On Feb 27,  6:43pm, RiscBSD mailing list user wrote:
> Subject: Installation?
> I am completely new to this whole thing, so please excuse my complete lack of
> knowlege :-)
>
>
> I have just installed a 3.2Gb Quantum HDD and formatted it to give ADFS
1993Mb
> and then run the bb_riscbsd basic program and allocated the rest to RiscBSD.
> I have created an install floppy from the archive INST_11_00 and written it
> using flopwrite. I have followed the install.txt file to the letter as far as
I
> can tell, but...
>
> Which Kernel should I be using? (Risc PC Mk1 ARM610 40Mb DRAM, 2Mb VRAM
>                                 ~1Gb allocated to RiscBSD)

Well, one would hope that the ones on the CD would be a good start :-) You
should be fine as long as you don't use a StrongARM one. Note that if you use a
new kernel from the ftp site you might have to upgrade some of the other bits
and pieces and its not really worth it until you're happy that you know what
you're doing.

>
> Using the BSD_4444_G or BSD_4554_G kernel from the PDCD4, and booting with
the
> opetions as in install.txt, I get what looks like the correct text on the
> screen, and the floppy accesses, but the text is corrupted, and impossible to
> read. Any ideas why? Once I get this sorted and manage to install the rest,
I'm
> sure I'll be back to learn a bit more from the older hands on this list, but
> before I go, one last question:

I'm not familiar with PDCD4 but those kernel numbers sound like they are about
9 months old (pre 1.2-release). At a guess you have the 1.2-beta. Given that,
beware of downloading new stuff from the ftp site because it will possibly
conflict with the versions of other things you have installed. It should be
possible to get up and running from the CD alone.

Anyway, back to business. It sounds as if the screen mode compiled into the
kernel for the screen resolution you are using isn't working properly with your
monitor (corrupted text usually means VIDC FIFO underrun for the technically
minded). The fix is probably as simple as picking a different resolution. I
know this is a little suboptimal but once you've installed your system you can
use a utility (which has had incarnations as mondef, setvideo and setdisplay)
to set up your screen using a monitor definition file (RiscBSD treats them
slightly differently from RiscOS which can lead to a few problems).

> In the FAQ a newsgroup is mentioned - is this likely to happen? - when?
where?
> comp.sys.arm.riscbsd, or somewhere in the comp.sys.acorn heirachchy?

It is still being debated :-) I believe that the mailing list is gated to a
newsgroup somewhere but I don't think it has particularly wide propagation.

Cheers

Rob