> 	I've had NetBSD/sparc running on a variety of sparc hardware
> 	since 1.0A, and I've seen it just keep getting better.

I built the 1.0, and was amazed that the silly thing worked!  Alas,
when I tried later releases, I had lots of problems on my sun toyz.
Most centered around scsi timeouts and odd things like that.
Finally, the 1.4.2 fixed the sun3 issues.  Also, the 1.4.2 is the
first sun4c suite I have had up reliably.  Yes, it is getting better
and very nice.  One feature I like about NetBSD, over the rest, is
the retention of the simple install scripts.   They be comfy, like
4.3BSD on my old IBM RISC box.  I like the KISS approach, when it
comes to installing.  The fewer frills and guis, the better IMHO.

> 	-current has been patchy at times, but the releases have been
> 	pretty good to me.

I run into that on the VAX ports.  One week they are up and the next
week they won't build.  But, that is part of the fun of the beast.
The new scsi drivers made the VAXen fly though.....(:+\\... and
they boot easily from tape.  Anyone for sparc tape booting?

> 	When OpenBSD split I switched some of my machines across, but
> 	ended up moving everything back to NetBSD, and have been very
> 	happy with that decision. Its been a while since I've used
> 	OpenBSD, so if there are any particular little features you
> 	like on it, be sure to let people know so they can be considered
> 	for inclusion in NetBSD :)

Well, the main reason I went with OpenBSD was that it just flat
booted/installed off the floppy/miniroot/tape and ran out of the box
on my old SS1 and IPX critters.  Every version of OpenBSD that I 
have run on the sparcs has done that.  NetBSD gave me fits on those. 
Now it seems the dust has settled, and they are pretty much even
steven.  Alas, I am not able to get NBSD booting on my SS1 by
miniroot or floppy, yet.  The IPX boots and runs 1.4.2 fine.
I gotta figure out what is happening there.   I will probably
use the IPX to load a second HD and then move it to the SS1.
That usually cures lots of install problems for me.  Or, there
is the perennial netboot.....

If there is any feature from OpenBSD that one might beg for, it
is that easybooting abilility.  Whatever they are doing in the
boot code, is just enough better that it works all the time.
Once the machines are up, they are not that much different.
OpenBSD is using FreeBSD's ports scheme, which is a little
better than NetBSD's IMHO, but, other than that, I don't
sense enough feature difference to worry about.  I like
the ability to sit down at any of the BSD's and feel at
home, without having to headscratch too much to find where
things are......(Linux anyone.....(:+\\.....not!).

I am not after features, just something that runs well enough to
recompile and do some serious play on.  I tend to get a little
frustrated when the machine won't even complete a boot or load.
Yeah, I know, I run some dinosaurian wierdo hardware, but it
is ``supposed'' to be supported.   But, sometimes the ports
are not quite ready for prime time, although they have made
great progress over the past couple of years.  The sun3 port
is now running GREAT on my old 3/260 crate.... finally.
If I could just do the same for the 4/260 crate.  The IPX
is now happy.... finally, and also, if I could just do that
for the SS1....etc.

My goal with the SS1 is to have it replace a lowend 486/33 FBSD
web server, plus become a local cvs repository so I can roll
my own daily current tarballs to feed the VAXen, MIPsen, Alphas,
Sun3's and Sun4's at home.   It should handle that easily.
Or, maybe bring in a VAX.  Nah, tha Boss would give me some
strange looks with a loose VAX running around the office.
The SS1 with a 19 inch monitor is close enough to looking
like a worstation, that it should pass muster, serving
its Web, and then doing my unixy things in the background.
Alternatively, I could load up a stack of boxes on the IPX,
and use that instead.  It is a little faster.  But, the
difference i speed is not all that important to my needs.

Other than that, I am tending to say NetBSD is the way to go,
on most all of my toyz.

Sorry for the bandwidth, but I felt like dumping a little,
somewhere other than /dev/null.

Bob