Re: 8MB install

On 2003.06.25 21:30:28 -0700, Terry Lambert wrote:
> "Simon L. Nielsen" wrote:
> > On 2003.06.25 12:10:42 +0200, Michael Nottebrock wrote:
> > > FWIW, the last FreeBSD release I managed to install on an 8mb machine from
> > > CD-ROM+bootfloppies was 4.1.1.
> > 
> > Can anybody else confirm this ?  It seems like the documetation need to
> > be updated to state this.
> 
> State what?  That you should use 4.1.1 on 8M 486 machines, if
> you intend on installing from media that require the use of a
> RAM disk for installation?
> 
> Seems a little specialized... 8-).

Hehe yes :-). The documentation should just not indicate that it is
possible to install on 8MB, when it isn't.

Currently the FAQ says :

<FAQ>
3.5. I have only 4 MB of RAM. Can I install FreeBSD?

FreeBSD 2.1.7 was the last version of FreeBSD that could be installed on
a 4MB system. FreeBSD 2.2 and later needs at least 5MB to install on a
new system.

All versions of FreeBSD will run in 4MB of RAM, they just cannot run the
installation program in 4MB. [CUT]
</FAQ>

Which doesn't really seem to match any current reality with regards to
both CURRENT and STABLE.

> > Have anybody made any recent tests on CURRENT (and STABLE for that
> > matter) with regards to minimum RAM requirements, install and normal
> > runtime?
> 
> Yes; about two months ago there were a couple of people who
> installed on an old 386SX.  The main issue was that they had
> to roll their own distribution from sources, specifically with
> a stripped down kernel without all the weird drivers (which is
> exactly what I talked about in my previous posting).

From what I understood that test was more a test of whether it was
possible to run 5.x on a 386, not to actually find out the minium RAM
for install/run.

I think I will try to dig up my old 486 next week, and try to find the
actual requirements for a sysinstall based installation on more recent
FreeBSD versions.

-- 
Simon L. Nielsen