Excerpts from netbsd: 10-Apr-97 Re: -current on (diskless) .. "Chris G.
Demetriou"@cs. (1114)

> > How is "/usr/mdec/netboot" supposed to work? It is not
> > bootable with DEC bootblocks.
> 
> set up a bootp/tftp server on another box.  configure the bootp server
> so that it tells the alpha to boot that file.
> [...]

Thanks! This didn't work for me with your distributed "netboot'
because the TFTP server is not the NFS server. But once knowing
how it works I could make an own "netboot", and the system
is up and running now.
It is still strange that "netboot" boots via network but not from disk.
The error message is "no vmunix module_list" (OSF1 4.0 bootblks).
Perhaps such a thing can be faked?
As I mentioned before, there is a problem with PCI probing. `dmesg`
is appended below. Note that function 1 seems to be read properly.
(should there be an off-by-1 error? -  but the existing devices are
properly seen as function 0)

best regards
Matthias Drochner

t configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 28 function 2 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 28 function 3 not configured
unknown vendor 0x4eb0 product 0x0146 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 28 function 4 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 28 function 5 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 28 function 6 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 28 function 7 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x21, subclass 0x04,
interface 0xd8, revision 0xf1) at pci0 dev 29 function 0 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 29 function 2 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 29 function 3 not configured
unknown vendor 0x4eb0 product 0x0146 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 29 function 4 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 29 function 5 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 29 function 6 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 29 function 7 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x21, subclass 0x04,
interface 0xd8, revision 0xf1) at pci0 dev 30 function 0 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 30 function 2 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 30 function 3 not configured
unknown vendor 0x4eb0 product 0x0146 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 30 function 4 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 30 function 5 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 30 function 6 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 30 function 7 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x21, subclass 0x04,
interface 0xd8, revision 0xf1) at pci0 dev 31 function 0 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 31 function 2 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 31 function 3 not configured
unknown vendor 0x4eb0 product 0x0146 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 31 function 4 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 31 function 5 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 31 function 6 not configured
unknown vendor 0x0080 product 0x8180 (class 0x81, subclass 0x80,
revision 0x80) at pci0 dev 31 function 7 not configured
eisa0 at pceb0
[...]