let me state once more that i have the book and am reading it! i brought the 10cd power-pak. i like the manual. it was because of the manual that i brought the power-pak. so much for the guy who said i was lazy for not reading. if i didn't want to read, and didn't think that i should have to, i wouldn't have brought the book. i tried to download the freebsd kernel from the web. but i could make heads or tails of it. i was expecting to find the kernel to be one contiguous unit as it is in linux. now maybe it is. but what i found was kernel modules as they would appear in linux after the kernel and it's components had been compiled. i didn't find any file of the size that i expected the kernel to be (17-21MB's for linux). it was because of this recognition, that i was erroneously applying concepts from one system to another, that i chose to admit that i don't know what i am doing. it is also because of this that i am approaching this (installation) with great trepidation.

Christopher Rued <c.r...@xsb.com> chris wrote;

After you install, the kld should be in /modules/vinum.ko. According what I just read, you should not even have to explicitly load the module. When you try to use vinum, it will automatically be loaded. You do not have to do anything special to install the kld. Just install the OS, and you will be able to run vinum. ==================================================================== thank you. the reason why i did not proceed, was that with linux, if you change the definition of the partition type, after it's initial declaration, you inevitably erase all the data on the partition. does it at least seem reasonable that someone should not want to have to erase their canvas to add a new color? it is for this reason that i chose not to proceed without knowing (explicitly) the results of my actions beforehand. i didn't buy freebsd to make mistakes, but rather to have a solution to them! what i still have not been told is, `when you define the partition labels at installation, is that also where you define vinum?' is that simply put enough?

in linux, my system (kernel) is VALHALA, my volume group was `ODIN'. the physical volumes were `THOR'. such that the labels went like this;

/dev/ODIN/THOR01, /THOR02, /THOR03, etc.

that was very simple and straight-forward. it didn't require a math degree to interpret this. it is done at the time of the initial installation. you did not first load (any) data on the partitions and then go back and relabel them, for the very reasons already stated above. if freebsd is different, great! but i have not read where that is the case. and it would not be ligitimate for me to assume so. in fact, i assume the worst, and expect it.