>>How come there isn't a nvram device in NetBSD/i386 already?
 >
 > What is such a device usefull for? (No trick question, I honestly
 > have no idea)

To me it's a generic way for programs such as tpb or nvram-wakeup do to 
their job. It would be best if a specific driver was written, of course, 
but I bet the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

The other approach for such programs is to use io functions directly - 
AFAIK nvram-wakeup can do this if nvram isn't present.

-- 
Cyrille