Jeff Laughlin wrote:


> So my current status is:
> Boots sometimes, don't know why I always get CATCH DEFAULT errors.
> I noticed that BASH isn't part of the standard distro, nor does there 
> seem to be a binary package available. Do people actually use ksh or 
> csh? Bash better compile okay...


if you had installed off the net (ie, just using a floppy) or 
otherwise had network access, I would recommend you get the pkgsrc 
   tarball and then bash will be available.

or just set this:

PKG_PATH=ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/packages/1.5/macppc/All


and do "pkg_add bash"


> No PICO. Well it's time I learned vi anyway.


true . . . people actually use PICO?


> No ethernet device. The docs said it would be called either mc0, bm0, or 
> gm0. No such luck, none of those devices exist. This is a serious 
> problem for me, I need to get network support or NetBSD isn't going to 
> be very useful.


I have to wonder if rebooting into sysinst and trying to install 
off the net wouldn't resolve this. have you tried going into /dev 
and using MAKEDEV to set up these devices? I'm guessing mc0 (your 
dmesg output would help).


> It's too bad about XFree86 not working on this box. Actually this whole 
> OFW thing kinda stinks. How come Darwin, mkLinux, and PPCLinux don't 
> have these problems?


I agree with you here: I have run linuxPPC and OS X on this old 
9500 and never had an issue with the open firmware console.

 
> Please excuse me if my tone seems somewhat critical, because it isn't. 
> It has been a rather frustrating experience getting NetBSD installed and 
> running, so my tone is really one of frustration. 


I actually found NetBSD easy to install though it gives you far 
fewer decisions to make than, say, linux. Turns out you don't need 
to make very many: rather than futz around at the package level, 
NetBSD bundles things together quite nicely and pkgsrc beats RPM 
like a drum.