The extended parameter passing is enabled in the
bootblocks per default for a couple of days.
To give it sufficient testing before 1.3, please
compile and install new bootblocks!
(Perhaps keep an old boot floppy...)

The change is the following:
The bootblocks pass parts of the disklabel to
the booted kernel now. Instead of relying on
unit numbers, the kernel will check all "wd" and
"sd" devices for a matching disklabel.
If more than one matches, a warning is printed
and the first found is taken. (One should really
use unique disklabels - that's what the "packid"
is good for.)

There is one case I couldn't test: drives with removable
media. If you have eg a Zip drive connected, please
report how it behaves, especially if no disk is present.

Note that the changes take only effect if the kernel is
booted from a "harddisk" in BIOS' sense.

best regards
Matthias Drochner