"Cam MacLeod" writes:
> Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm a litle stumped.
> 
> I'm attempting to install NetBSD to a partition from my primary PC (Win
> variants) partition.  My reading of the install docs indicates I need to
> dump it *all* onto floppies -- is there a way I can use the boot floppy
> (microkernel) to access my PC partition for the rest?
> 
> Thanks for any help / ideas / reality checks.

mount_msdos does come on the install floppies, so in theory you *can*
mount the partition (mount it read only!) and copy the stuff off of
it. However, doing it can be a bit tricky. In pariticular,

1) You have to make sure that the partitioning is right -- obviously
   if you haven't preallocated a NetBSD partition already, you lose.
2) you have to properly point a NetBSD partition table entry at the
   DOS partition. I don't quite understand how to do this myself;
   perhaps someone here will volunteer the data.

I also seem to remember another gotcha -- if your kernel isn't
entirely in the section of an IDE drive that is visible to the BIOS (I
believe it has to be before the 1024'th cylinder), you lose because
the boot blocks use the BIOS to load the kernel.

Perry