I think the usb controller is part of the chipset, but there are no headers 
for connection, there have been several posts on this issue. Most people go 
for a PCI USB card it seems.

The onboard IDE should support a 250Gig drive, I've read that several 
people are doing this...

The qube2 has a com port, I think it was the 2700 that doesn't - correct me 
if I'm wrong...

NetBSD-current for Cobalt is 1.6.2, I presume this means you'll be out of 
luck with 2.*.*

Kind Regards,
Pete.