Well, I wasn't sure about my connection to the 486 (why is the 486 freezing
up?), so I
decided to try a serial console on another Mac. So I verified that I can
get a serial
connection working between the PB 170 and a Plus using versaterm pro on
both macs.

Now when I boot macbsd, the 170 still hangs at exactly the same point, when
it asks
me the path for the shell or type return for sh.

I'm booting in single-user mode, with serial console box checked, modem
port (yes, the
cable connects the modem port on both macs). I've tried with and without
the extra
debugging info, switching to the printer port, and +/- serial boot echo.
Nothing gets me
any farther along, though some options hang me earlier. Nothing ever
appears on the
serial console on the mac plus. The netbsd filesystems are on an external
scsi disk, not
on the internal scsi disk.

Someone suggested that it might be a good idea to try a more recent kernel
(I'm using
1.1) as the serial parts might be better. Can anyone tell me where I could
get an appropriate
newer kernel binary for a powerbook 170?

Thanks for any advice,

Brian