> Hi.   I'm one of the random netbsd developers, and I happen to be
> working on the prep port currently.

Thank you very much!

> There are some issues with prep as it stands.. bvut I can help you
> out with it. 

I don't mind being a guinea pig.  This machine is a "just for fun"
machine anyway.  I picked it up for $10!

> The best way to do development for prep would be a cross-compile environment
> from another NetBSD running machine.  Currently I do my prep development
> on an alpha.

I was going to use either an old Sparc LX or a 486-DX4 100.

> However..  In order to help you out.. I need some information on your machine
> ..
> I want to get a handle on where you are with it, and what works and does not
> work at this point.

I'm not at the machine right now.  but as soon as I get to it, I'll
get you the information.

> First.. I assume you have a serial port.  I have never tried to boot
> prep with a local video.  

I've only used local video.  I have not yet tried serial console.

> Try this kernel:
> ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/prep/snapshot/20000802/binary/kernel/boo
> t_com0-GENERIC.fs

I tried booting with this kernel and my machine did nothing.

> There are two ways to boot this kernel.  1) dd it to a floppy and boot off
> the floppy, and 2) put that .fs image on a tftpboot directory, and set up
> bootpd for remote boot.
> 
> Second..  I'm interested in what sort of firmware you have.  I'd like to see
> a log of you going into the firmware, and attempting to boot the
> floppy image. 

There is no OpenFirmware-like interface, as far as I know.  I can get
into something that resembles a PC BIOS, and do some things in there,
just like a PC.

> This would be easiest for you to do with a serial console attached to serial
> port 1 of the machine.

I'll try that out.  Which program should I use for communications?
Kermit, minicom, anything else?

> If you can get me this information.. I can determine the relevant data about
> your machine..  and perhaps give you a test kernel, and set you up with
> some scripts that I use to cross-compile.

I see what I can come up with.

> Also useful, would be the following data from AIX:
> 
> lscfg -vp
> lsdev -C | cut -f 1 -d " " | xargs -t -I {} lsattr -El {}
> lsdev -C

I'll get you this info too.

Thanks for your help!  I thought I was going to have to tackle this on
my own.

Charles