If you must install from floppy disks, either due to unsupported hardware or simply because you enjoy doing things the hard way, you must first prepare some floppies for the install.
You will need, at minimum, as many 1.44MB or 1.2MB floppies as it takes to hold all files in the bin (binary distribution) directory. If you are preparing these floppies under DOS, then THESE floppies *must* be formatted using the MS-DOS FORMAT command. If you are using Windows, use the Windows File Manager format command.
Do not trust Factory Preformatted floppies! Format them again yourself, just to make sure. Many problems reported by our users in the past have resulted from the use of improperly formatted media, which is why I am taking such special care to mention it here!
If you are creating the floppies from another FreeBSD machine, a format is still not a bad idea though you do not need to put a DOS filesystem on each floppy. You can use the `disklabel' and `newfs' commands to put a UFS filesystem on them instead, as the following sequence of commands (for a 3.5" 1.44MB floppy disk) illustrates:
fdformat -f 1440 fd0.1440
disklabel -w -r fd0.1440 floppy3
newfs -t 2 -u 18 -l 1 -i 65536 /dev/rfd0
(Use "fd0.1200" and "floppy5" for 5.25" 1.2MB disks).
Then you can mount and write to them like any other file system.
After you have formatted the floppies, you will need to copy the files onto them. The distribution files are split into chunks conveniently sized so that 5 of them will fit on a conventional 1.44MB floppy. Go through all your floppies, packing as many files as will fit on each one, until you have got all the distributions you want packed up in this fashion. Each distribution should go into a subdirectory on the floppy, e.g.: a:\bin\bin.aa, a:\bin\bin.ab, and so on.
Once you come to the Media screen of the install, select ``Floppy'' and you will be prompted for the rest.