Computer Experiments

I guess, given that it’s 2005, I can’t really call it an experiment, but it’s new to me, therefore experimental.

We recently purchased a new computer to replace our 1998 vintage Gateway (AMD K6) and I decided that what I needed was another project. The project is to install FreeBSD onto the Gateway and use it as an experimental computer for webhosting, running GIMPS, and anything else that might occur to me.

The first step, of course, was to cleanse the computer of all vestiges of Windows 98 and install FreeBSD. A friend recommended I check the bios to ensure that I could boot from the CD drive before I shredded the hard drive. I dutifully checked and it seemed that it would be possible. So, off I went, using a freeware program to overwrite the 4 GB hard drive and then plugged in the recently-burned FreeBSD boot CD-ROM and turned the computer back on.

Nada.

Oops. Seems that I can’t boot from the CD ROM after all.

Well, now I get to have fun creating a boot disk for the a: drive with the appropriate CD drivers to run the FreeBSD software. I’ve got a panasonic 24x drive, who’s various serial numbers are currently buried inside the box. I’m going to try using some default software before I dig the drive back out and look for specific information. Stay tuned!

Conveniently, of course, I’ve got a working computer sitting next to my wiped computer, enabling me to mine the internet for tips. This is so much easier than in 1990 when I was hacking my old MS-DOS based computer.