Adam> I can get to the OpenFirmware prompt, set load-base and real-base as the
Adam> install documents reccomend, but I can't actually boot from the floppy.

( I don't think you need to set these variables until you boot from 
harddisk-installed NetBSD)

Adam> I type in "boot fd:0" and it spits out "READ TIMEOUT" a few times, then
...
Adam> The floppy appears to be okay, I can mount it on another machine

This sounds strange to me, because boot floppy, if made up correctly, may
not be mounted with regular method.

Did you use suntar to write floppy disk ?
(To write several times is my regular practice to ensure robost floppy.
Just overwrite two three times with suntar.)

But even if the floppy is written wrongly, you may not get the message
READ TIMEOUT. This also seems strange and I may be totally wrong ;-(
---
Makoto Fujiwara,