I am trying to install FreeBSD 10.1 Release on a 10 year old 32 bit machine with 400GB disk and 3+ GB memory. It ran Linux for years without a problem. I installed using the GUI install program. I accepted all of the defaults. Everything installed fine but then the system wouldn't boot. I presume that is because I should use MBR instead of GPT. Here is where all the problems start. When you change to MBR you have to manually configure the partitions (slices). Fine. I create the BSD MBR just fine. I created: ada0 MBR Then I created: ada0s1 BSD but when I go into ada0s1, it will only accept freebsd-ufs. I can't create freebsd-boot or freebsd-swap. It keeps telling me "invalid argument". I have spent hours trying to boot a basic machine with no luck. Sure appreciate some help. Blake McBride
(In reply to Blake McBride from comment #0) Hello, Can you clarify with the gpart(4) commands you used from the start to get to the error you've seen? For reference, there are examples in the gpart(4) man page [1] as well as some excellent info externally at link [2]. [1] https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pf&sektion=4 [2] http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/disksetup.html Additionally, in the future keep in mind that the FreeBSD Forums at https://forums.freebsd.org or FreeBSD Questions mailing list at https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions are usually the best venue for a user question rather than filing a bug report. Jason
I didn't use gpart explicitly, nor did I enter the console. I used the install GUI. That gave the error I described.
Let me put this another way. I have 30+ years experience with Unix and software development. One of the things I learned is "have you tried it once"? I assure you that your GUI installer will not install a fresh MBR system on a 32 bit machine. Most who have tried, you have lost to Linux. The others figured out, as I did, how to do it manually with gpart. The biggest problem you have with FreeBSD is the huge amount of bad or out-of-date documentation, and the fact that really basic stuff doesn't work. All you need is a tester worth his salt and someone who will listen to him. FreeBSD could be a really great system, as those who suffered through the learning curve can attest. The distance between where you are now, and making a system that doesn't turn off all but the most committed isn't far.
(In reply to Blake McBride from comment #3) Actually, what's with the 'freebsd-boot' partition with MBR? That's for bootstrap code and for GPT. What you would probably want it something like this for MBR. ada0 MBR adas1 #GB BSD adas1a freebsd-ufs #GB / adas1b freebsd-swap #GB none An FYI, getting to the root cause of the issue with MBR/GPT selection, the SVN log does say more work is needed but r277950 in HEAD [1] may be the future fix for using MBR where appropriate. [1] https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=277950 Some general thoughts on the issue: - Using the wrong size or mount point in bsdinstall(8) gives a usable error message output. Using the wrong partition type is pretty darn vague. - The Handbook does mention partitions and give examples but it's all GPT focused [2]. And there is no big letters saying don't use freebsd-boot for MBR other than it being under sections that say it's a GPT example. Some details showing MBR would be helpful. [2] https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bsdinstall-partitioning.html
(In reply to jason.unovitch from comment #4) ** Correction ** ada0 MBR ada0s1 #GB BSD ada0s1a freebsd-ufs #GB / ada0s1b freebsd-swap #GB none
^Triage: I'm sorry that this PR did not get addressed in a timely fashion. By now, the version that it was created against is long out of support. Please re-open if it is still a problem on a supported version.