FreeBSD Ports Question

[Harold]

I cd'ed to the WindowMaker directory and did "make install." F-BSD threw up a dialog box giving me a couple of options for customizing the install. I looked at them, decided to choose all, and then immediately used one of my ten thumbs to press the "return" key. And F-BSD takes off on its merry way. @#$%^&*()?!

So, I did "control-c" and "make clean" and then "make install" expecting to get another shot at that dialog box. Instead, F- BSD picks up again where I stopped it.

How do I get back to that dialog box?

[Harold]

make config

:-)

[Leon]

Have fun!

BTW I have not yet been able to join the party. I am hunting around for a scratch HD. Apparently FreeBSD does not enjoy being installed after Solaris 10.

Anyone know the secrets of freeBSD partioning when the drive accommodates another UNIX?

[lurch]

This link might be useful:

http://geodsoft.com/howto/dualboot/

[Leon]

Philip: thanks; this may be the cause of my problem.

"When dual booting OpenBSD and FreeBSD either can be installed first but OpenBSD should always be physically first because it has the 1024 cylinder limit and FreeBSD does not. OpenBSD's disklabel is also more reliable when the slice starts in cylinder 0 than elsewhere. Because the FreeBSD fdisk is much easier to use and less likely to make mistakes, it makes sense to start the install with it. FreeBSD's fdisk has no CHS (cylinders, heads, sectors) allocation method and only lets you set sizes by sectors or optionally megabytes by ending the number entered with an 'm' or gigabytes by ending the number with a 'g'. It ensures the resulting partitions are aligned on cylinder boundaries.

In contrast, OpenBSD's fdisk default method is sectors and if this method is used, it will not align the resulting partitions on cylinder boundaries, leaving a result other systems can't use or see. If you start with OpenBSD, the only safe way to use its fdisk is in the CHS mode, and insure that partitions start and end on cylinder boundaries."

I have Solaris rather than OpenBSD, but it is likely the comment about aligning partitions on cylinder boundaries applies to my situation; that is consistent with the GRUB drive geometry error message I got.

Well, if I can't come up with a cheap scratch drive, I'll have to wipe Solaris, install FreeBSD in its location, then reinstall Solaris. Lots of "snow day" activity. Now all I need is snow!