Installing pfSense to CF from a Mac
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Mac OS installation procedure (gzcat pfsense-embedded.img.gz | dd of=/dev/disk[n] bs=16k) probably won't work (I wasn't able to boot, and now I can't try) but I saw that partition scheme of the CF is completely different than the one I get using phydiskwrite on windows (that works). Copying pfSense to the Compac Flash with an USB card reader on Mac OS X 10.6.4, I get 2 partition, an Fdisk_partition_sheme and a FAT32 partition (the same as the CF had before coping the pfSense image, but command exited with all data copied message), with phydiskcopy on Windows XP in a virtual machine (however on my MacBook with the same card reader) I get three freebsd partitions.
Someone can confirm that using Mac OS procedure from http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/HOWTO_Install_pfSense#Mac_OS_X was able to boot pfSense 2.0 on ALIX? Or that it didn't work? -
I haven't tried booting it on an ALIX, but it certainly works. I use my Mac Pro to make CF cards for my Lanner machines running embedded 2.0 frequently.
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FWIW, /dev/disk[n] is the whole disk in OS X. When you write to it, however, it won't necessarily trigger the logic to re-read the partition table. If you eject the card and reinsert, it should show up correctly.
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FWIW, /dev/disk[n] is the whole disk in OS X.
I'm not sure what you mean: is it right to write the image to whole disk, or as the procedure says, to the single partition? In my first post I wrote to have used /dev/disk[n], but in realty I used /dev/disk2s1 as it is in procedure… is it wrong (disk2 is the CF)? Is the case to modify the "How to"?
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/dev/disk[n] is the entire CF card. /dev/disk[n]s[m] is a partition on the card. The instructions are inconsistent. The list of steps at the top correctly say to run:
gzcat pfsense-embedded.img.gz | dd of=/dev/disk[n] bs=16k
which will overwrite the entire CF card. The transcript after incorrectly shows using /dev/disk[n]s[m]. I would update the HOWTO, but I can't seem to create an account.
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The list of steps at the top correctly say to run:
In fact I copied and pasted this in the first post, but I've followed the command line steps above… Now I understood way I can't boot pfSense until I decided to try to copy the image using windows (before trying an entry day to understand what's wrong :-\ ). But it can be useful to correct the "how to" for other people
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But it can be useful to correct the "how to" for other people
What's wrong with it? Its instructions are correct.
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@cmb:
But it can be useful to correct the "how to" for other people
What's wrong with it? Its instructions are correct.
No, they are inconsistent. As I said above, the initial command given to run is correct, but the command in the example output is wrong. If you follow the example output, you end up with an non-bootable card.
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No, they are inconsistent. As I said above, the initial command given to run is correct, but the command in the example output is wrong. If you follow the example output, you end up with an non-bootable card.
Ah yeah, fixed.