> One of those ways to cause a panic is to try to mount the msdos
> partition on the CF card that has the boot kernel for me. Don't know
> why. I might try to do some extra debugging to see what function it's
> dying in, but I think most of the time I can't even use the debugger,
> and it won't save the crash either which isn't too cool.

Aha ... now that you piece it together, I do see a pattern! Yes, whenever 
the CF card has the boot kernel or even a ffs partn that is formatted (via 
newfs), and I try to mount the msdos partn, I get the same problem. Either 
it hangs, TLB, or dump to debugger without me having any way to recover.

> It just seems that some people have mysterious problems and others
> don't, which is weird. I don't know how else to characterize it. Some
> people have hangs and crashes on machiens that other people don't, and
> they are using the same machine.

Yes, tell me about it.

> Hey, these are cheapie PDAs, what can we expect?

I'm not sure if its due to cheapie hardware. MobilePros cost close to $1k 
when they debut, and I would not consider them cheapie. Furthermore, I am 
getting sporadic hangs from the same machine that successfully installs.

I reckon that the hangs are like what you described. Unfortunately that 
might mean I have to retry the FTP method. Otherwise I will have to have all 
the sets ready at one go in my msdos partn and do a install from it via 
local directory after mounting it.

I've just retried installation last night. I seem to get more success if
1. I set in WinCE, the mem allocation to give 20+MB to applications 
(running) than to storage.
2. I start installation from fresh, setting up the ffs partn and then mount 
the msdos partn.

This way I do not get any errors. Unfortunately, I missed out some tgz files 
last night, so I might have to redo from start again later, as my msdos 
partn now refuses to be mounted without hanging sporadically.

> Have you tried unpacking the binary sets onto your disk from another
> machine, setting it up manually and then trying to boot it? I sort of
> go through this procedure on my Mobilepro 880 install page:

I don't have a NetBSD/Linux desktop to prep the CF. :( and I am really 
hoping to do everything from my MP790. It is my wish to totally use the 
MP790 as a desktop/notebook replacement, so I want to be able to setup from 
scratch without touching a PC altogether.

Right now, I am trying to get it to work first. When I know the sequence, I 
will repro the installation and possibly document the exact steps and 
settings. Granted, I am really impressed at how NetBSD autodetects my Pretec 
wifi CF card and have its network configured and going in 1min flat. This is 
taking into consideration that I paused to read the prompts. Without 
pausing, I believe its 30secs flat or lesser. Once I can get the right 
setting for installation, I can confidently have my MP790 setup from scratch 
through FTP via wifi and have a running system in no time.

Thanks for your link. Let me see if I can improve my steps from there.

- Robin