about openbsd installtion
 

I'm a newbie for *bsd, I want to install openbsd in my pc. I have installed Debian in one partition and have set aside a primary partition for special use.

There are no floppy disk and cdrom in my pc, but I can access to internet fast, how can I install openbsd? Is there any tutorial for my purpose?

No floppy disk or cdrom? How did you install debian?

Do you possibly have netboot setup? (If you did I imagine you would already know what to do... but just a question.)

I am not saying this is impossible... but you are going to have to work for it.

My idea:

Download the disk image used to boot the CD. cdrom35.fs

Assuming /dev/hdb is your empty partition where you will install OpenBSD. Obviously change this if it isn't.

Write the disk image to the start of the empty partition.
dd if=cdrom35.fs of=/dev/hdb

Setup lilo or grub (whatever you use) to boot the second partition.

Then, reboot. And choose that partition. If all is well (and it probably won't be because this is coming right off the top of my head and I have never done something like that) you should boot from that image.

It will load it into memory and you can do a network install wiping out that image with your brand new OpenBSD system.

--
Hmm, I am tempted to give this a try myself. It sounds like fun. Maybe when I go home... if this works let me know.
;)

Uhm... just so you know... make whatever backups you can with your important information before attempting this (or any OS install). It would really suck to lose it.

This method probably will work and shouldn't affect the other drives at all... but if you mistype /dev/hbd for /dev/hdb... you will regret not having a backup.

Well the i386 install instructions don't mention specifically how, but you can apparently install (boot?) from a ext2 partition. Go to www.openbsd.org and go into the installation section, i386, then the installation instructions.

chort,

As far as I understood them [the install directions], you could have all the files needed to install stored on a linux partition but you would still need to boot from something else.

Just like if your network card isn't recognized by the default kernel (not likely with OpenBSD but it happened to me once with FreeBSD)... and you have no cdrom. You would download the files onto the linux partition. Then boot from the floppies. Then select "install from disk" at the appropriate stage.

Update:

As I expected my "solution" is not quite that at all.

I have only played with it for like 10 seconds and now I need to sleep before I work again tonight. I am sure there is a way to do it. I suspect that using a floppy image might be better... but I am too tired to play with it right now.:o

thanks for the reply.

I had set aside /dev/hda2 for the second primary partition. Last night I wrote the disk image to the start of the empty partition (dd if=floppy35.fs of=/dev/hda2), but I didn't know how to set the grub's menu. Maybe I will do more try in this night.

EDIT: replace hda3 with hda2 everywhere below. and it will work.

Okay, I have played with this problem for way too much time -- don't ask. I have a solution that just might work (I suspect it will but there might be some BIOS checking I missed).

I have created an image of a very small filesystem (10M) which contains nothing but the boot programs, boot blocks, and the bsd.rd image (kernel + ramdisk install). I have used it several times to setup the system and found a way that should work for you. If you don't care to do this... then don't worry about this -- I had fun trying to make it work. DIFFICULTY... about an 8... including the stupid yahoo groups thing.

I am going to assume that the following is true... please change these values for your own system if they differ.

/dev/hda1 == /
/dev/hda2 == swap
/dev/hda3 == empty space where you want OpenBSD

-First you need to create the partition for BSD (this is really cosmetic but necessary if the device isn't defined).

fdisk /dev/hda
[create a partition with your empty space of type A6 and set it bootable ... I will not give directions here because they would be specific to my drive. Use the help screens if you don't know what to do.]

-Then edit lilo and add these lines:
other=/dev/hda3
table=/dev/hda
label=OBSD_INST

-Install the new lilo:
lilo

-Download the image of the file system and bunzip it:
[sorry about the whole yahoo groups thing... I don't have any server space online right now. Just use a throwaway name or create one to join and download the file.]

goto http://groups.yahoo.com/group/obsdndd/files/
and get tinybsd.fs.bz2. (4MB)
bunzip2 tinybsd.fs.bz2

-Check to make sure it is not corrupt:
MD5 (tinybsd.fs) = b13f8e0d313d930736b205e80bd811bc
do: md5sum tinybsd.fs ... it should equal that number.

-Copy this image directly onto the start of the bsd partition:
dd if=tinybsd.fs of=/dev/hda3

-Now, reboot and select OBSD_INST.
You will get a prompt that says "ok " at this prompt you want to type
"boot hd0a:/bsd.rd"
The ramdisk kernel will then load.

If you do not get a prompt and instead get "ERR M" it means the magic number is bad and this image won't work for you. I am sorry but if that happens (I don't think it will) there is very little I can do to help you.

When the program starts you run it just like the tutorial says. Just make your new partitions right over where the tinybsd.fs is located -- you won't need that anymore once everything is installed.

Now, after you are done you can change the lable in LILO to something that you like more. Congrats... you have a dual boot windows and openbsd system... and without those annoying removable media drives. :D

If you do decide to do this... I really hope I helped.

Sorry, I don't know much about grub... but adding this to your file and reinstalling it should work. I really am not sure about grub commands at all and haven't been able to play with them here... I never really dual boot and don't even have a linux box normally -- yeah I played with this WAY too much.

title OpenBSD 3.5
root (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

EDIT: Don't be scared off by my made up difficulty rating and the multiple steps... the rating roughly came from this reasoning.

+1 : fdisk
+1 : annoying yahoo download
+3 : second fdisk WITH DIFFERENT syntax, options, and operation
+1 : number of steps to do
+1 : chance that it might not work even if you do everything right.
+1 : Standard OpenBSD install

Maybe, I should burn an iso installtion file and boot from cdrom.

If you have access to a cdrom (I thought you didn't) you can burn the very tiny iso image they have on the site. Boot from that and then install over the network. It is not easy to find people sharing complete iso's -- and then trusting them is another matter. If you want to do the install completely from a cd you are going to have to download the relevant files and make your own iso image.

Personally, I don't know which is more work. Both are going to require some time at the command line. Either way you do it... have fun. :-)