Re: ADM64 floppies

> 
> Hello... just a quick question...
> 
> For i386 we have 
> 
> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/6.0-RELEASE/floppies/ 
> 
> but for Amd64 there's no 
> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/amd64/6.0-RELEASE/floppies/ 
> 
> How can I get installation floppies for 6.0 / amd64?
> 
> Thanks...

There aren't any, because amd64 machines are "legacy free" systems,
meaning they don't come with floppy drives or parallel printer ports.
(They do come with serial ports, thankfully, probably because of
how useful they are for setting up headless servers.)

What you might be able to do is use the i386 floppies instead. That
is, boot into the installer with the i386 floppies, and then point
it at the FreeBSD/amd64 distribution files. The filesystems are
compatible between FreeBSD/i386 and FreeBSD/amd64, so in theory
everything should work. The only issue might be getting the right
boot loader installed.

You should also try harder to fix your CD-ROM issues before going off
and randomly trying other things. Have you tried booting a different
CD in the drive to verify that it works at all? Have you tried a different
CD-ROM drive? Does the system have an ATA controller and if so, have you
tried temporarily connecting a CD-ROM to it?

Also, have you tried what was suggested for your USB keyboard
problem? It's rude when someone offers you a possible solution to
your problem for you to not bother say whether or not you tried it
and whether or not it worked for you.

The FreeBSD/i386 installation CD stubbornly insists on finding an
atkbd0 device, even on systems with USB keyboards where no PS/2
keyboard controller exists. I solved this by doing the following:

- When the boot loader reaches the screen where it's counting down
  before booting the kernel, press a key to stop the countdown and
  get to the OK prompt.

- At the OK prompt, type:

  OK set hint.atkbd.0.disabled=1
  OK boot

This will insure that atkbd0 is not attached, and allow the USB keyboard
to become the primary keyboard device.

Later, you should make sure that "hint.atkbd.0.disabled=1" is added
to /boot/loader.conf so that it's done automatically for you at each
boot.

-Bill

--
=============================================================================
-Bill Paul            (510) 749-2329 | Senior Engineer, Master of Unix-Fu
                 wpaul_at_windriver.com | Wind River Systems
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              <adamw> you're just BEGGING to face the moose
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