On older macs there's no screen alias so you have to specify full path of
the video card , something like /pci/ATY, XCLAIM ( e.g for ATI XCLAIM video
card)
Get PCI card DDK from Apple site, there's a cool program there called
"Display Name Registry" which allows you to view your device tree from the
Mac
This way you can look up the name of the video card you have

HTH Andy


>"Igor N. Green" wrote:
>>
>> where can I get the Boot Variables program? how can I run it?
>> any links? do I need to install it?
>> how can I change the nvram settings?
>> if I get to the OF how can I change it without the Boot Variables program?
>> thanks in advance.
>> seems like I'm a real pain in the ass.. but sorry. this is my first Mac.
>> (hope not the last one)
>>
>> -->>I tried this `ata/ata-disk@0:0' and `ata/ata-disk@0:bsd'
>> -->>I always get the same result: I see a picture of a floppy on my
>>screen and
>> -->>an 'x' inside.
>> -->>I suspect that the problem is that  the MBR is not changed..
>> -->>and it still contains something to boot MacOS which I don't have
>>anymore.
>> -->>I need either to install the bootloader (if any) or clear the MBR (if
>> -->>any)..
>> -->>damned Mac, why should it be that difficult while everything is very
>> -->>simple in PC (BIOS, CMOS) without shortcuts and stuff like that.
>> -->
>
>Igor,
>
>Boot Variables is a MacOS program. You said earlier that you
>removed MacOS from your computer, so Boot Variables is not an
>option.
>
>When a Mac boots, the first thing it does is check Open Firmware
>(OF) for boot settings. The most important (in your case) are
>auto-boot?, boot-device, input-device and output-device. You need
>to set these variables to appropriate values for your machine.
>
>Now, the problem is, Macs usually have auto-boot?=true and
>boot-device=/APPL/ROM  (from memory, might be slightly off),
>which means it will automatically boot from the Mac ROM before
>ever reading from a hard drive (and pretty quickly after power
>up, too.) The input- and output-device variables are not too
>important to the Mac ROM booting, but VERY important for NetBSD.
>
>We need to figure out how to get you into Open Firmware. Usually
>doing cmd-opt-O-F at startup (before the chime stops) will work.
>On some models you will see text appear on your screen, but on
>others, this will appear to do nothing. Actually, it's looking at
>the input-device for input and sending output to the
>output-device specified in OF. These are usually the modem port.
>
>The modem port?
>
>Yes. The default input-device and output-device is ttya, with is
>the first serial port, or modem port. So if you have another
>computer, you can hook up a serial cable from the modem port of
>the NetBSD mac and connect it to the serial port of the other
>computer. Start up the other computer and open a communication
>program, and set it to N-8-1 at 38400 baud. Then boot the netbsd
>computer using the cmd-opt-O-F. You should see output in the
>comms program. This is open firmware.
>
>You will need to find out the proper aliases for devices on your
>machine and set Open firmware variables to those values. Here is
>a list of helpful OF commands:
>
>devalias  --lists aliases
>printenv  --prints current variable settings
>setenv <var> <value> --sets a variable e.g. setenv input-device
>kbd
>boot  --boots the boot-device
>bye --attempts to boot using Mac ROM. This will fail in your
>case.
>
>Let us know your Mac model number, and we should be able to help
>some more. If you get to OF, try
>setenv input-device kbd
>setenv output-device screen
>
>See <http://www.linuxppc.com/userguide/of.html> and
><http://www.linuxppc.com/userguide/output_dev.html> for some
>potentially helpful info.
>
>Mucking around with OF the first time is a little confusing, but
>once you get it right, it's set and forget. I hope this was
>helpful.
>
>Geoff