Thanks for the USB suggestions. I gave it a shot and ran into all sorts 
of problems:

config(8) doesn't seem to like the idea of using a USB printer:

FLASKCONFTEST:150: ulpt*: unknown device `ulpt'

Removing this line made config(8) happy, but running "make depend" in 
./compile/FLASKCONFTEST then failed due to missing USB files:

In file included from ../../../../dev/usb/usb.h:58,
                  from ../../../../dev/usb/uhci.c:75:
../../../../dev/usb/usb_port.h:54: opt_usbverbose.h: No such file or 
directory
In file included from ../../../../dev/usb/usb.h:58,
                  from ../../../../dev/usb/ohci.c:73:
../../../../dev/usb/usb_port.h:54: opt_usbverbose.h: No such file or 
directory
In file included from ../../../../dev/usb/usb.h:58,
                  from ../../../../dev/pci/uhci_pci.c:57:
../../../../dev/usb/usb_port.h:54: opt_usbverbose.h: No such file or 
directory
In file included from ../../../../dev/usb/usb.h:58,
                  from ../../../../dev/pci/ohci_pci.c:57:
../../../../dev/usb/usb_port.h:54: opt_usbverbose.h: No such file or 
directory
mkdep: compile failed.
*** Error code 1

Stop.
make: stopped in /usr/src/sys/arch/cobalt/compile/FLASKCONFTEST

I picked up a Siig PCI parallel / serial card at the same time as the 
USB card. config(8) is okay with defining PCI serial/parallel device 
puc*, but not lpt*:

FLASKCONFTEST:142: lpt*: unknown device `lpt'

Using just the puc* device gets me through config / make depend. I 
started compiling the kernel when I left for work...

FWIW, I'm running NetBSD 1.6.2_RC3 w/ the LCD patch and have 
successfully compiled a custom kernel that includes the IP forwarding 
and firewall / traffic shaping gizmos, so I'm fairly confident that I'm 
performing the configuration and compilation procedure correctly.

Thanks,

Andreas