Hi,

I am attempting a fresh install of NetBSD on a new(ish) VIA Epia 5000 board:
  * NetBSD/i386 BIOS Boot, Revision 2.13 on NetBSD 1.6.2 works fine.
  * NetBSD/i386 BIOS Boot, Revision 3.2 on NetBSD 3.0.1 does not work (as I 
intend!).

This has been clearly identified and documented in PR 26007:
http://www.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/query-pr-single.pl?number=26007

The PR has not been touched since Dec 09 2005 so it made me wonder:
  * Did any testing hardware reach David Laight?
  * Or was the problem simply too hard to fix? (Boot loader code seems 
pretty much like magic incantations)
  * What important changes happened to the boot loader since it wasn't 
reverted back to the previous version?
  * Would it be an idea to provide an alternate install kernel/floppy 
"boot-epia" with the next NetBSD release using the old boot loader in the 
same manner as "boot-ps2" as a workaround for the mere mortals?

I thought about installing 1.6.2 and then upgrade but have no clue how to 
do that properly without booting the 3.0.1 install kernel. Furthermore the 
documentation urges to upgrade/replace the boot blocks but I suppose 
(hope) that part could be skipped.
For a second I fell in love with kloader(4) and thought I could boot 3.0.1 
through the 1.6.2 install shell. The short moment of bliss was however 
quickly squashed by fvdl: 
http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-install/2006/02/16/0004.html

So: What is the easiest and clean method to get to 3.0.1 happiness on this 
system?

I am simply a monkey toying around with a loaded gun so my apologies if it 
is obvious or already has been answered elsewhere.

Kind Regards,
Claus Andersen

-- 
Nothing here