thinkpad 600

[Jerry McAllister]

> 
> On Thu, Apr 15, 2004, bungu at emirates.net.ae clacked the keyboard to produce:
> > Hi Please can you tell me  how to install freebsd   on my thinkpad  600  
> > as  I have  win 98 on it  and  it is a refurbed  unit  
> > I would  like to  investigate  freebsd   as an os   and  use it in an 
> > everyday  enviroment  and  say  good riddens  to  MS  and  hopefolly 
> > do my bit for  the other battlers   in the field  
> > Thanks  
> > gary
> 
> Sure, you will need to start at the FreeBSD web pages and read up on the
> install methods etc. Next you will want to download some form of the
> media, either the floppy images or a full CD iso image. Or better yet,
> purchase them from the FreeBSD mall. If not purchase, you can make a
> donation to the project, but I digress.
> 
> Once you have the media, assuming the CD, you can set the Thinkpad BIOS
> to boot from the CD. When you boot from the CD, you will begin the
> install and just follow through.

Works real well.   I would suggest FreeBSd 4.9 for now.

> Your best bet will be to delete the partition set up for Windows 98 and
> use the full disk and auto slices from the install routine. 

I am not sure why this would be recommended.  
If you have enough disk, then just shrink the Win-98 slice to
make room for another one and install FreeBSD on it.  Then you
can "dual boot" the machine - that is you can have both systems 
available and choose at boot time which to bring up.

There are good directions in the FreeBSd documentation on how
to dual boot a machine.   It works well.   I have three of them
dual booted here in the office - with Win-95, Win2k, and XP along
side the FreeBSD.

The only real difficulty is that people often get confused by the
terminology.    FreeBSD divides a disk in up to 4 to slices that
are designated 1,,4.  Then each slice can be divided in to as many 
as 8 partitions designated a,,h.   But, Microsoft calls those
slices primary partitions.   It can get a little more convuluted
because MS has extra divisions it calls extended partitions, but
they have no _direct_ analog in FreeBSD.   So, documentation can 
be a little confusing.   Just pay attention to how the terms are
being used.

>     It should be
> obvious when you run through it. Just take your time and read each
> screen well and make sure you understand what you are doing at each
> screen. I have read it here before that if this is your first go at
> FreeBSD, like Window$, you will want to install more than once, just
> because as a newbie you will make a mistake or two. No worries though,
> there are many people here who will help when you have troubles.
> 
> Just be sure to read as much as you can prior to asking a question, and
> maybe search google or dogpile or something like that to get answers
> prior to asking. Almost all the questions you will have in the beginning
> will have already been answered many times before.

I agree with reading as much as you can before getting started.
The place to start is with the FreeBSd handbook - available on
the FreeBSD web site and then the FAQs and some other archive and
third party web page comments.   Finally there are several good
pubblished books in print such as "The Complete FreeBSD" and
"FreeBSD Unleashed" that take you through the install process.

Finally, when you have digested those sources as much as you can
(admittedly, it is hard to absorb everything before you start and
gain some experience), ask clarifying questions on this list or
on the newbies list, etc.

////jerry

> 
> Finally, you will most likely want to ask Thinkpad specific questions on
> the `mobile' FreeBSD mailing list. The address is
> freebsd-mobile at freebsd.org. Questions about FreeBSD belong here. Just so
> you know, FreeBSD runs great on the 600 series. It is running nicely on
> my 600X and also on my T22.
> 
> Good luck and enjoy.
> 
> -- 
> Bob
> 
> "Play is the work of children. It's very serious stuff. And if it's
> properly structured in a developmental program, children can blossom."
> -Bob Keeshan aka `Captain Kangaroo'
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