On Sat, 27 Jul 1996, Ralph Seichter wrote:

> Unfortunately, I did not receive any hints on how to use a MS-DOS partition
> from NetBSD 1.1, so I guess I better repeat my request for help.
> 
> I found a document describing the procedures to access my C:\ partition.
> After editing the disk label, I can mount it, and I can use 'ls' to get a
> directory listing. But as soon as I access a file (or a directory), a
> kernel panic occurs. BTW, when I use the floppy disk under NetBSD, I get
> lots of soft read errors due to timing trouble.
> 
Hi,
 I am a NetBSD-1.0A user who has been wrestling with this problem. I had 
been told - or read on this list - that 1.2 will let you mount MS-DOS 
partitions without having to fiddle with a disklabel.
 I haven't upgraded my system, but I performed an experiment today that 
probably isn't for the weak of heart. 
 I learned of the latest binary snapshot (1.2_BETA) and figured 'what the 
hell' and decided to just FTP a generic kernel from it and see if it 
would boot up with my 1.0A system.
 I grabbed the ftp.netbsd.org:/pub/NetBSD/arch/i386/snapshot/netbsd-other 
kernel and rebooted specifying that kernel in the boot - and it worked! 
Not only did it work, but it only probes for mcd0 once instead of three times 
(Unfortunately, it still doesn't support my Matsushita CD-ROM, 
which FreeBSD does).
 Anyway, aside from ps and w being busted (easy enough to fix), I was 
able to mount and copy a file from my DOS partition (Actually Winsloth 
95). I was not brave enough, however to attempt to write to it. 
 My next step will probably be to just grab the kernel source and 
fashion my own - I am waiting for a new HD to do a full upgrade.
 Anyway, give it a shot and don't even think about giving me a problem if 
it fries your data or something. It worked for me :)