> Now, I'll say that, as a CD purveyor, I don't particularly need the
> FTPable boot disks to have Mitsumi support. Generally, I don't see
> much reason for any CD manufacturer to need CD support in the FTPable
> i386 boot and install simply because we can put our own boot and
> install stuff on our CDs, and indeed, we have to, because people
> buying the CDs are probably those without very high speed net access
> anyway.

Now hold on there.  I have a CD ROM; I have an Ethernet; I do not have
high speed net access.  But I *don't* have a Mitsumi CD ROM!  I suspect
there's a lot of people who would fit that description.

Perhaps a boot-safe version of the Mitsumi driver could be devised that
would query the console to ask if it is safe to try to destroy your ethernet
card by probing for a Mitsumi?

(OK, my Internet access is of higher speed than many people's, at 26.4KB.
However, downloading a fresh NetBSD distribution would still probably take
all night, and could easily ending up taking *more* time than, say, calling
up a dealer on the phone and asking for overnight delivery.  Airborne Express
is also not in the habit of delivering only half a CD-ROM...  ;-)