# Ultra-Light or Minimal FreeBSD Live (iso)



## Spartrekus (Jan 30, 2019)

Hello,

Would you eventually know a minimal FreeBSD iso file for LIVE usage, that would be available as ISO.

Ideally about less than 300-mb, or much less, with SSH Client available.
Actually, 100 mb if possible with SSH and networking (wpa_s*, modules for ethernet) would be perfect.

The idea is to launch and to do some regular admin, distant over ssh.

Thank you very much in advance, wish you a good day, and best regards,
SP.


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## SirDice (Jan 30, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> Would you eventually know a minimal FreeBSD iso file for LIVE usage, that would be available as ISO.
> 
> Ideally about less than 300-mb, or much less, with SSH Client available.
> Actually, 100 mb if possible with SSH and networking (wpa_s*, modules for ethernet) would be perfect.


The standard install CD/DVD/memstick images are able to do that.

A popular "minimal" FreeBSD install/live CD is mfsbsd. Alternatively you can have a look at our own nanobsd(8) or picobsd(8).


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## Phishfry (Jan 30, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> Actually, 100 mb if possible with SSH and networking (wpa_s*, modules for ethernet) would be perfect.


175MB is the smallest your going to see with NanoBSD.


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## Phishfry (Jan 30, 2019)

I have been using an APU2 that I created a custom NanoBSD for and it resides on a SD card.
The device serves as my home Wireless Access Point and the NanoBSD build for that was ~200MB
with the addition of dns/dnsmasq and misc/ytree.
APU2 is headless so I do everything via SSH. NanoBSD is so solid there is no maintenance.
I use a ping pong setup with 2 slices for the OS. I need to update to FreeBSD12 soon.
That will be interesting, my first NanoBSD update. They have a script for updating the dual slice arrangement.


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## Phishfry (Jan 30, 2019)

Checkout the BSDRP project for some NanoBSD goodness.
They also have a slightly dated Media Player Appliance build in their repo.
Poking through their files was very useful for me.
NanoBSD has been around long enough to have plenty of guides on the internet.
I built around 5 versions for different platforms. I like ripping out all but the essential drivers for a box.

Some of the limitations of NanoBSD are patching. You really need to generate a fresh image to patch.
User password and my WPA2 passphrase are locked in to the build too.
You can mount the disk RW and change them but it is less than ideal.


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## balanga (Jan 30, 2019)

Phishfry said:


> NanoBSD has been around long enough to have plenty of guides on the internet.
> I built around 5 versions for different platforms. I like ripping out all but the essential drivers for a box.



Is it possible to PXE boot NanoBSD? I've managed to do it with mfsBSD but that is too restrictive.


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## Phishfry (Jan 31, 2019)

I have not tried it. With my ping pong dual slice setup it does not make sense.
Why not just take an axe to /etc/make.conf and GENERIC and make your own base system


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## Spartrekus (Jan 31, 2019)

in progress.. thank you ! nanobsd sounds a good way...

I actually use FreeBSD boot only so far. I use the portable puppy qemu and bring on top FreeBSD.iso. I works actually, but the issue is rather keymap.

With it, I can run on top of a Win machine, qemu portable (fetched from sourceforge) and start qemu with freebsd shell (iso). SSH is working then.
Nothing to install, no admin to be, fullscreen and readily working fast.
Putty would do it too surely.


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## Phishfry (Jan 31, 2019)

The problem with this whole topic is everyone has their own idea of what light or minimal means.

NanoBSD is primarily an appliance spin. You can yank the cord right out of the wall with no repercussions.
That is because it mounts root Write Only. They use a /cfg partition for settings.

Because it is an appliance OS it is not meant to be a regular computer. It is a purpose built machine.
So unless you have a  specific task you want a computer to do it is probably not the best choice.

When I build NanoBSD I slim down the build.
So in this light it is useful for learning what is the minimum you can get away with.

The primary way to slim down a build is to use the "WITHOUT_"'s. This directive tell the builder to not include a certain feature.

These settings go into a nanobsd.conf that you create for your nanobsd build.

All these settings in Nanobsd can also be used in a regular FreeBSD build.
So its a great way to learn how make a minimal FreeBSD image.

For a primer checkout /usr/share/examples/etc/make.conf
The manual for src.conf is helpful too.
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=src.conf


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## Phishfry (Jan 31, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> Putty would do it too surely.


Why would anyone need Putty on FreeBSD....
Windows I understand, handles telnet,ssh,serial console.
But on FreeBSD it's redonculus. I make a desktop shortcut to `cu`. So click on a terminal icon that I assign and whammo.
I have serial putty.


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## Phishfry (Jan 31, 2019)

I think it would be cool to make a NanoBSD with MAME and free games.
Network monitoring apps too could use NanoBSD.
pfSense/monoWall and FreeNAS started as NanoBSD projects.

When pkgbase hits we will have new methods. poudriere image is working on that too.
https://bsdrp.net/documentation/technical_docs/poudriere
So you add packages and base all in one chomp.
Maybe less WITHOUT's needed because everything is a pkg now.(That is the plan)
The planned 12-RELEASE slipped some but I am sure it is still a goal. It is quite an undertaking.
https://wiki.freebsd.org/PkgBase


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## Spartrekus (Jan 31, 2019)

Phishfry said:


> Why would anyone need Putty on FreeBSD....
> Windows I understand, handles telnet,ssh,serial console.
> But on FreeBSD it's redonculus. I make a desktop shortcut to `cu`. So click on a terminal icon that I assign and whammo.
> I have serial putty.



putty on windows to get ssh access to bsd server.


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## sidetone (Jan 31, 2019)

MiniBSD, http://www.minibsd.org/,  is a minimal one. The tgz file is about 6MB. It may not have your specifications for WPA.


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## Spartrekus (Jan 31, 2019)

sidetone said:


> MiniBSD, http://www.minibsd.org/,  is a minimal one. The tgz file is about 6MB. It may not have your specifications for WPA.



it looks pretty cool !


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## Phishfry (Feb 1, 2019)

Have you tried building release first? That would be a good place to start.
Build your own release then start applying slimming techniques.
/usr/src/release/release.conf.sample
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?release(7)


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