In my ongoing quest to install netbsd in the 3/50, I think I
stumbled into something quite interesting:

Let's begin with the content of my tftpboot directory in the DEC box I
want to use as boot server for the 3/50 (at least until I can get netbsd
on the 3/50's disk):

root@kushana: tcsh 85> ls -l
total 128
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root           12 Jan  5 17:18 80E32A0D@ -> netboot.1.2c
-rw-r--r--  1 root       101800 Jan  5 17:02 boot.sun3
-rw-r--r--  1 root        15360 Jan  4 23:18 netboot.1.2c
root@kushana: tcsh 86>

As you can see, I am using netboot v1.2c as the boot file.  boot.sun3 is
SunOS's equivalent to netboot; more on it later on.  If we examine my
syslog file, we see that even though the boot messages on the Sun imply
it is asking for an IP address twice -- this is expected according to
the diskless(8) netbsd man page -- it actually asks for it only once.
Below is the first request:

Jan  5 17:21:25 localhost: 216 rarpd: Received 60 bytes:
Jan  5 17:21:25 localhost: 216 rarpd: RARP Broadcast from Host ->08:00:20:00:1d:35:
Jan  5 17:21:25 localhost: 216 rarpd: Received IP address request for ->08:00:20:00:1d:35:
Jan  5 17:21:25 localhost: 216 rarpd: The IP address is ->128.227.42.13.
Jan  5 17:21:25 localhost: 216 rarpd: Sent out response

After this first request, the 3/50 claims to be asking for an IP address
from the rarp server but it actually never send a rarp broadcast
request.  So, just for the fun of it, I decided to use SunOS's netboot
file:

root@kushana: tcsh 89> ls -l
total 128
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root            9 Jan  5 17:22 80E32A0D@ -> boot.sun3
-rw-r--r--  1 root       101800 Jan  5 17:02 boot.sun3
-rw-r--r--  1 root        15360 Jan  4 23:18 netboot.1.2c
root@kushana: tcsh 90>

Guess what happened?  It works!

Jan  5 17:23:00 localhost: 216 rarpd: Received 60 bytes:
Jan  5 17:23:00 localhost: 216 rarpd: RARP Broadcast from Host ->08:00:20:00:1d:35:
Jan  5 17:23:00 localhost: 216 rarpd: Received IP address request for ->08:00:20:00:1d:35:
Jan  5 17:23:00 localhost: 216 rarpd: The IP address is ->128.227.42.13.
Jan  5 17:23:00 localhost: 216 rarpd: Sent out response
[...]

Jan  5 17:23:40 localhost: 216 rarpd: No response sent
Jan  5 17:23:41 localhost: 216 rarpd: Received 60 bytes:
Jan  5 17:23:41 localhost: 216 rarpd: RARP Broadcast from Host ->08:00:20:00:1d:35:
Jan  5 17:23:41 localhost: 216 rarpd: Received IP address request for ->08:00:20:00:1d:35:
Jan  5 17:23:41 localhost: 216 rarpd: The IP address is ->128.227.42.13.
Jan  5 17:23:41 localhost: 216 rarpd: Sent out response
Jan  5 17:23:44 localhost: 216 rarpd: Received 60 bytes:
Jan  5 17:23:44 localhost: 216 rarpd: RARP Broadcast from Host ->08:00:09:77:0a:2d:
Jan  5 17:23:44 localhost: 216 rarpd: Not in /etc/ethers file->08:00:09:77:0a:2d:

The 3/50 does make 2 IP address requests to the Ultrix box, who answers
both of them (the Not in /etc/ethers messages have to do with some HP
laser printers).  As a result, the kernel file netbsd-rd (linked to
vmunix so the SunOS netboot can find it) is loaded as it should and I
move one step closer to have netbsd installed in the 3/50 (the next one
requires me to find out why the kernel thinks /dev/rsd0b is read only
for some obscure reason).
  
	Now, here is the question of the day:  why does SunOS netboot
work and netbsd's does not? 

-- 

 ===========================+=============================================
| Mauricio Tavares          | "We will attack...                          |
| raub@kushana.aero.ufl.edu |  ...under the cover of daylight!" Rimmer    |
 ===========================+=============================================