Hello,

> I'm a NetBSD newbie (*nix newbie, actually), and just recently managed to 
> install NetBSD on an old Powermac 8500.  I had some questions regarding the 
> open firmware (v 1.0.5) manipulation on old systems like this.

Welcome! You're in a good place for that.

> First of all, I noticed that I was able to work with the monitor and keyboard 
> when first installing NetBSD, but afterwards, could only work with open 
> firmware via a serial connection.  This doesn't actually bother me as I just 
> want the box itself and don't want the monitor or keyboard.  That said, 
> however, if this is an indication of some deeper trouble, I'd like to know.

No, that's completely expected. You can choose to use the keyboard and 
monitor, if you like, but OF defaults to serial.

> Secondly, whenever I execute the halt or shutdown -h now commands, I notice 
> that NetBSD shuts down by exiting to open firmware again instead of an actual 
> powering down.  Also, I can't get open firmware itself to shut down (the 
> shut-down command, I believe).  Instead I just lose the serial connection. 
> What I do basically is just hit the power button and turn the machine off. 
> Still, if there is a way to avoid this, I'd appreciate any help.

If you'd like to reboot, just shutdown -r, and if you'd like to poweroff, 
use shutdown -p. -h halts, and -p powers down the system.

John Klos