[cod3fr3ak]

I have a laptop that I wanted to use as a services server. What I wanted to know was which type of BSD would bew best for this? I know OpenBSD is great for firewalling. But I know nothing of NetBSD, FreeBSD, etc...
Can someone give me a quick run down on the strengths and weaknesses of each flavour? Thanks.

[|MiNi0n|]

See this thread:

http://www.screamingelectron.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=142&highlight=freebsd+netbsd+openbsd

I'd likely suggest OpenBSD first... depending on what you have in mind in terms of services I might also suggest FreeBSD. I'd typically only suggest NetBSD if you're using some obscure/antiquated hardware ;-)

What did you have in mind in terms of services exactly?

[cod3fr3ak]

Gracias. :D

[frisco]

Verify all the hardware in it that you will be using, like the video, pcmcia network cards, sound. Then verify the OS/version you go with has support for those devices. You might get good results by searching for the make/model laptop in the archives. If it's only to be a server of sorts, then all you need is to verify it boots in the OS and network works in the OS. The install media of the 3 BSD's can do that for you too.

If OpenBSD has support for the devices you need, and runs the server software you need, then i'd go with that, but i'm strongly biased.

[cod3fr3ak]

Well I checked and my PCMCIA card is supported 3CFE575. But upon boot the kernel does not see that it there. I thought maybe the port was bad so I swapped in a PCMCIA SCSI card I had laying around and it picked it up with no problems. I know the card works becuase I downloaded an iso of FreeBSD with it, on a different laptop (Win2k Server).

Any Ideas?

[frisco]

What are you booting from? According to http://www.openbsd.org/i386.html support for the 3CFE575 is not in floppy image b and c (i believe that's in 3.2, might be different for older releases and/or -current).

You can verify whether or not the driver is in the kernel you are using via the ukc which you can get to via the boot> prompt at boot time, as in the following:
boot> boot -c
[messages]
ukc> find xl
86 xl* at pci* dev -1 function -1 flags 0x0
87 xl* at cardbus* dev -1 function -1 flags 0x0

If you don't see that second line (the first number may be different) then i dont think that boot image has the proper support for your card, try a different image. If none of the images work, post a dmesg and maybe someone here can figure something out.

[cod3fr3ak]

Hey, thanks for responding. its funny that you mention using an older floopy load. My buddy that turned me on to OpenBSD said the same thing. he said I should probably go back to 2.8 and then upgrade to 3.2.
I purchased a copy of the 3.2 cds. I also tried booting from floppy32.fs, floppyb32.fs, and floppyc32.fs -- all with no sucess. The floppyb32.fs did not ven pickup my cardbus. Actually after looking at http://www.openbsd.org/i386.html; I spotted a link to http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=xl&sektion=4 which does list my card. <shrug>
Thank you for the kernel commands. I'll check it out when I get home. Another question, how can I send you guys a copy of my dmesg, if the kernel is not installed.
I do not know if I mentioned this earlier, but the laptop does not haev a cdrom, so I need the network card to complete the install.

[frisco]

Another question, how can I send you guys a copy of my dmesg, if the kernel is not installed.

After booting from floppy, go into a a shell and use one of these techniques:
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#getdmesg

[cod3fr3ak]

Thanks :D

[cod3fr3ak]

Ok. I got into UKC mode, and entered the command. Here is the output:
[code:1:7376f9903c]
36 xl* at pci* dev -1 function -1 flags 0x0
[/code:1:7376f9903c]

I am assuming that this means the xl driver is loaded but only for a card attached to the pci bus?

I got the same results with OpenBSD 2.8. I read in the help section that there was an add command. Could I use that to attach the xl driver to the cardbus?

Update:
Here is the data from my dmesg -
[code:1:7376f9903c]
OpenBSD 2.8 (RAMDISK) #182: Mon Nov 6 11:13:39 MST 2000
deraadt@i386.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/RAMDISK
cpu0: F00F bug workaround installed
cpu0: Intel Pentium (P54C) ("GenuineIntel" 586-class) 100 MHz
cpu0: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,MCE,CX8
real mem = 16363520 (15980K)
avail mem = 11272192 (11008K)
using 225 buffers containing 921600 bytes (900K) of memory
mainbus0 (root)
bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+(11) BIOS, date 04/11/96
apm0 at bios0: Power Management spec V1.1
WARNING: preposterous time in file system
WARNING: file system time much less than clock time
apm0: disconnected
pcibios at bios0 function 0x1a not configured
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 2 (no bios)
isa0 at mainbus0
isadma0 at isa0
wdc0 at isa0 port 0x1f0/8 irq 14
wd0 at wdc0 channel 0 drive 0: <QUANTUM EUROPA810A>
wd0: can use 16-bit, PIO mode 4
wd0: 16-sector PIO, LBA, 778MB, 1771 cyl, 15 head, 60 sec, 1594125 sectors
npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: using exception 16
pccom0 at isa0 port 0x3f8/8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
pccom1 at isa0 port 0x2f8/8 irq 3: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
vt0 at isa0 port 0x60/16 irq 1: vga 80 col, color, 8 scr, mf2-kbd
fdc0 at isa0 port 0x3f0/6 irq 6 drq 2
fd0 at fdc0 drive 0: 1.44MB 80 cyl, 2 head, 18 sec
pcic0 at isa0 port 0x3e0/2 iomem 0xd0000/16384
pcic0 controller 0: <Cirrus PD672X> has sockets A and B
pcmcia0 at pcic0 controller 0 socket 0
pcmcia1 at pcic0 controller 0 socket 1
pcic0: irq 9, polling enabled
biomask 4040 netmask 4040 ttymask 4242
rd0: fixed, 3560 blocks
rootdev=0x1100 rrootdev=0x2f00 rawdev=0x2f02
[/code:1:7376f9903c]

[frisco]

Why are you using 2.8?

Look through:
http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/sys/arch/i386/conf/?only_with_tag=OPENBSD_2_8_BASE
change the "Show only files with tag:" to the release you want. This will also show you what drivers should have been compiled into the kernels for what releases.
I'd reccomend 3.3 unless you really need 2.8 for some strange obscene reason.

Anyways, on 2.8 the xl driver is attached to cardbus only in RAMDISKC (floppyC28.fs), GENERIC and RAMDISK_CD kernels.

In 3.3 you should also use the third floppy, floppyC33.fs. Let's see a dmesg from that.

By the way, i have a 10+ year old compaq laptop w/ no floppy, cd drive. To install i had to open the damn thing up and remove the hd, plug into an adapter and boot off my desktop machine.