> 
> Hello Y'all,
>      After being successful in installing and operating NetBSD 1.2.1 on a 
> IIsi's external 80mb HD, we (My friend and I) would like to reinstall 
> NetBSD so the root and swap partitions are on the internal 40mb HD and 
> the usr partition is the external HD.
>      This is where I get confused.  Which distribution files are 
> installed on the root partition?  I know the kernel would go there, but 
> what about etc and base?  We don't mind deleting all of the info we had 
> stored on the machine.

Ken and Colin gave tips on how to actually do it. Basically you make all the
partitions you will want, mount them in the installer (in the mini shell)
and then do the install.

But why?

The main advantge of having a seperate root, AFAICT, is that the core set
of commands (/bin and /sbin) which you'd need to fuss with the system
in single user mode (to fix a sick computer) all reside on a low-use
partition. Also, it used to be that people wanted more flexability in
setting up disks (which were also much smaller) and so you weren't
supposed to rely on /usr. Also, w/o shared libraries, things were bigger.

I think for your setup, it doesn't matter much. Just partition the
other drive for NetBSD, and mount that partition somewhere. I like
/y1 (or /y2 or /y3...). Then just start putting things on it. Like
make a /y1/home, move all the home directories there, and make /home a
symlink to /y1/home (you probably don't want to move root's home dir off
of the root partition). /usr/local/ is, in my opinion, a good thing to move
out of /. I think (and will probably get corrected if not) that it is
the modern eqivelant of what /usr was back when this all started.

/tmp and /var are good things to move too.

I'd also suggest getting a new hard disk. 2.1 GB hard SCSI HD's are $230 at
Fry's Electronics. Even if you can't afford that, you probably could find
someone who can, and buy their old drive for $50 or so. 300 MB and you can
start compiling kernels and other fun stuff. At about 500 MB or so you
can compile the whole OS...

Also, if you are getting confused, it might help to stick w/ things you
understand.

Good luck!

Take care,

Bill