OK,
Don't feel so bad. I just fired up one of my IP12's and it did the same 
thing.
I get the kernel to tftp load to the IP12, and then when it jumps to 
the entry point it just sits there. I am using the 
netbsd.ecoff-GENERIC32_IP12.
For a sanity check I tried to boot the netbsd-GENERIC32_IP12 and I get 
the "is not an executable file" like I expected....
Here is my setup....

HOST:
Ubuntu 6.10 running dhcpd and tftpd
- dhcpd.conf has an entry for the MAC address of the IP12
-dhcpd.conf has an entry to point to my box for it's tftp server
- dhcpd.conf has an entry for the file name to load. (netbsd, which I 
link to what every file I want to load)

IP12:
-Did a resetenv
-Did a setenv netaddr 192.168.1.101
- issued "boot -f bootp():/netbsd"

I get:
Setting $netaddr to 192.168.1.101 (form server 192.168.1.100)
Obtaining  from server 192.168.1.100
2963712+337716+209216 entry: 0x80002000
<then  nothing, No disk activity>

Here is my "hinv"
	        Memory size: 72 Mbyte
  Instruction cache size: 32 Kbytes
	  Data cache size: 32 kbytes
               System Option: Audio processor, revision 3
                         Graphics: LG1
                       SCSI Disk: dksc(0,1)
                       SCSI Disk: Controller 0, ID 3, removable media
                     CPU board: IP12 33 MHz, with FPU

As a side note. I saw this same behavior when I compiled an IP22 linux 
kernel and tried to run it on my IP20 box......
My 2 cent....
James

On Nov 21, 2006, at 12:04 PM, Stephen M. Rumble wrote:

> Quoting Simon van der Linden <ifmy@geekbox.be>:
>
>> It's really odd. In your example, yadayada should be the filename, 
>> isn't
>> it? But whatever this name is, my SGI always retrieve netbsd-sgimips
>> from my TFTP server. And... then the filename is diplayed on the 
>> screen
>> (Obtaining /file from server) Finally, the results are the same.
>
> Yes, it's a filename. If your bootp server is specifying the filename 
> explicitly, perhaps the prom will ignore the user-supplied input. If 
> you're using dhcpd you can comment out the 'filename' directive and 
> see what happens.
>
>> console=g
>> I don't use a serial console, I have a VGA screen attached directly to
>> the station.
>
> Technically that should work. If you're using a VGA monitor you must 
> have an LG1 framebuffer, which we don't support. However, you should 
> still see output via the prom routines.
>
>> I just tried with a kernel from this snapshot (ecoff-GENERIC32_IP12). 
>> It
>> seems broken. This time, my machine isn't down at all, and I have a
>> PANIC: Unexpected exception. If it's useful, I can take a picture of 
>> my
>> screen, or transcript the output, but it will take me some time ;-)
>
> Ick. The output is not of interest to me at this point, unfortunately, 
> as I haven't any IP12 machines to work with and nowhere to build code.
>
> I would imagine that if you're sufficiently adventurous, you could 
> check out a cvs snapshot from around when Antti Kantee committed the 
> (known working) IP12 support around April 2004. Unfortunately, no 
> kernel configuration was present at that time, so it appears that the 
> NetBSD-2 releases weren't distributed with any IP12 kernels. Antti's 
> declaration of IP12 support (in case you want a checkout date):
>
> http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sgimips/2004/04/11/0000.html
>
> It would also be of interest to know if Rui Paulo recently got his 
> 4D/35 running (another, very similar IP12 machine):
>
> http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sgimips/2006/11/07/0000.html
>
> Steve
>