PicoBSD is a floppy sized operating system based on the popular FreeBSD. It fits within a single bootable 1.44MB floppy and runs on a minimum i386 with 8MB RAM. PicoBSD currently comes in three flavours: dialup, net and isp. For a description of how each of the flavours differ, take a look at the PicoBSD home page.
What version of FreeBSD is PicoBSD based on ?
PicoBSD has versions based on both FreeBSD 3.0-current and FreeBSD 2.2.5-RELEASE. Andrzej Bialecki maintains the FreeBSD 3.0-current version and Dinesh Nair maintains the FreeBSD 2.2.5-RELEASE version. Both the versions dont differ by much except for the following exceptions:
What can PicoBSD do ?
With the TCP/IP capabilities of FreeBSD included in and based on the strong 4.4BSD TCP/IP stack, PicoBSD can be used as a low cost Network Computer. With a text based HTML 3.2 compliant browser (2.2.5-RELEASE version only) and Internet access tools such as telnet and ftp, it can serve as a low cost Internet dialup client. With support for mounting MSDOS and Unix harddisks, it also can be used as a portable OS which you can carry around in a floppy. The net and isp flavours would allow you to make use of those redundant i386es as a low cost router or dialin PPP server. With SNMP and firewall support built-in, PicoBSD provides the functionality of dedicated routers and dialin terminal servers.
What are PicoBSD's minimum requirements ?
PicoBSD runs on a minimum i386 with 8MB RAM for the dialup flavour and 12MB RAM for the net and isp flavours. Diskspace requirements are a single 1.44MB floppy. For ondemand PPP access, an external modem would be required. For LAN access, an Ethernet NIC (support for 3Com, NE2000 etc available) would also be required.
Where do I get PicoBSD ?PicoBSD is available at the following locations:
How do I copy it to the floppy ?
The binary images provided as part of the PicoBSD distribution are 1.44MB sized floppy images. They cannot be copied to a floppy using the MSDOS COPY or Unix cp commands. Instead, an image copy must be done using tools such as rawrite.exe or fdimage.exe under MSDOS and dd under Unix.
Under DOS you would do something like this:
C:\> fdimage.exe picobsd.flp a:while under Unix you would use something like:
There is an auto-configuration script to configure PPP dialup access. Run /stand/dialup after booting up from the floppy and make the relevant menu selections. Once you've tested it to work, you should make your changes permanent by committing them to the floppy using /stand/update.
How do I set my DNS server ?
Use the provided /stand/ee editor and edit /etc/resolv.conf. Replace the domain with your domain and change the nameserver IP address to your nameserver or your ISP's nameserver. You may have as many nameserver lines as you want. Don't forget to run /stand/update to commit your changes to the floppy.
How do I set my hostname ?
Edit /etc/rc.conf and change the value of the hostname variable.
How do I connect using PPP ?
Just run the PPP process, /stand/ppp. at the ppp on pico> prompt, type dial and sit back and wait for the modem to sing it's mating tunes. When the ppp on pico> prompt is capitalized to PPP on pico>, you've managed to succesfully achieve a link-level PPP and TCP/IP connection with your ISP. Additionally, the PPP program will enter Packet Mode. Remember, don't quit or close the PPP connection if you want to continue to access the Internet. Type help at the ppp on pico> prompt for a list of PPP commands.
The PPP process is running on my screen. How do I use the browser or telnet to a host ?
PicoBSD has many virtual terminals, 10 on the dialup flavour. You have run PPP on the first virtual terminal. You can switch to the others and run the browser and telnet clients there. Switching thru the VTs is done by ALT-F1 for VT0, ALT-F2 for VT1, ALT-F3 for VT2 etc. From these terminals, you could use telnet or the lynx browser cum newsreader.
I saved my lynx configuration but it was not there when I rebooted. Why ?
The lynx configuration is saved in /etc/lynx.cfg. You should run /stand/update to commit this to the floppy when you change the configuration. In effect, anything you change in /etc can be committed by running /stand/update.
How come there are no manual pages ?
Well, this is a floppy-sized OS, so there's not enough space for full
manpages. Instead, short help descriptions are given with the /stand/help
program. If you need more detailed descriptions, take a look at the FreeBSD
Handbook or the FreeBSD Home.
Last Modified: Thu May 7 20:39:11 MYT 1998
