Ilya Ilembitov wrote: > Hi, all. > > I have a pretty tricky challenge before me. My main (and only) > machine is a Lenovo Thinkpad X200s. The problem is that it doesn't > have an optical drive. Second problem is that I live in a dorn, so > I only have access to wireless connection, not wired. And I want to > install OpenBSD to a laptop that is currently running Debian Linux. > > > Googling didn't give me any proper answer. Turns out, nearly every > BSD favour (FreeBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD) has either an image for > sticks or some straightawy script to get the job done. But not > OpenBSD.
Isn't it cool how we use the EXACT SAME process to build a USB stick as we use to build a hard disk, isn't it? And that same stick can be used for running or installing? It's the Unix Way -- simple tools usable in powerful ways. Sad that those other OSs need Special Procedures and Images to build a flash booting system. What's next, different installers for IDE and SCSI disks? (I'm installing Solaris on a machine right now. I'm NOT in a good mood about crappy installers at the moment) > All I could find was: -involving a second machine running > OpenBSD for network installation -involving a second machine > running OpenBSD to create the flash using installboot and some > other BSD-specific tools. oh, you were complaining about that feature? huh. > Seems like in most cases people install OpenBSD on diskless laptops > when it comes to netbooks but not primary machines. Which is not my > case. no idea what you said there, but I'm pretty sure it is quite wrong. After all the time I've spent saying "workstation/server, what's the difference?", now you are splitting a line between primary machines and laptops or between netbooks and laptops... > Is there a script of some sort that could convert an OpenBSD > install46.iso to an img file for a stick using some more common > (non-BSD specific) tools? The best howto I could find is this one: > http://www.azbsd.org/~marco/openbsd/flashkeyinstaller/ But it > involves installboot and some other tools that are not available on > a GNU system. What could I do? Or perhaps somebody could create and > host an image (with all the filesets for 4.6) or just put it on > some filehosting service? It's still just some 250-300 megs. There's a really simple solution, it's called "a friend" (I know, strange concept to some of us in the computer world. Best explanation I can give is someone whom you have fixed their computer, they might otherwise have no reason to talk to you, but now they might actually feel an obligation to tolerate you, and might be willing to help you in gratitude). You ask to borrow the friend's computer (which has a CDR drive), ask them to burn you the image, then ask them to let you boot that disk and install to your USB flash drive: http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#noflopcd http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq14.html#flashmemLive Other than the ISO file, you write nothing to their disk, and you can burn the ISO from any OS you want, and that OS is not involved in the flash disk creation process in any way. The machine you install the flash drive on doesn't even have to be able to boot from a USB drive. As someone who helps with release testing, I can assure you, I DO NOT want to see Yet Another Install Media that does something that can't be done easily with the existing tools. Nick.
