> > ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/sparc/snapshot/20010406-1.5.1_BETA
> 
> trying to anyway, here's what i've got:

.....

> that it doesn't, it's asking me the following:
> 
> Positioning tape... 
> Extracting installation utilities... 
> tar: End of archive volume 1 reached
> 
> ATTENTION! tar archive volume change required.
> Ready for archive volume: 1
> Input archive name or "." to quit tar.
> Archive name > 

That is exactly what happens after the floppy timeouts on my SS10.

It can't read the second floppy.  It also appears it can't read the
tape for you.

Smells like the script is calling for a different file format maybe?
It polls the tar header, says oops, can't read it, then falls through
to the end of the tar and asks for the next floppy/tape/image to be
loaded.

On the floppy, it chokes along with all kinds of timeouts then at
the very end, lists the above ATTENTION message.

Mebbie my floppy is not at fault after all.  It gives a verbose
dump of messages, but then at the end asks for the next archive.

The image untars ok  (e.g., tar -xpzf disk2).  But, the script
can't read it.

That is about as far as I can deduce it, not knowing exactly
what the script is doing.

Thanks

Bob