On Thu, 05 Oct 2000, charlie allom wrote:
> On Thu, 5 Oct 2000, JHS wrote:
> 
> > That's what I thought...but I wasn't certain.
> 
> i'm never certain.

> first check that all the nvram garble is still there. and the env
> 'use-nvram?' is set to 'true'
> 
> if it isn't, you've reset your PRAM somewhere along the line, which is why
> the OF can't find the ide0 device which may only be an alis once the nvram
> has been patched.

Eureka!  Sorta...
I re-patched the OF (2.01).  But I used a floppy.  
I set these env variables using the System Disk tool:
boot-device ide0/@0:0
boot-command boot
boot-file netbsd

I rebooted into netbsd to a blank black screen.
I force-rebooted into OF.  I typed 'boot' and got a white screen.  
I rebooted, setenv boot-file ofwboot.xcf
then 'boot' started netbsd.
So I rebooted from the shell and I again got a black screen, even though the
settings just worked and I did a regular reboot (not a forced reboot).
But when I rebooted into OF I was again able to boot netbsd just by typing
'boot'.
So I'm wondering if there's a fix for this, or if this has something to do
with the hdd not being ready (or not being 'spun up', if that's the term).  Or
should I just set the env to boot into OF and then just manually type 'boot'
to get it running?

Thanks again for all of your help.
I need to find some basic info about where things are located and what
packages are available, and how to use them.  I see 'ls' works, and 'cd'.  But
not 'whereis' and not 'halt' and (???) not 'man'?  No 'man' pages in netbsd? 
Or is it just not installed by default??  Anyway, if you have a link I'd
appreciate it, otherwise I'm of to netbsd.org again :)
Jeff