This document describes the installation of DragonFly BSD on a plain i386 machine. This process uses a bootable DragonFly CD, usually referred to as a 'live CD'.
This CD is available at one of the current mirrors, which distribute the images by various protocols. The authorative list can be found at the DragonFly website.
This document may be superseded by the /README file located on the live CD, which may reflect changes made after this document was last updated. Check that README for any last-minute changes and for an abbreviated version of this installation process.
The DragonFly development team is working on an automatic installation tool, which simplifies the partitioning and installation processes. Until this tool is in place, the manual process here is required. Some experience with BSD-style tools is recommended.
Caution: While this guide covers installing to a computer with an existing non-DragonFly operating system, take no chances! Back up any data on your disk drives that you want to save.
When installing to an old machine, it may not be possible to boot from a CD. Use a bootmanager on a floppy in those cases, such as Smart Bootmanager.
Caution: Always be sure of the target disk for any command. Unless otherwise specified, each command here assumes the first disk in the IDE chain is the target. (ad0) Adjust commands as needed.
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