I realise this has been asked before plenty of times, but I'm pretty
helpless and new to this so I'd really like some clarification.

I've recently been handed an o2 to play with (180mhz, 64mb ram). I
downloaded the 2.0.2 ISO, burned it (using Nero 6 on Windows) and
followed the instructions in the install notes
(ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-2.0.2/sgimips/INSTALL.html) to
the letter. When I get to the actual boot command:

> boot -f pci(0)scsi(0)cdrom(4)rdisk(0)partition(8)ip3xboot
dks0d4s8: volume header not valid
Unable to execute pci(0)scsi(0)cdrom(4)rdisk(0)partition(8)ip3xboot:=20
media not loaded
Unable to load pci(0)scsi(0)cdrom(4)rdisk(0)partition(8)ip3xboot: no
recognisable file system on device.

I figured this might be a problem in how I burned the cd, some option
I didn't set or something, but after looking around the mailing list
archives I've seen people saying the 2.0.2 ISO isn't bootable like
this.

If 2.0.2 won't work, will 2.0? Will 1.6? Is there something I could be
doing wrong in burning the cd?

I'm familiar with Windows, and I've played around with a few linux
distros, but I've never used any variant of BSD, and have absolutely
no experience with SGI machines. Can anyone lend a hand and a minute
to help me out?

Off to get some more blank CDs i guess...