Firstly I must admit I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to OF and unix in
general so please forgive any glaring oversights in the following, I assure
you I've RTFM repeatedly.

I've been trying to install NetBSD 1.52 onto a Power Macintosh 5500/225 with
MacOS 9.1 loaded.

I read through the install manual and was directed by the writers to the
section "Getting to the Open Firmware Prompt (Harder method using MacOS)".

My system is noted as not being able to use system disk, so I downloaded
BootVariables v1.3b and entered the following info as instucted:

input-device: kbd
output-device: /bandit/ATY,264GT-B

I then hit "write" and reboot, or "write & reboot", and every time the
system boots straight back into MacOS, whereas according to the literature
is sounds like it ought to be booting into OF. This is the first place that
experience deviates from the install manual.

Next I have also tried booting into OF using "cmd-opt-O-F" and get confonted
with a blank screen. I invested in a keyspan serial port adapter and hooked
it up to my G4, plugged the other end into the modem port on the 5500. I get
a connection between the machines (typing on one outputs on the other using
MacOS ZTerm on both machines) then reboot the 5500 using "cmd-opt-O-F".
Nothing much happens on the Zterm on the G4 (no 0 > prompt). I have setup
zterm with 38400bps, 8 bits, no par, 1 stop, no handshake shake, kermit etc
according to the manual but feel like I'm feeling around in the dark a
little, is there any deeper detail on this, I've searched but to no avail.
I've also tried sending breaks over the terminal but no luck there either.

Anyway, that's where I'm up to, if anyone has done this before (zterm an old
pmac) and can see a glaring omission or has some advice please let me know
!! It's pretty frustrating but I'd like to persevere if possible.

Regards

Simon Troup