Adam Laurie wrote:

> 
> Part 1: FreeBSD
> Part 2: linux
> Part 3: NetBSD
> Part 4: OpenBSD
> 
> I installed NetBSD first, and it worked fine. I then install OpenBSD and
> could then boot either NetBSD or OpenBSD by setting the active
> partition. I then installed FreeBSD, and could boot either FreeBSD or
> OpenBSD by using the FreeBSD default multi-boot manager. However, even
> though NetBSD was listed at boot time, if I tried to boot from it I
> always got FreeBSD coming up instead. I then installed Linux and the
> Lilo boot manager, and same thing happens - I can now boot from anything
> except NetBSD which still comes up as FreeBSD even though it's listed as
> a seperate boot. I suspect this is related to the fact that both NetBSD
> and FreeBSD have a sysid of 165 in the partition table, but don't see
> how I can get around it...
> 

You are correct that it is the partition type of 165 that
is messing up trying to boot NetBSD.  It just looks for the first
partition of type 165 and checks out the disklabel on it, and
away it goes!

Since you have installed Linux, you should just use LILO, which
is included.  LILO will provide the basic booting functionality
you need.  It fits in the MBR, so it doesn't require its own
partition.  It lets you have a timeout, and a default-booting
partition, or it can boot the last one booted by default.  Most
importantly for you, for each choice in its boot menu, LILO can
be set up to change (or "hide") the other partition types.  So
when you boot NetBSD with LILO, prior to loading the NetBSD partition's
boot sector, LILO can change the type of partition 1 (FreeBSD)
to something other than 165 to "hide" it when NetBSD boots.

The LILO documentation and HOWTO's tell you how to do this.

One thing to note is that to use the "partition hiding" feature,
you must disable "read-only MBR" protection in your BIOS setup,
if you have this feature in your BIOS.

-Alex (:-)
 alex@santa.asf.alaska.edu