> At least now, someone is actively investigating net-booting and
> writing instructions.  As I had asserted earlier, this seems
> to require MOP boot support on at least some machines and some PROM
> revisions, so it may not be an answer for everyone.
> 

I haven't seen this topic discussed here, so here it goes:

In the i386 world there is a moderate amount of program porting
from Net(/Free)BSD to Linux and vice a versa. Is anyone in this group 
actively in communication with people in the Linux/MIPS group?

I realize NetBSD and Linux are two TOTALY different OS's, but if the 
Linux/pmax group has done something that could be of use to this group 
(and vice a versa), it might be worth communicating with them. Don't you 
agree? 

(Ie. I haven't heard anyone complain about Linux/Mips installation, so 
maybe they have a better way to install - unfortuantely I don't have the 
hardware to run Linux/MIPS, besides I am partial to Free/NetBSD).

Here is the info I got on the Linux/MIPS effort:

The port of Linux to MIPS platforms has been progressing slowly, but is
actively being pursued.  Linux is running reasonably well on R4x00
platforms, though the Linux MIPS port for DEC 2100's, 3100's and 5000
series is a little behind this.

See also:

	http://www.uni-koblenz.de/~ralf/linux-mips.html

for a general description of Linux/MIPS and:

	http://www.softway.com.au/people/paul/dec/

for a description of the current status of the Linux/MIPS port to
DECStation hardware.

> NetBSD/pmax can run Ultrix executables, IIRC. I don't know what the 
> limitations are on compatibility.

We hope to support Ultrix binaries on Linux, however this is a little
ways away.

Bernie


P.S. I volunteered to be a "guinea pig" to try out installing NetBSD on 
my pmax with the new netbootable kernel. However, I never received the 
pointer to the installation instructions and the location of the new 
netbootable kernel. 

In light of the problems with the installation procedure do you still want me 
to try?