Boot Floppy Files (was: No subject)

[Jud]

On Tue, 8 Apr 2003 08:53:40 -0500, Mike Meyer <mwm-dated- 
1050242021.c1d244 at mired.org> wrote:

> In <20030408110256.11656.qmail at linuxmail.org>, Steve Moss 
> <stevem at linuxmail.org> typed:
>> So I got a CD of FBSD 5.0. I can't even find "makeflp" or whatever
>> you write the boot disks with on Windows. (too old to boot from CD)
>> (not me the computers).
>
> While I applaud your effort, I feel compelled to point out that you
> don't want to use 5.0 for this. It's not really ready for
> production. See <URL: http://www.mired.org/5.0-not-production.html >
> for more information. You should probably be using 4.8 for what you
> are doing.
>
>> Is it worth me persevering with BSD? I do really need a GUI because
>> my customers aren't that pioneering - they've emerged from the 2nd
>> millenium like everyone else - as babies who can only point and
>> click. So what do you think? Shall I go on to ask how to make boot
>> floppies from my BSD cd?

The boot floppy files and fdimage are relatively small and easily 
downloadable from the FreeBSD FTP server or mirrors (see FreeBSD web site). 
 As Mike pointed out, 4.8 is preferable, not least because 5.0 users are 
expected to be more self-reliant in terms of fixing their own problems.  In 
other words, typical questions new users might ask are likely to meet a 
friendlier reception if they concern FreeBSD 4.x (at least those not 
readily answered with a little research of your own) than the same 
questions re 5.x.

> Well, the suite of window managers et. al. that run on FreeBSD and
> Linux are pretty much identical. The two are probably going to perform
> so similarly that it'll be hard to tell the difference under the light
> load you're talking about. That leaves two issues. One is that Linux
> is less "scary" to the typical user, since it's had some press. The
> other is which is easier for you to set up. On the low-end systems
> you're talking about, you don't want to set up something like Gnome or
> KDE - which is what a typical Unix distro is going to install for
> you. Instead, you want a lightweight window manager - I prefer lwm,
> though qvwm may be preferred since it looks like Windows 95/98/NT -
> with a menu to start a browser - say skipstone - and a mail reader -
> no help from me here.

Additional suggestions:

Lightweight window managers - As someone else suggested, Window Maker; also 
have a look at Blackbox.

Browser - Have a look at Opera, particularly the latest Technology Preview 
offered in the Opera Linux newsgroup.  This will require you to install 
Linux emulation, but that is something you will likely want anyway.  I have 
heard some good things about Phoenix, a lighter-weight version of Mozilla, 
but haven't tried it myself.

Mail reader - The Opera Linux Tech Preview incorporates a mail client and 
newsreader.  Sylpheed is a good standalone mail client and newsreader that 
is fairly easy to set up and run.

Jud