Newbie questions

[Lars Hecking <lhecking%nmrc.ucc.ie@localhost>]

 Hi all,

 I have just installed NetBSD-1.3.1 on my A3000, and, while it wasn't
 quite as easy as installing RedHat 5.0, it was almost a no-brainer.
 The system is up and running, and I am now using a self-compiled
 1.3.1 kernel, but there are still a few quirks, and I couldn't
 find all answers in the FAQs/list archives.

 Here goes:

 1) Is there any possibility to tell the kernel which video mode
    to boot into? I have to take out my EGS Spectrum to run NetBSD
    because the default video mode is too much for the monitor
    (38k SVGA).

 2) (Yes, this has been asked before, but I couldn't find the answer ;)
    Are there virtual consoles a la Linux?
 
 3) When I try to run startx as a non-root user, I get:
    OsVendorInit: can't open keyboard: Permission denied
    Fatal server error:
    no screens found
    How can I fix this? (is there an equivalent to truss or strace?)

 4) Tape drive trouble. I have a Sun tape drive, and a tape written
    on a SunOS machine (/dev/rst8). It is correctly recognised as
    st0 at scsibus0 targ 4 lun 0: <ARCHIVE, VIPER 150  21351, -004> SCSI1 
1/sequential removable
    However, when I try to access the tape, it doesn't work:

# mt status
st0(ahsc0:4:0):  Check Condition on opcode 0x15
    SENSE KEY:  Illegal Request
     ASC/ASCQ:  No Additional Sense Information

st0(ahsc0:4:0):  Check Condition on opcode 0x15
    SENSE KEY:  Illegal Request
     ASC/ASCQ:  No Additional Sense Information

st0: cannot set selected mode
May 24 18:35:25  /netbsd: st0(ahsc0:4:0): Check Condition on opcode 0x15
SCSI tape drive, residual=0
ds=0
May 24 18:35:25  /netbsd:     SENSE KEY:  Illegal Request
er=0
blocksize: 0 (0, 0, 0, 0)
May 24 18:35:25  /netbsd:      ASC/ASCQ:  No Additional Sense Information
density: 0 (0, 0, 0, 0)
May 24 18:35:25  /netbsd:
May 24 18:35:26  /netbsd: st0(ahsc0:4:0): Check Condition on opcode 0x15
May 24 18:35:26  /netbsd:     SENSE KEY:  Illegal Request
May 24 18:35:26  /netbsd:      ASC/ASCQ:  No Additional Sense Information
May 24 18:35:26  /netbsd:
May 24 18:35:26  /netbsd: st0: cannot set selected mode

    Needless to say, the tape works fine with Linux and AmigaOS.
    Should I use a different device (instead of DEFTAPE)?

 5) Cannot mount Linux partitions:
    mount_ext2fs /dev/sd1i /mnt/lnxlocal
    Operation not supported by device

 Hardware config:
 A3000, 2+12MB ram, G-Force 040/25 w/ 6MB ram, EGS Spectrum w/ 2MB ram,
 two 1G/4.3G SCSI IBM HD's off the internal host adapter; not networked.

 Thanks a lot!

-- 
Lars Hecking lhecking at nmrc.ucc.ie adama at flare.dynip.com
RH 5.0/m68k 2.0.33pl1 NetBSD-Amiga 1.3.1
PGP: 55 0C 8F 76 B7 30 9F 48  23 C5 3C BF B7 9D D8 DC
Please do not Cc: me on list replies.