> yepers, you got it right.  Until now, all I've seen of UNIX is the tiny bit
> I see on my isp's machine if I sign in via Zterm, which is VERY seldom.

<grin>  I am taking a stab at running a web service provider in my
basement (it was running on a Mac IIcx for a while, but it's mostly
on AMD-based PCs now), and so I wrote up a "Brief NetBSD Tutorial"
that might be enough to get you started.  Take a look at:

	http://www.ninthwonder.com/info/netbsd_tutorial.html

and see if it helps.

There are certainly a number of other guides out there, too.

The "midnight commander" application might help you out.  I've never
used it on NetBSD, but a long time ago, I saw people using the DOS
"Norton Commander" from which it was derived.
It's in the sysutils/mc package, and it looks like you can download a
pre-built package for it
(ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/packages/pkgsrc/sysutils/mc/README.html).

> Exactly, but I don't know what things I NEED to do to set it up.  The
> instructions say, look at a file in the /etc directory, but I don't know
> how to change directories (and haven't stumbled upon it yet in the manual)
> and I don't know what sort of things in there need changing, or how to look
> at the file, or how urgent it is to do it......

Hmm.  Is this going to be on the network (i.e., do you plan to hook it
up to your ISP real soon)?  Right now, your primary editor is 'vi',
which (in case you haven't used it) is a mode-based editor.  If you type
the follwoing characters, it should get you past that message:

vi /etc/rc.conf<ENTER>/^rc_configured<ENTER>$bcwYES<ESC>:wq<ENTER>
(broken down:
	vi /etc/rc.conf<ENTER>	- edit /etc/rc.conf
	/^rc_configured<ENTER>	- find the first line that starts with
				  "rc_configured"
	$			- go to the end of the line
	b			- go to the beginning of the current
				  (or previous) word
	cw			- change from here to end of the word
	YES<ESC>		- enter the text YES and return to
				  command mode
	:wq<ENTER>		- Write and quit (ZZ is a shortcut for this)

The vilearn package can help you learn vi when you can get far enough to
install packages.

> Right now, I just want to know how to get around in it.  I can do the man
> thing now, sort of, which helps a lot.  I'd like to know how to use that
> better, as I'm just guessing at things to look up in there.  Like, I can do
> "man su" and gain info that way, and follow the "see also" stuff, but I
> don't know the commands, so I don't know what is IN the manuals, or if
> there are other manuals to look at, or ....  you understand.  Due to my
> abnormal shut downs, I have some corrupted stuff in there (according to
> warning messages) and it is asking me to please fsck(8).  I have learned to
> exec reboot, which appears to clear it.  I suppose I CAN reboot to come up
> with the Mac OS so I can shut down properly, but I'd kinda like to know how
> it is _supposed_ to be done.

<grin>  "man sh" or "man csh" will give you a lot about how to get
around in the shell--including "cd", "pwd", and such-like commands.
"fsck /dev/rsd0a" will pacify the "mount" command.
The proper shutdown is "shutdown -r now" (for reboot), "shutdown -h now"
or "shutdown -p now" (depending on which version of NetBSD you have) to
power down.  "reboot" will do it nicely, too.

> Another warning message I'm getting is the /etc/rc.conf is not configured
> message, and I'd like to know HOW to do that, what is in there to be
> configured, and what the options ARE.  That would help.

For the most part, the commands in there are semi-documented.  Enough to
get you to the right man page.  In general, start with just marking
/etc/rc.conf as configured, and get back to it later--assuming that the
machine will not be on a network just yet.  ;-)

BTW, once you get things going, I'd love to see you write something up
for DaemonNews (http://www.daemonnews.org/, once they get the name
servers fixed, or http://www.ninthwonder.com/v/www.daemonnews.org/200001/
until then).

Pax,
-allen