Bug 13934

I can install Linux or Windows NT anywhere on either HD as long as it
the partiion starts below a certain point. That point is somewhere
about 1000MB from the start of the drive.

I have been trying to install FreeBSD my PC, at first on Disk 0 above
DOS and Linux. In that configuration I could boot FreeBSD by marking
it's partition active but I could not seem to issue the equivalent dd
command to copy the boot sector to a file. The FAQ mentions the input
parameter "if=/dev/rsd0a". Is this a special device for the "root
sector" or something? I tried using "if=/dev/wd0s3" and
"if=/dev/wd0s3" and got a message "device busy".

I then reconfigured my second disk (Disk 1) to have 700MB unused and
then the NT partition so I could put FreeBSD on the first partition on
the second drive. I have not even beeen able to boot FreeBSD in that
configuration. I use the FreeBSD boot selector to select the second
disk for booting and then select FreeBSD from the second boot menu. I
now have to figure out how to get rid of the "Panic: cannot mount
root" message.

Would it be too dificult to modify the FreeBSD boot process to allow
the sort of flexibilty that Linux (and NT) have in order to facilitate
hobyists like me. I want to learn more about Unix (FreeBSD/Linux) and
do not have the resources to have each OS on it's own PC.

The booting feature in Linux that I like is the ability to use a boot
diskette and type in "vmlinuz root=/dev/hdXY" where X is the disk
letter (as in hda thru hdd) and Y is the slice number. Having booted I
can mount my DOS partition and use the DD to copy the boot sector to
my "bootsect.lnx" file. I have check the newsgroups, FAQs and did a
search engine search and it seems a couple other people have had this
problem. The most succesful solution seems to be to use the free OS BS
(OS boot selector) program.

Fix: 

Create a boot floppy system that can pass control to the boot sector
of any slice in order to boot FreeBSD. Make sure that however control
is passsed to the boot sector code, it will reliably boot the
system. Linux is all open source so I don't expect that the wheel will
have to be re-invented here. I would attempt it myself but I'm not a C
programmer yet (self taught VB programmer).