Not so long ago Terje Elde said:

> On Thu, Feb 15, 2001 at 09:27:19PM +0000, Matthew Theobalds wrote:
>> Not so long ago Terje Elde said:
> 
> Very quick reply, lots of thanks :)
> 
>> Have you seen my guide?
>> 
>> http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/mac68k/theobald/
>> 
>> Most of your queries I think should be answered there, if not feel free to
>> ask.
> 
> Actually that was the last page I was at before writing to the list. I try to
> make sure I RFTM before I turn to pestering others with my ignorance.
> 
> From the 3 (or so) different Mac spesific installation docs I think it's by
> far the best.

Thanks very much. It's always great to help people : ]

[snip amusing comments : ]
 
>> There is a Windows program which can read and write to them, but the name
>> escapes me and I have never used it. Assuming you can find a way to write to
>> Mac disks download System 7.5.3 from ftp://ftp.apple.com (you'll have to go
>> down quite a few directories) alternatively search on
>> http://www.apple.com/support/ and download them.
> 
> Found what I suspect is right. Names starting with:
> Z-System_7.5.3-01of20.smi.bin
> and following with
> Z-System_7.5.3-02of20.part.bin

They look like the right ones to me.

> And so on. As these are .bin's it's tempting to ask if I can simply write them
> out using dd on another UNIX system, but as they're "self mounting images" I'm
> not quite sure what to think of them. Their size doesn't match with them being
> simply images, but I have no idea if that's because they're designed to fit on
> a floppy, thus sized smaller than a regular one.

Yes, you could download them to a Unix system without trouble. The problem
comes when you actually want to use them. You are right, they are Self
Mounting Images. The way I would do it (with my setup) would be to download
the images. Un-Bin them and Double Click to mount. This is all standard Mac
OS procedure. You could then install from these images.

You already knew that though. The only way I can see this being possible is
as follows:

Download images, burn to CD as .bins. Boot 660av (good job you didn't wipe
it yet) Un-bin images using Stuffit Expander <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
and mount them on the 660av. Find another drive (this could be tricky?
Although only temporary) and double click the first image. Install onto that
drive. Boot from that drive (using Startup Disk control panel) and wipe the
other drive. Install all the NetBSD stuff from either the temp drive or a CD
or whatever you have. If you burn all the .tgz and .sit/.hqx to CD then you
can un-stuff un-hqx un-bin at this stage. Standard installation procedure
from here.

The only problem with this is that it assumes a reasonable amount.

It assumes that you have a spare drive which is SCSI. It also assumes that
you have an OS which can read ISO9660 formatted discs (ie one with PC
exchange) System 7.5 was the first to introduce this. Back to square one.

I therefore recommend the following:

Contact an Apple Dealer. Get him to sell / give you a System 7.5 CD. Or find
a friend with a Mac who can burn you one. Or buy one at auction. Anything
like that. It will then all be very very easy indeed. Assume this to be the
spare drive mentioned above and go from there.

> Do I understand it correctly that one easy way to actually get the NetBSD
> files onto the box could be to simply burn them on a CD, boot the loader
> partition, then run the installer application and point it at the files on the
> CD?

Yes. That'd be a very easy way. Bob Nestor, incidently, sells CDs if you
want to go down that route. <http://murphy.dyndns.org/NetBSD/>

It's just occurred to me that these may in fact be bootable thus removing
the above problem. You may want to check this yourself.

Hope I've helped you out here. Please feel free to ask anything that isn't
clear.

All the best.

Matthew