Subject: Re: Booting NetBSD 1.4.1 from floppy
To: Claude Marinier <claude.marinier@dreo.dnd.ca>
From: David Brownlee <abs@anim.dreamworks.com>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 08/27/1999 15:39:30
Since this is i386 specific the best place to ask this question
would be on port-i386@netbsd.org
If you are paranoid then one thing you could do would be to boot
into NetBSD and run
'dd if=/dev/wd0d of=/root/save bs=32k count=1'
which saves the first 32k of the primary disk to /root/save
You can then test a boot loader, and if you have any problems
run
'dd if=/root/save of=/dev/wd0d'
to restore the boot area of the first disk :)
2) is a partitcularly good idea - there should really be an
easy way to produce custom boot blocks - could you submit
a PR on that?
David/absolute
Abandoning a syncing disk... or syncing an abandoned disk?
On Fri, 27 Aug 1999, Claude Marinier wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have a PII with Windows NT on the first disk drive (wd0) and NetBSD
> 1.4.1 on the second disk drive (wd1). I put a 66 MB DOS partition at the
> beginning of wd1 so I can boot a minimal DOS and hold the distribution;
> the reset of the disk is for NetBSD.
>
> I do not want to touch the WinNT disk. Currently, I boot the NetBSD system
> from the install floppy (hit the space bar then type "boot wd1a:netbsd").
>
> If I want to improve things, I have two options.
>
> 1) One of you could convince me that it is safe to install a boot selector
> on the first disk. It would have to be free (preferably, one of the
> boot selectors from the NetBSD distribution). I am not convinced this
> is safe and am suspicious of WinNT (especially since I am running the
> Windows 2000 Beta 3).
>
> 2) One of you could tell me how to make a boot floppy that will boot from
> wd1a:netbsd by default.
>
> Thanks.
>
> --------------------
> Claude Marinier, Information Technology Group claude.marinier@dreo.dnd.ca
> Defence Research Establishment Ottawa (DREO) (613) 998-4901 FAX 998-2675
> 3701 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0Z4 http://www.dreo.dnd.ca
>