Subject: Re: partition sizes?
To: John F. Woods <jfw@jfwhome.funhouse.com>
From: Space Case <wormey@eskimo.com>
List: port-i386
Date: 08/17/1998 13:26:25
On Aug 17,  3:18pm, "John F. Woods" wrote:
[I wrote:]
>> OK.  I don't understand the 'multiple MBR partitions' part

After layind down and thinking about it a bit (this headache isn't making
it easier), I think I have reached some understanding...  Tell me if I'm
wrong:

There's a master MBR that identifies the main partitions on a disk.  If
one had two DOS partitions (primary and secondary), the DOS would treat
those as "Drive C:" and "Drive D:".  The normal setup for NetBSD would
take the second partition and give it a NetBSD ID, and it would then have
its own, umm, wait...  I was thinking there'd be a MBR here, but it seems
to me there's a disklabel instead?  Or was I right that there'd be an MBR
for NetBSD in its partition?

>The suggested partition would require the MBR to tell DOS about at least
>three partitions:
>
>	0: 200MB of type "NetBSD"
>	1: 3GB of type DOS Primary
>	2: <n> of type "NetBSD"
>
>and NetBSD wants to have only one NetBSD-type partition.  However, I don't
>think NetBSD actually checks that all of the NetBSD filesystems are within
>NetBSD MBR-partitions; if that's the case, then you can just point the extra 
>NetBSD native partitions to the additional space after MBR-partition 1.

So, I could have root & swap in the first partition, DOS as the second
partition, and treat the third partition as another disk to be mounted
at /usr?  How would this last partition be identified?  wd1??

>> (indeed,
>> I just managed to get this Gateway installed NetBSD-only;
>Which Gateway?  I'm leaning toward getting one myself for NetBSD.

It's a 486DX/33, with a "Mr. BIOS" BIOS upgrade.  It probably would have
worked with the original BIOS, but I was fighting a (unknown to me, hey,
it was new) bad disk and I thought a BIOS upgrade would help.  Now that
I have it, no need to go back to the original.

Thanks,
~Steve

-- 
Steve Allen - wormey@eskimo.com   http://www.eskimo.com/~wormey/   ICQ 6709819

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It just happens to be selective about who it makes friends with.
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