Platform question

[Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P.]

Micheal Mand wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I am very interested in using FreeBSD on my old Compaq box, 
>but the only problem is, I can't seem to find where Windows 
>holds the system information. (Stupid Windows) Does anyone 
>have any ideas or know which port I should use?
>
>Thanks in advance for any help,
>Mike
>  
>

Welcome to FreeBSD!

I wouldn't worry **too much** about what Windows
thinks about the hardware...

<include #disclaimer.h>

Backup your data and go to the Project's site...
find the paragraph that references "freshly formatted
floppies and these instructions" and go for it! In
the rare event that you aren't able to install FBSD,
you can reinstall M$ and restore you data and
be OK ....

In my experience, M$ products do have some
problems, but I'm not sure that these will compare
to the likelihood that Compaq used some kind of
'fritzy' hardware and their BIOS is typically a
terror;it may be that it's an old box with "onboard
everything" and a lot of stuff that's either outdated
or was m/l "Windows only" at the time (modems
tended, in the past, to be a problem here...also
some hardware manufacturers are reluctant to
release technical data to Open Source developers,
and others are defunct) those issues are more
likely to cause problems with FreeBSD installation
or usage, although I do understand how difficult
it can be to get real hardware data from certain
versions of Windows(R).

My advice on _that_: open the box and write down
every number and manufacturer you see and check
them against the HCL on the Project web site for
the release you wish to install (which is probably
5.3-RELEASE).  The "platform", as Jerry says, is
"i386", which is the Project's code for "IBM PC
compatible architecture" (as opposed to, say,
PowerPC, Alpha, PC-98-[Japan] Mainframes, etc...)
and that is what most of the documentation will
be pointed towards, as i386 counts for the large
majority of all FreeBSD (as well as other OS) installations...

Have fun with FreeBSD!

Kevin KInsey