As I mentioned yesterday, here are the results of my recent -current
compiles for the VAX.  These aren't being offered in the standard form
of a release because that part of the build process in current is still
broken.  What is here is a kernel and a tarball of the build processes
$DESTDIR directory.  No X11 binaries are included.  You'll have to
manually install these on a new disk, a clean partition of an existing
disk, or on an NFS server if netbooting.  The unpacked size of the files
is around 150MB, so you'll probably want around 200MB of space to hold
them.

    NetBSD/vax 1.6ZG kernel:
    http://www.vax.org/temp/16ZG-20031206/netbsd.gz     [1MB]

    NetBSD/vax -current (06-Dec-2003-ish) binaries:
    http://www.vax.org/temp/16ZG-20031206/build.tgz    [42MB]

Experts will know what to do with the above, but the curious novice may
need a few pointers.  Hopefully the following notes will provide enough
insight that you can your own system running.

Here's a quick overview of the steps I took to install these on an
external hard drive attached to my VS4000/VLC.  You've probably dozens
of other install options available to you depending on your setup at
home, so do what's easiest for yourself.  The following assumes you're
starting with system that's booting NetBSD/vax 1.6.1 from the sd0 device
with an unused second drive that shows up as sd1.

[1] Boot the 1.6.1 system from the sd0 device and login as root.

[2] Label the disk using disklabel.  Create a /dev/sd1a ffs partition
    of at least 200MB and some reasonable sized /dev/sd1b swap
    partition.  See 'man disklabel' for details.

[3] Create a filesystem on /dev/sd1a with 'newfs /dev/rsd1a'.

[4] Mount the new filesystem /dev/sda1 under the /mnt directory with
    'mount /dev/sd1a /mnt'.

[5] Make the build.tgz and netbsd.gz files accessible to your vax,
    either over NFS or by copying them locally.  I copied them into my
    /var/tmp directory.

[6] Copy the netbsd.gz file into /mnt with 'cp /var/tmp/netbsd.gz /mnt/'.

[7] Unpack the binaries into /mnt with
    'cd /mnt ; gzip -dc /var/tmp/build.tgz | tar xvpf - '

[8] Write the new bootblocks to your disk with
    'disklabel -B -b /usr/mdec/sdboot sd1'

[9] Make the device files with
    'cd /mnt/dev ; ./MAKEDEV all'

[10] Edit/copy over/create any appropriate config files under /mnt/etc/.

[11] Halt the system and boot the device holding your new install.

I /think/ that covers it.  Ah, except for...

DISCLAIMER: This is a -current build, and a cross-built one at that, so
use it at your own risk.  It seems to be working alright on my VLC, but
for all I know installing this on your VAX will trash your existing
filesystems, turn your systemboard into a charred pile of smoking goo,
and molest your favorite pet gerbil while you aren't looking.

-brian.