Full installer DVD ISO for memstick/UFD (usb flash drive) ?

J

j77h

The regular 'amd64-memstick.img' seems to be equal to the 'disc1.iso' CD, so I'll use that.

Just wondering why the 4+GB full installer is only for people with DVD hardware.
Most "distros" provide installers as "hybrid" DVD ISO images, which can be dd'd to a UFD,
but with FreeBSD there's no mention that the DVD is hybrid.

Haven't had a DVD drive in my rig for years. My last few blanks are now 12+ years old.
 
You didn't say which version, but all of:

https://www.freebsd.org/releases/12.3R/announce/
https://www.freebsd.org/releases/13.0R/announce/

and

https://www.freebsd.org/releases/13.1R/announce/

show the dvd1 .iso file as usable burned to dvd or copied to memstick.

The 12.3R dvd1 memstick worked here to install the base system without issue, except it failed on the docs.

NB using bsdconfig to install included packages does not work on 12.3R, see my post:

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/installing-freebsd-12-3-from-dvd1-usb-without-network.84838/

If anyone has succeeded with 13.0 or 13.1 installing docs or other packages from dvd1 without any network connection, I'm all ears ...
 
Alain De Vos said:
I agree , more memstick images, less DVD iso's.
A tutorial how to make a memstick image from a DVD iso would be nice.
Click to expand...
Alain, you posted while I was composing <&^}=

See the 'announce' URLs above; it's just the usual
Code: 
# dd if=FreeBSD-12.3-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso \
    of=/dev/da0 bs=1m conv=sync

Don't be alarmed if gpart reports corruption of the memstick secondary GPT.
 
Alain De Vos said:
Two different programs (i don't know the details),

mkimg(1)

www.freebsd.org www.freebsd.org

mkisofs(8)

www.freebsd.org www.freebsd.org
Click to expand...
Yes, however as far as I can make out, this newer 'hybrid' .iso format, usable on DVD or memstick, was introduced at 12.1 (going by the 'announce' pages) and does not use mkisofs but only mkimg - though a lot of that code is well over my head.

From /usr/src/release/ see ./Makefile and
amd64/mkisoimages.sh
 
You make a fair point; there are a number of places where this could, maybe should be mentioned, at least wherever dvd1 is an option, bearing in mind that it's now only for the amd64 platform.

OTOH if you start from the top on freebsd.org through Supported Release selection or Get FreeBSD / Release Information tabs, it's stated clearly enough.

It always takes a while for new features to propagate back through documentation - the bane of programmers who just want to move on to the next shiny project (from personal experience).

Occasionally someone (ono :) turns up who's particularly dedicated to quality and thoroughness of documentation; treasure these ... or become one!
 
I'm reaching this thread a bit late. My situation: trying to boot for install: Freebsd v14 x86 version on an old pc.

The memstick image saved into a pendrive works fine and the dvd image doesn't work. Is this possible? The pc is from ~2004 or 2005..

Is it possible those machines wont accept the dvd saved in the memstick?
Is it possible to make a full image for memstick? how? pointers welcomed!

Thanks!!
 
I am aware om some older BIOS who are unable to boot from USB port.
For older PC's you might be better of to write the freebsd disk-.iso to CD or DVD.

[If uncertain try any other os on the USB stick just to see if it boots ...]

[Note : On Linux there are the tools rufus & unetbootin to write bootable iso's to usb]
 
newieuser said:
I'm reaching this thread a bit late. My situation: trying to boot for install: Freebsd v14 x86 version on an old pc.
Click to expand...

By 'x86' do you mean the 'i386' 32-bit .iso, or the 'amd64' .iso?
Please show exact filename.

I understand that only the amd64.iso image can be used to create working USB sticks.

newieuser said:
The memstick image saved into a pendrive works fine and the dvd image doesn't work. Is this possible? The pc is from ~2004 or 2005..
Click to expand...

Please show precisely which command you used to create the USB stick from .iso image?

Exactly which CPU does this machine have? If it's only 32 bit you'll have to install packages online, it's a different repository.
 
If your processor is 64-bit,

For a usb you need :

For a cd you need:

For a dvd you need:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If your processor is 32-bit, look here,
 
Alain De Vos said:
If your processor is 64-bit,

For a usb you need :

For a cd you need:

For a dvd you need:
Click to expand...

That's not quite correct, Alain. The definitive reference is:

https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.0R/announce/

Please note under both dvd1 and disc1 headings, this text:

"Additionally, this can be written to a USB memory stick (flash drive) for the amd64 architecture* and used to do an install on machines capable of booting off USB drives. It also supports booting into a "livefs" based rescue mode.
As one example of how to use the memstick image, assuming the USB drive appears as /dev/da0 on your machine something like this should work:
# dd if=FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso \
of=/dev/da0 bs=1m conv=sync
Be careful to make sure you get the target (of=) correct."

* My emphasis.

Alain De Vos said:
If your processor is 32-bit, look here,
https://download.freebsd.org/releases/i386/i386/ISO-IMAGES/14.0/
Click to expand...

Vrai.
 
For UEFI, 2004-2005 would be very early phase. So many of PCs shipped around those period would be mainly use legacy BIOS to boot.
So assuming you are booting via legacy BIOS, if I recall correctly, some BIOSes hesitated to boot using hybrid CD-ROM regardless from ATAPI or USB. For these cases, if boot from USB memstick itself is possible, non-hybrid *-memstick.img is quite helpful.

For much more recent but used hardwares, possibly has some vesitige in the boot configuration and booting from internal drive mandates corporate-specific special procedures and/or, even worse, key device which only IT department of the corporation has. For this worst case, you should be forced to send it back to the manufacturer and request complete (forcible) reset which is only possible at factory (even worse, need replacing the mother board).
 
It would be lucky if it's possible.
If previous owner (company) initializes internal drive and reinstalles OS, but forgets to initialize BIOS (UEFI firmware) admin password, it could be impossible for next user.
 
smithi said:
By 'x86' do you mean the 'i386' 32-bit .iso, or the 'amd64' .iso?
Please show exact filename.

I understand that only the amd64.iso image can be used to create working USB sticks.
Click to expand...
By x86 I mean 32bits x86, sorry!
The file I used is: FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso

smithi said:
Please show precisely which command you used to create the USB stick from .iso image?
Click to expand...

Something like: `dd if=FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4m` in a linux box :mad:

smithi said:
Exactly which CPU does this machine have? If it's only 32 bit you'll have to install packages online, it's a different repository.
Click to expand...
I can't tell you exactly right now, but the i386 memstick boot up flawlessly, the pdf manual says: "400Mhz Intel® Pentium® M o Intel Celeron® M" and is from year 2005.. so.. I would have to after first install, install packages online, I'll see, no problem!

First thank you for all, and second a big Thank you for answering so fast!!!! You are awesome!!

Thanks!!
 
Some older PCs might have a problem with booting the ISO burned to a memory stick. I think this requires a certain BIOS feature that was introduced later, but I'm not exactly sure when.
 
newieuser said:
By x86 I mean 32bits x86, sorry!
The file I used is: FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso
Click to expand...

Ah yes, well that needs to be burned to a real DVD. As above, only amd64 (aka x86-64 on Linux) systems can use the .iso dd'd to an USB stick.

newieuser said:
Something like: `dd if=FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4m` in a linux box :mad:
Click to expand...

The docs could be a lot clearer about this not working to USB sticks on i386; only the release notes mention it at all.

newieuser said:
"400Mhz Intel® Pentium® M o Intel Celeron® M" and is from year 2005.. so.. I would have to after first install, install packages online, I'll see, no problem!
Click to expand...

If you install the sources, find release/scripts/pkg_stage.sh for a list of the meta-packages on the i386 dvd1; the primary choice is between KDE5 and Gnome, plus the Linux c7 etc.
 
SirDice said:
Some older PCs might have a problem with booting the ISO burned to a memory stick. I think this requires a certain BIOS feature that was introduced later, but I'm not exactly sure when.
Click to expand...
I have had some problems with other OSs, nevertheless in this case it was the as you guys said, the image I've tried wasn't prepared to boot. The other one, booted ok, and then installed things I've fetched online without problems.

My problem now is to understand who/why/which would be the best/right X driver to run.. or if should run a different configuration. Final goal: run browser with video stream from local tv. at this point this is really laggy inside firefox :-( . I though it should work better than how winxp did use to run..
 
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