i just wanted to inquire about how the ibcs2 and linux compatibility is 
   in netbsd/i386.

Under NetBSD-current, I've personally run WordPerfect 6.0 (SCO
emulation) and Xess, Maple V, and DOOM (Linux emulation), as well as
many other small programs in both.

Note that the emulation code underwent some construction in the last
week or so, and I haven't tested it since then, so I can't personally
vouch that all went smoothly.

   there are a bunch of commercial packages out there that 
   i might consider getting to run on my netbsd/i386-current box.  can i buy 
   any commercial package out there for linux or sco and run it on 
   netbsd/i386?

Sort of.

SCO applications may rely on the iBCS2 package system, which we don't
currently emulate.  WordPerfect, notably, does not.  Any such package
will be problematic to install.

Linux applications don't have such a system to rely on.

Also, if the application programs are linked against shared libraries,
you will need a copy of the shared libraries for that system.  For
Linux, they are freely available; for SCO and SVR4/Solaris, they are
not.  Again, this wasn't a problem for WordPerfect, because there's a
version linked against static libraries.


If you try some commerical applications, let us know whether or not
they work!