On Sun, Sep 07, 2008 at 07:06:03AM -0400, Randy Pratt wrote: > On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 10:22:37 +0100 > Mike Clarke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Sunday 07 September 2008, James Strother wrote: > > > > > That said, I still think that as long as the freebsd foundation > > > distributes CD images it would be worthwhile to make them as > > > effective as possible. Actually, even if the install were moved to a > > > DVD, the ordered install I proposed would still improve the > > > situation. When the packages are haphazardly ordered on the disc, > > > the CD/DVD reader is forced to perform a large number of seeks that > > > dramatically reduces data throughput. When they are read in order, > > > read rates should be much better. > > > > They might not be as haphazard as you suggest. ISTR once reading that > > the CDs were arranged with the most popular packages on the first CD so > > that you would only need to download disk 2 (and 3) if you wanted some > > of the less common packages. With your suggested layout it's quite > > likely that a package which most of the others depend on would be right > > down at the bottom of the list with the result that you'd invariably > > need to download all 3 CD images. > > > > I think the best way to avoid the need for frequent CD switching would > > be for sysinstall to sort the list of selected packages into CD order > > before installing them. I imagine this would require some changes to > > pkg_add to prevent it from installing dependencies and I expect the > > possible benefits would not be considered to be sufficient to justify > > the effort. > > Another way to avoid switching CDs is to select an FTP server for > installing packages. This also avoids downloading bits you don't > need or want.
I think the OP mentioned having a difficult or slow internet connection as being part of the reason for the question/comment. Although I enjoy having a 100MB line to my office into a 10GB backbone, still not all people are that fortunate and I don't even have a good line at home where I am still stuck with dialup (so I drag my machine in to the office for installs). ////jerry > > There is another discussion: > > http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/mid.cgi?1220762797.29265.43.camel > > which would address the disk swapping by removing all the packages > from disc1 and providing a DVD of packages that could be used > after installation. > > HTH, > > Randy > > > > -- > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" > _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
