I can not install FreeBSD 5.3 in an old Pentium 100 MHz

[Ramiro Aceves]

Ramiro Aceves wrote:

Hello I have been investigating (I have read all freebsd manuals and 
search on the internet) and my old pentium machine has got the bad CMD 
640 disk controller. FreeBSD 5.3 says that it does NOT support it. I 
think that they have removed support for it in the 5.x versions. I do 
not know why I can not even see the kernel boot, I think it should work 
until it mounts the first filesystem.

FreeBSD 4.10 boot floppies go ok and reach the sysinstall screen.

FreeBSD 5.2.1 floppies boot, kernel boots but hangs when mounting the 
filesystems.

FreeBSD 5.3 does not boot the kernel at all and suddenly reboots before 
I see any kernel messages.

It seems that it is good time to throw away this old machine.... :-(

I will download the full 4.10 installation CDROM and we will see if I 
can install the full system. I have been reading too much FreeBSD 
manuals in the last 4 days and I am getting mad  :-/

Anyway, It works very well in my AMD 1.2GHz Athlon and I am happy with 
FreeBSD. It comes with very clear documentation and you can get it work 
quickly, if you came from the Debian Linux world.

PS: I am surprised that only one person answered my email. Did I ask my 
question in the wrong mailing-list? If so, please tell me where I should 
post it.

Thank you.
Ramiro.
Ramiro Aceves wrote:
> Hello dear FreeBSD friends.
> 
> I am Ramiro from Spain.This is my first post to the list. I am a regular 
> Debian GNU/Linux user, but I have been tempted to try FreeBSD. I have 
> installed it successfully on my 1200 MHz Athlon computer booting from 
> the CDROM drive and I like it, but I can not install it in an old 
> Pentium 100 MHz fujitsu computer. This old machine can not boot from the 
> CDROM, so I tried to boot with the floppies. I have prepared the 3 
> floppies several times and I stil can not install it.
> I boot with the "boot.flp" floppy ok. I insert "kern1.flp" and it loads 
> ok. I insert "kern2.flp" and it loads ok. I was prompted to insert 
> "boot.flp" floppy again and it shows the logo screen with the booting 
> options. If I choose the default (with no acpi), the computers shudenly 
> restarts without being able to see any message. The remaining options 
> cause the same machine reboot. I can enter into the loader prompt.
> 
> ¿What can I do?
> 
> Any help will be apreciated.
> 
> Sorry for my bad english.
> Ramiro.
> 
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