> > I thought the GENERIC kernels were supposed to support this kind of
> > configuration.  I also thought I had tried it with a mid 1.0 to 1.1 kernel
> > and it worked a couple of years ago, but then the brain isn't what it used
> > to be.
> 
> Actually, I don't think that the GENERIC kernels do this.  I believe that 
> they require the swap partition to be on the same disk as the root 
> partition.

Really early GENERIC kernels (pre-1.0?) did have a more generic swap
configuration--swap ended up on the first drive where it found a swap
partition (I think--it's been a while).  This was non-standard, and had
its own problems (the output from various programs, e.g. pstat -s,
looked real funny).

I'd like to see better all-'round support for swap, allowing dynamic
swap space (adding and removing partitions as needed, without kernel
configuration).  Unfortunately, I don't have time to work on it.  :-(
Others are interested in seeing this, too--perhaps someone will find the
time.

> I think the solution is to install ncurses instead.  Perhaps NetBSD
> should shift to ncurses and scrap its current curses package.

OpenBSD has done this and NetBSD has talked about it.  As I understand
it, there are some problems with ncurses that need to be fixed before
it's integrated.

-allen

-- 
              Allen Briggs - end killing - briggs@macbsd.com