Thank you Soren, btw.. sorry to post that last one to the whole list...

Anyhow.. It now attempts to load the kernel..  It tries all the different
kernels, but for eachone says bootp/ io error
netbsd: input/output error

running mountd and tcpdump I notice no nfs traffic at all to my main server.. 
here is what I have:

bootptab:
alpha.futureone.com:\
             :ht=ethernet:ha=08002BE42FAA:\
             :ip=198.168.10.4:sm=255.255.255.0:\
             :sa=198.168.10.1:bf=boot.netbsd.alpha:rp=/alpha:

exports:
/alpha/usr                         198.168.10.4 
/alpha                             198.168.10.4 

I tried moving the contents of /tftpboot to /alpha and symlinking the
directories.. that seemed to have no effect..  I'm running the netboot Soren
graciously built for me (which seems to work alot better at least).    I am
running 1.2 i386 (release version) on the server.

Thank you..

---
Tim Rightnour    -  root@garbled.futureone.com
http://www.zynetwc.com/~garbled/garbled.html