Hi,

> I'm hoping someone can help me out with some issues I've got booting
> my Power Computing mac clone (Power Tower Pro 200).  They're not,
> strictly speaking, NetBSD issues, but I am running NetBSD on the box.  :)

Well, we all like to see NetBSD machines run well, not just run.

> First, the machine won't auto-boot from power on, because the drive
> hasn't fully spun up yet.  If I wait a few seconds and type "boot" at the
> OF prompt, it boots nicely.  Is there some OF trickery I can perform
> to get this machine to delay booting until the drive is spun up?

Yes; it's mentioned in the install documentation and in the System Disk
documentation:
http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/macppc/SystemDisk-tutorial/

> The other issue is, I'd like to have the machine boot after a power
> failure without someone having to hit the power button;  does anyone
> have any suggestions how to accomplish this?
>
> I'm looking at making this box into a router (let's hear it for zebra!) to
> replace the aging Pentium 100 I've got doing the job now, but unless I can
> overcome these booting issues, I'm SOL on that front.

If you're not afraid of playing with a couple of wires, do this: cut the
green wire coming from the power supply, and short that to one of the
ground wires. Make sure that the wire you short is the one coming from the
power supply, not the one leading to the motherboard power connector. The
machine will always be on after that.

John Klos
Sixgirls Computing Labs