Thomas, 

You're probably a lot closer to a working system than you think. I
sounds to me like you're in single user mode.  

I don't know the most direct way to determine if you're in single-user
mode, but here's one clue:  What does 

	$ grep configured /etc/rc.conf

show?  If it says rc_configured=NO, you're in single-user mode.  For
more information, see 

http://www.mclink.it/personal/MG2508/nbsdeng/chap-boot.html#AEN973

On Wed, Dec 26, 2001 at 06:33:28AM -0500, Thomas Mueller wrote:
> No "which", no "man", no "du". no X, no vi or nvi, no
> manpages, no documentation, 

Those are in /usr/bin, as I'm sure you know.  What does 

	$ echo $PATH
	
show?  

> no pkgsrc or other pkg*, so no way to install
> packages (like having a lot of nails and screws but no hammer or screwdriver).

Sysinst doesn't install pkgsrc.  It's on your CD, though; a simple
matter of copying it to /usr and untarring it.  A new version is
available weekly and at ~10MB is IMO feasible to dowload over a 56Kb
line.  

> Only editor I found was ed.  I thought sysinst would install the entire base
> package plus X if desired, and I most certainly want X.  Maybe sysinst installed
> only base.tgz and kern.tgz, and I have to install the rest by tar xzvf xxxx.tgz,
> replacing xxxx in turn by each of the installation sets not already installed.
> Of course I would have to mount the CD and prefix xxxx.tgz with the path.

IIRC, sysinst is pretty plain about the sets it installs.  My bet is
you did it right and have everything installed, but are not booted
multi-user yet.  

> I booted from the CD without using the floppy (3.5", 1.44 MB) drive.  This is
> better than I achieved on the old computer, Cx486DX2-S at 66 MHz, where NetBSD
> never got through the boot process from diskettes or DOSBOOT, CD-ROM not
> bootable.

Fun, eh?  I first installed on a '486, too, and had to create the
floppies a few times before they worked.  Old diskettes cant't be
trusted.  Booting from the CD is much better.  

> Computer is Athlon 1300 MHz, 40 GB hard disk, NetBSD partition is primary, about
> 7 GB.  CD drive is Plextor CD-RW.

Very nice.  
 
> Next step is to install Slackware 8.0 (Linux) so I have something that works,
> including LILO, which I believe would be the best boot selector for a system
> that includes DR-DOS 7.03 (primary partition), Linux (logical partitions),
> NetBSD (primary partition)

If I were you, I'd let the NetBSD boot loader do its thing, and park
LILO on the linux partition, unless you know LILO and like it.  The
NetBSD boot loader is very simple; it will offer to boot anything in
the MBR record.  

Have fun and give a shout if you need more help.  

Regards, 

--jkl