> 	The problem is when I tell boot to load the kernel in a PIO 
> fashion 'rom()netbsd', it's like the kernel is not even there. Yer if I 
> try to boot it in a DMA fashion, it will proceed and give me the c8's of 
> death whether I set it for dka0 or dka100.

Uups, there seems to be a small mis-understanding:

PIO vs. DMA is not a matter of the /boot file, but the way the kernel
(after being loaded and running) interacts with the SCSI devices.

The parameters "rom()..." vs. "sd()..." given to the /boot program toggle
the way, the standalone loader tries to load the kernel; "rom()..." uses
the builtin ROM-routines (which usually work for the boot-device), "sd()..."
is not working at all. 
[I think I'm responsible for that mess; the "sd()" variant is a left-over
from an unsuccessful try to port/include some standalone 5380 driver into
NetBSD/vax's boot loader. With SCSI devices "rom()" is the only way to go.]

Assuming you've copied two kernels into /, maybe "/netbsd.PIO" as the
PIO variant and "/netbsd.DMA" as the DMA-variant you'll need to say:
	"rom()/netbsd.PIO" to load/execute the PIO-kernel or
	"rom()/netbsd.DMA" to load/execute the DMA-kernel.
The name given after "rom()" has to be the name of a valid kernel-file.

Ciao,
	bertram