Re: NetBSD 8.0 on a Mac LC III

[John Klos <john%ziaspace.com@localhost>]

Hello, Stan,

> I'm trying to install NetBSD 8.0 on a Mac LC III.  In the past,
> I've always used the traditional installation method, but that
> doesn't seem to work with NetBSD 8.0 -- "Mkfs" and "NetBSD Install"
> work in Mac OS as they did before, as long as everything is within
> the first gigabyte on the disk, but when booting the system, the
> kernel doesn't recognize the filesystem that was created by Mkfs.
>
> So I'm using the sysinst method, which seems to be working, though
> slowly.

Slowly, but hopefully steadily :)

> Some comments and suggestions:
>
> 1) If the traditional method no longer works and it isn't supported,
> then it should be removed. The traditional method has always had the
> issue that it works only within the first gigabyte on a disk, though
> it was possible to install a minimal system, then boot into that to
> complete the installation (and then use more than the first gigabyte).

I think many of us are hoping someone who knows the classic Mac OS well 
might modernize the tools. At very least, we should update the 
documentation.

> 2) The minikernel in the traditional method was also useful for
> quickly moving files (such as new kernels) between Mac OS and NetBSD
> (using cpin and cpout).

That'd certainly be easier than building sysutils/hfsutils.

> 3) Using the traditional method, a faster system, such as a G3 with
> SCSI, could be used to install NetBSD on the disk of a mac68k system
> from Mac OS relatively quickly.

Never thought about this, but of course.

> 4) In the sysinst method, it would be helpful if the sizes required
> for each package (base, comp, etc and so on) could be listed, as well
> as the running total (for / and /usr) of the packages selected so far.
> As it is, it's not clear until the disk runs out of space that too
> many packages were selected.  Also, several of the menus could use a
> "Cancel" option; for example, the menu setting the type of a disk
> partition.

These are some good ideas for modernizing the Mac OS installer. Supporting 
larger than 1 gig volumes and FFSv2 would make worrying about space less 
of an issue, and/or supporting having a small partition used for 
transferring files and booting the kernel in a simpler, better documented 
way would be good, too.

John