Andrew Diller wrote:
> 
> Hello:
> 
> I am trying to get the 1.3a kernel to boot on my cx with a Daystar 040, and
> it boots (with both the ncr & the other scsi) to the point where it is
> "checking the ffs file system..."

Huh??? What exactly does it say?  Is it running fsck?

> then the drive is accessed for an instant and it locks up. The the kernels
> seem to 'read' the scsi drives alright earlier in the boot sequence.
> 
> Any ideas? 

Try booting into single-user mode and see if you can do anything there.
Many people have had problems getting Daystar accelerators to work with
NetBSD, btw (although only for accelerators that upgrade you a processor
generation).

> What is the easiest way to go about playing with the current
> kernels and trying them out? 

Um, that kind of depends on what you mean by "playing" with them.  If you
just want to try out a whole bunch of ones you download, just put them in
the same folder as the Booter and set the name of the kernel appropriately
in the Options->Booting dialog.

> I haven't seen a clear description of how to
> compile your own kernels. 

There's a kernel compiling HOWTO on puma.macbsd.com.  It's pretty
straightforward, tho:

1) Download the kernel source and install it wherever you want
2) cd /sys/arch/mac68k/conf       ....assuming you installed it to /sys
3) cp GENERIC YOUR_KERNEL_NAME
4) vi YOUR_KERNEL_NAME   ....make any changes you wish
5) config YOUR_KERNEL_NAME
6) cd ../compile/YOUR_KERNEL_NAME/
7) make depend && make
8) cp ./netbsd /netbsd.YOUR_KERNEL_NAME

> Coming from a Linux background

I'm sorry ;-)

>, it was very easy
> to go in and run configure and just answer the questions and then move the
> new kernel over and test it out....

Well, NetBSD doesn't quite spoon feed you the way the Linux does, but I
stil think it's pretty easy to do.  Let me know if you run into problems
not handled by steps 1 thru 8 above or not in the Kernel-HOWTO on
www.macbsd.com.  Keep in mind that NetBSD kernel compiles are going to be
quite a bit slower than Linux kernels compiles (well, I don't know how
slow Linux/m68k is, but NetBSD/m68k is going to run at least 2 hours).

I hope this helps some.

Later.

-- 
Colin Wood                                 cwood@ichips.intel.com
Component Design Engineer - MD6                 Intel Corporation
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I speak only on my own behalf, not for my employer.