> This box has a 25 pin male D connecter on the back which I hope can be used as an alternate console interface for communicating with the SRM.
> 

I believe it can't be used as console interface. Only the MMJ connector
works. The switch you see is used to switch between console on MMJ and
console on monitor+keyboard. From your description, it seems that your
machine doesn't have a monitor+keyboard, so the switch is of no use for
you. You should buy a cable or make it yourself.

See here:
http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/alpha/faq.html#serial-consoles

and
http://liberti.dhs.org/public/computing/hardware/dec3000/dec3000.pdf

So far, NetBSD works very well for me on a DEC 3000, btw.

Bye	Pavel