dos_tools\rawrite.exe to either your floppy drive or to your hard-drive. If you copy it to your hard drive you might want to change your PATH to "PATH=c:\;a:\" or similar.

Step 5:
Eject your DOS floppy and create two floppy images using Virtualbox. The first one should be named "FreeBSD-2.0-boot.img" and the second "FreeBSD-2.0-cpio.img". Use rawrite to copy them to the virtual floppy disk ("rawrite FILENAME a:") (TODO: upload and share my boot images).

Step 6:
copy the distribution folders to drive c, ideally using xcopy. eg: "xcopy /s /e bindist c:\bindist"
Do that for the following folders: BINDIST COMPAT1x DICT GAMES MANPAGES PROFLIBS SRCDIST. (command.com has a for loop but I don't know or trust it so I do them manually). Leave out XFREE86_ because it is unsupported in Virtualbox.

----
Installation:
----

Step 1:
Attach the FreeBSD 2.0 boot image to your virtual floppy drive and reboot. Taking a screenshot (HOSTKEY+e) to use for later reference never hurt nobody.

Step 2:
By this point the installation program was largely designed and would be unchanged for some twenty-odd years. If you installed FreeBSD in the 2000s or 2010s it will look largely familar to you,albeit with missing features. Pick "Install"

Step 3:
Pick "(F)disk" and disk 0
Pick W and write
Delete slice 2 and then select W
Edit slice 2 and replace it with a FreeBSD partition.
type "B" to write the bootmanager to the MBR
Q to return to the previous screen.

Step 4:
Pick Disklabel and disk 0
Partition the disk

create the root directory

It will tell you to type "W" to save changes to disk; do so.
type 'd' and delete partition 'f'. Then type "w" to save your changes.
Create the "a" partition by typing "e" and typing a. To avoid potential boot issues you probably want to make this disk smaller, I would advise making it 40mb to 60mb. You want it to begin under the 1024 cylinder if possible.
type "a" for "assign" and type /

b:edit 'b' and create a 64mb swap file, write, then a for assign.

c:edit the f slice and give it the rest of the disk space, write, then assign it /usr

When you're done, your screen ought to look similar to this:
[fdisk]
[back to diskspace editor]
Type 'p' to proceed and tell the installer that yes, we do want to proceed:
[installer]

User:Mph94

2023-03-03T05:12:54Z

Mph94: personal introduction and statement of intent, now where it belongs

Hi! I do not work in IT nor am I a programmer. What I am is an enthusiast who has followed "The Unix Heritage Society" since 2002 and has played with both virtualization and emulation for approximately the same amount of time.

Currently I spend the most amount of time playing with 86Box and Simh. There are changes I think need to be made to some of the 4BSD simh tutorials but instead of stampeding towards the publish button I will be copying the pages and making the changed versions available here first, so that people may comment on them before I get rid of the old versions.

I intend on doing something similar for the 86Box tutorials I will be writing.

Long time lurker (~12 years? at least 10) glad to be here and helping out.

User talk:Mph94

2023-03-03T05:12:26Z

Mph94: Moving my introduction onto my user page where it belongs

User talk:Mph94

2023-03-02T01:55:13Z

Mph94: personal introduction and statement of intent