FreeBSD Release 1.0 GAMMA 1. Technical overview --------------------- FreeBSD is a freely available, full source 4.3 (+4.4 enhancements) BSD release for Intel i386/i486 (or compatable) based PC's. It is based heavily on Bill Jolitz's 386BSD 0.1, with additions from "the patchkit", NetBSD, CSRG, and the Free Software Foundation. Many hundreds of bugs from the 386BSD 0.1 distribution were fixed, and many out-of-date pieces of software were upgraded to their current releases. Additionally, many packages such as XFree86 1.3, xview 3.2, elm, nntp, mh and dozens of other miscellaneous utilities have been ported and are now available as add-ons. See then next section of this document for more details. For a list of contributors, please see the file "CONTRIB.FreeBSD", which should be bundled with your distribution. The core of FreeBSD does not contain DES code which would inhibit its being exported outside the United States. There is an add-on package to the core distribution, for use only in the United States, that contains the programs that normally use DES. The auxilliary packages provided separately can be used by anyone. 2. Supported Configurations --------------------------- FreeBSD currently runs on a wide variety of ISA and EISA bus based PC's, ranging from 386sx to 486 class machines (though the 386sx is not recommended). Support for generic IDE or ESDI drive configurations, various SCSI controller, network and serial cards is also provided. Following is a list of all currently known disk controllers and ethernet cards known to work with FreeBSD. Other configurations may very well work, and we have simply not received any indication of this. 2.1. Disk Controllers WD1003 (any generic IDE) Adaptec 1542{A,B,C} ISA SCSI controller. Adaptec 174x EISA SCSI controller in standard and enhanced mode. DTC 3290 EISA SCSI controller in emulation mode. Bustec 742A. Ultra Store 14F and 34F. With all supported SCSI controllers, full support is provided for SCSI-I & SCSI-II peripherals, including Disks, tape drives (including DAT) and CD ROM drives. Note: This is the only way a CD ROM drive may be currently attached to a FreeBSD system; we do not support SoundBlaster or "mini SCSI" CD ROM configurations. 2.2. Ethernet cards SMC Elite 16 WD8013 ethernet interface, and most other WD8003E, WD8003EBT, WD8003S, WD8003SBT and WD8013EBT based clones. Isolan AT 4141-0 (16 bit) Isolink 4110 (8 bit) Novell NE2000 ethernet interface. 3Com 3C503 Etherlink II 2.3. Misc Various 2 and 4 port serial/parallel cards. FreeBSD does NOT support IBM's microchannel (MCA) bus. 3. Obtaining FreeBSD. --------------------- You may obtain FreeBSD in a variety of ways: 1. FTP/Mail You can ftp FreeBSD and any or all of its optional packages from `freebsd.cdrom.com' - the offical FreeBSD release site. By the time you read this, it may also be on one or more "mirror" sites somewhere else on the internet; check with archie for details. If you do not have access to the internet and electronic mail is your only recourse, then you may still fetch the files by sending mail to `ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com' - putting the keyword "help" in your message to get more information on how to fetch files from freebsd.cdrom.com. Note: This approach will end up sending many *tens of megabytes* through the mail, and should only be employed as an absolute LAST resort! 2. CDROM FreeBSD may be ordered on CDROM from Walnut Creek CDROM, Suite 260, 1547 Palos Verdes, Walnut Creek CA 94596. 1-800-786-9907, +1-510-674-0783, +1-510-674-0821 (fax), or from orders@cdrom.com. Our current email catalog is wcarchive.cdrom.com:/cdrom/catalog. Cost is $39.95. Shipping (per order not per disc) is $5 in the US, Canada, or Mexico and $10.00 overseas. We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and ship COD to the United States. California residents please add 8.25% sales tax. Should you be dissatisfied for any reason, the CD comes with an unconditional return policy. 3. 1/4" Tape, 4mm DAT, floppy Winning Strategies, Inc. 61 Crestwood Drive #18, Daly City, CA 94015 3.5" & 5.25" floppies $200.00 Contains "core" FreeBSD. Shipping - add $15 for U.S. and Canada, $25 for overseas. 150MB QIC tape $100.00 Contains "core" FreeBSD + XFree86. Choice of either 3.5" or 5.25" boot floppies. Shipping - add $10 for U.S. and Canada, $30 for overseas. DAT & Exabyte tapes $100.00 Contains everything on the Walnut Creek CD ROM. Choice of either 3.5" or 5.25" boot floppies. Shipping - same as for QIC tape. All packages contain printed copies of the release and installation notes. Visa, Mastercard, U.S. $ Money Orders, or U.S. $ checks drawn on a U.S. bank accepted for payment. It should be noted, lest you get the wrong impression that "FreeBSD" is anything but, that almost no one in the "core team" makes money from distributions or anything else connected with FreeBSD. We simply provide this information as a public service for those wishing to get their releases from somewhere other than the net (and the easier it is for you to obtain our software, the happier we are). 4. Reporting problems, making suggestions, submitting code. ----------------------------------------------------------- Your suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are always valued - please do not hesitate to report any problems you may find (preferably with a fix attached if you can!). The prefered method to submit bug reports from a machine with internet mail connectivity is to use the sendbug command. Bug reports will be dutifully filed by our faithful bugfiler program and you can be sure that we'll do our best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as possible. If, for some reason, you are unable to use the sendbug command to submit a bug report, you can try to send it to: FreeBSD-bugs@freefall.cdrom.com Otherwise, for any questions or suggestions, please send mail to: FreeBSD-questions@freefall.cdrom.com 5. Acknowledgements ------------------- FreeBSD represents the cumulative work of many dozens, if not hundreds, of individuals from around the world who have worked very hard to bring you this release. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to enumerate everyone who's contributed to FreeBSD, but nonetheless we shall try (in alphabetical order, of course). If your name is not mentioned, please be assured that its omission is entirely accidental. The Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG), U.C. Berkeley. Bill Jolitz, for his extensive work with 386BSD. The FreeBSD "core" group: J.T. Conklin David Greenman Rodney W. Grimes Jordan K. Hubbard Scott Mace Andrew Moore Rich Murphey Paul Richards Christoph Robitschko Andreas Schulz Rob Shady Nate Williams Special mention to: Robert Bruce and Jack Velte of Walnut Creek CDROM, without whose help (and continuing support) this release would never have been possible. Dermot McDonnell for his donation of a Toshiba XM3401B CDROM drive. The NetBSD group for their frequent assistance and commentary. Additional FreeBSD helpers and beta testers: Gary Browing Jon Cargille Chris Demetriou Julian Elischer Bruce Evans Sean Eric Fagan Guy Helmer Terry Lambert Gary Moyer Jaye Mathisen L Jonas Olsson Chris Provenzano Dave Rivers Guido van Rooij Steven Wallace Rick Weldon Terry Williams Garrett Wollman And everyone at Montana State University for their initial support. Thanks to everyone, especially those not mentioned, and we sincerely hope you enjoy this release of FreeBSD! The FreeBSD Core Group $Id: RELNOTES.FreeBSD,v 1.6 1993/09/04 07:30:28 rgrimes Exp $