on 1/20/00 4:14 PM, Richard Michael at rmichael@oci.utoronto.ca wrote:

> <snip>
> 
>>> How can I boot the netbsd.old kernel? This DECstation 5000/125 only got
>>> a serial console. I tried to press space during boot (as it works on
>>> i386) but that doesnt give me a "boot" prompt.
>> 
>> If your quick enough, you might be able to stop it before it loads the
>> secondary booter. In your case, I think you can hit Control-Alt-Return to
>> dump you to the >> then type setenv haltaction h, then type rst and hit
>> return. Now you should be able to type boot 3/rzx/netbsd.old -s (for single
>> user)
> 
> Although it's not elegant, I just disconnect the disk from my 5240 when I
> need to do this (since it's external anyway).  Obviously, the boot will fail
> and 
> dump you into the PROM.  The just change the boot string to null and you can
> test 
> all you want.
> 
> Cheers .. Richard
> 

    That works too :) In future you can set your boot string to:

setenv boot "-z 5 3/rzX/netbsd -a" The -z [number] is a countdown string
that you can interrupt with Control-C. A little better for your hardware
then active SCSI disconnects :)

    Chris