I had trouble getting pfsense onto and booting on a 5501 (CF card in this case) and when I did get it to work I followed the instructions on the following pages; hopefully they are helpful for a 6501.
http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/HOWTO_Install_pfSense#Windows (for the life of me I could not get the image onto the CF card correctly in Linux) And most importantly used http://m0n0.ch/wall/physdiskwrite.php to get the image written to the CF card (I would assume it would work just fine with a USB drive. -- Don Disclaimers in email are legally meaningless http://www.economist.com/node/18529895 On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 6:56 AM, Robert Guerra <rgue...@privaterra.org> wrote: > Make sure you are using a version of the pfSense installer that works well > with a serial console, as is the case with Soekris Devices. > > Here's where I downloaded the image: > > http://files.chi.pfsense.org/jimp/ > http://files.chi.pfsense.org/jimp/pfSense-memstick-serial-2.0.1-RELEASE-i386.img.gz > > - I then plugged in the USB drive to my mac. > - Then I used a combination of gzcat and dd to write the downloaded image to > the USB > (ref http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/HOWTO_Install_pfSense#Mac_OS_X ) > > gzcat pfsense-embedded.img.gz | dd of=/dev/disk[n] bs=16k > > (where n = the drive # corresponding to your USB drive) > > - unmount the USB drive from your PC > - connect up the serial cable to your PC > - load drivers (if needed) to get the serial cable to work > - Start up your soekris, and change the default connection speed to 9600 N1 > - Reboot the device > - Set your serial terminal program to 9600 N1 > - connect the USB drive to the external USB connector on your Soekris > - Watch for control-P to be displayed, then press it on your PC . This will > bring the Soekris into terminal mode > - Type - boot 81 - to have the soekris boot from the USB drive > - The PfSense installer when then start... > > > Robert > > > -- > R. Guerra > Phone/Cell: +1 202-905-2081 > Twitter: twitter.com/netfreedom > Email: rgue...@privaterra.org > > On 2012-03-01, at 5:48 AM, Stuart Henderson wrote: > >> On 2012-02-29, Ovidiu Predescu <ovi...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Method 1: PXE install >>> >>> I first tried to use PXE to do the install. I have a small machine >>> that runs dnsmasq as DHCP and TFTP server. I downloaded the >>> pfSense-2.0.1-RELEASE-i386.iso.gz and installed the contents of the >>> file in a directory accessible to the TFTP server. I'm serving the >>> boot/pxeboot file from the tftp server. The net6501 box finds the >>> pxeboot file, but it gets stuck shortly after: >>> >>> Building the boot loader arguments >>> Relocating the loader and the BTX >>> Starting the BTX loader >>> >>> It looks like the next load phase never happens. >> >> I don't know the FreeBSD/pfSense boot process particularly well, >> but that seems like it most likely *is* booting, just isn't using >> the serial console. Look for a boot-loader parameter to adjust this. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Soekris-tech mailing list >> Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com >> http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech > > > _______________________________________________ > Soekris-tech mailing list > Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com > http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech > _______________________________________________ Soekris-tech mailing list Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech