Subject: Re: boot from floppy
To: None <sonnie@263.net>
From: Simon Burge <simonb@netbsd.org>
List: port-pmax
Date: 08/03/1999 12:10:46
sonnie@263.net wrote:

> sonnie@263.net wrote:
> > I want to track the -current, how can I make the floppy
> > bootable in this way? Could you tell me the details or
> > the corresponding URLs in www.netbsd.org?
> But the kernel is too large to put into a 1.44MB floppy,
> how to deal with it?

The bootblocks can boot a compressed kernel.  What you can do is
something like (off the top of my head!):

	# newfs /dev/rrzXc (where X is the floppy's SCSI id)
	# disklabel -B rzX
	# mount /dev/rzXc /mnt
	# cp -p /usr/mdec/boot /mnt
	# gzip -9 < /path/to/some/kernel/netbsd > /mnt/netbsd
	# umount /mnt

The gzip line will compress the kernel and still call it "netbsd" on the
floppy.  -9 will give maximum compression.  The boot blocks don't care
what the filename is - it looks at the contents of the file to determine
if they are compressed or not...

If this work, let me know and it'll get added to the web pages
somewhere.

Simon.