Date:        Thu, 04 May 2000 01:17:15 +1000
    From:        matthew green <mrg@eterna.com.au>
    Message-ID:  <29040.957367035@eterna.com.au>

  | 1440k is the size of a floppy...so this is definately a big problem.
  | we need to switch to ustarfs, or something, i guess...

I know this has moved to current-users, but my comment is pretty
sparc specific I think, so I will leave it here alone...

Whatever is done with the boot floppy (or floppies), could the sparc
port please try to keep a single "floppy" image boot filesys (ffs format)
of whatever size it needs to be, for those of us who never actually use
floppies to boot sparcs?   That is, in my life, I have booted sparc systems
from tape, over the net (diskless), from various disc hacking techniques,
and of course, from CD.  I've never booted a sparc from a floppy, ever, and
don't plan to start now - most of the sparcs I have access to don't have floppy
drives (and those that do might not work, they only exist in systems where
there was no option when they were purchased - the slots are mostly full
of gunk).

So, certainly keep the images as small as is reasonably possible, but whatever
size is needed for a single ffs image, please allow it to grow to that big,
and keep that version (in addition to whatever is done for those who do
use floppies to boot - and when other measures eventually fail to allow a
single floppy boot system).

Then on the other issue - I am getting to the stage of having IPv6 only
nets (soon I hope) where an IPv4 boot would be useless ... but on the other
hand, I generally don't use the net at all for installing, using the net
requires remembering too much, and that's too hard for me.   Making a CD
is easier, and also guarantees that I have the install system to use again
and again.    Of course, having dhcp client support in the boot system
(or using IPv6) would make a (partial) net based install even easier...

kre