Nick Holland wrote:
quoted text
> Firas Kraiem wrote:
>   
>> Greetings everyone :)
>>
>> So here's the deal, I have :
>>
>> -> An i386 machine with no floppy or CDROM drive that I'm willing to 
>> install OpenBSD on
>> -> A nice and shiny 4.2 CD-set
>> -> A 2 GB USB flash drive
>>
>>     
You can get a floppy drive probably for $1 from the Godwill or some kind 
a charity. New one in states is $5. That is the easiest solution.

Check this out
http://www.mindrot.org/projects/flashboot/

Cheers,
Predrag



quoted text
>> Because I'm stingy and I don't want to spend fifty bucks on an USB CDROM 
>> drive when installation is pretty much the only need I will have for 
>> it, I was wondering how I could turn my USB flash drive into an OpenBSD 
>> installation medium (it's of course very easy to copy the sets on it, 
>> but I can't figure out how to make it bootable afterwards).
>>
>> Any pointers about this will be much appreciated.
>>
>> Firas
>>     
>
> Easy way:
> find another computer that DOES have a CDROM or floppy
> (note: does not even have to be able to boot from USB! :)
> Install OpenBSD to the USB device (basic install)
> carry device to target machine
> boot off USB device (the target machine DOES need to be able to do this!)
> at the boot> prompt, boot bsd.rd
> Install normally to target hard disk. ("normally" is either via FTPing
> the files from another server, or having copied the install files to a
> location on the USB device)
>
>
> Another way, depending on resources:
> Move the HD out of the target machine into another machine temporarily,
> install there, move back.  Yes, this works very nicely.
>
>
> Advanced way:
> On another machine, boot OpenBSD install media
> create an OpenBSD partition on your flash disk, disklabel it, and
> install the boot loader to that partition, copy over bsd.rd.  Faster,
> in that you copy over just the minimal amount needed to bootstrap the
> new machine.  However, if this were the best choice for you, you
> probably would not have been asking how to do it.  (hint: FAQ 14).
>
>
> Personally, I'd move the hard disk.  Sure, that doesn't use your USB
> drive to much advantage, but I suspect I'd win a race in doing that.
> HOWEVER, having OpenBSD on a bootable USB flash disk is very handy at
> times...assuming you hang around HW new enough to actually boot from
> USB.
>
> Nick.