Re: Discussion on the future of floppies in 5.x and 6.x

From: Scott Long (scottl_at_freebsd.org)
Date: 01/08/04

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    Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 03:43:55 -0700 (MST)
To: "Matthew D. Fuller" <fullermd@over-yonder.net>

    On Thu, 8 Jan 2004, Matthew D. Fuller wrote:
    > On Thu, Jan 08, 2004 at 02:05:14AM -0700 I heard the voice of
    > Scott Long, and lo! it spake thus:
    > >
    > > For 5.x we already have a 3rd floppy that is dedicated to modules.
    > > Unfortunately, it doesn't work nearly as well as it should because there
    > > is no way to activate it during the boot sequence; it can only be used
    > > once sysinstall is running. Also, it too is nearly overflowing.
    >
    > Well, that's why I suggest more. Have a "network cards" floppy, and a
    > "mass storage devices" floppy, etc. We should be able to fit the
    > half-dozen most common network cards, the ata drivers, and a half dozen
    > of the more common SCSI drivers on the boot kernel. That'll get us far
    > enough to be able to load the drivers off the other disks, as well as
    > install with just that on many systems.
    >
    > It won't necessarily be the prettiest process, but I'm in favor of
    > letting the floppies be a bit ugly, or even explicitly moving them to
    > "experienced users only" status. I just find them far too convenient, as
    > well as ubiquitous, to see them sent into the Great Bitbucket In The Sky
    > yet.
    >
    > If somebody wants "pretty" and "not have to fudge around to find the
    > driver to load for my RAID controller", THEN let 'em download the CD :)
    >

    Well, regardless of how you label it, these floppies still require lots of
    care and feeding in order to work. We currently have no way to support
    multiple floppies in a convenient way. This can be fixed in a variety
    of ways that range from fragile hacks to wonderful designs, but it still
    requires someone to put forth the effort. My offer for a 'floppy
    maintainer' is quite sincere; I hope that someone takes an interest and
    steps up to the challenge.

    Scott
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