On Sun, 12 Nov 2000, R. C. Dowdeswell wrote:

>Okay, so what you want to do is build the smallest kernel that you
>can get away with.  Make sure that it contains a line like:
>	config          netbsd  root on wd0 type ffs
>which tells it to use wd0 as the root disk.  You then have a couple
>of options:  make a floppy with FFS or use the tarfile boot method.
>I haven't ever done the tarfile boot but if you are interested in
>that, you can look in src/distrib/ to see how the install floppies
>are built for the release.  To do the FFS method, just newfs the disk
>and copy the kernel on it and run installboot with the magic args.
>Make sure that you compress the kernel with gzip or it likely won't
>fit.  :-)
 
This is the only alpha I have.  I can't build a kernel until I can boot
it.  I've tried booting the install disks, exiting the installer, and
mounting wd0, but I still can't build the kernel sources using the
limited single user environment the install disks present me with.
There used to be a GENERIC.fs floppy built with the release that could
be used for this purpose, however it's not available any longer,
presumably due to overflowing the size limitations of a floppy.  It
seems to me one shouldn't need a kernel on the actual floppy if the
second stage bootloader was smart enough to recognize wd0 as a boot
device.

-- 
Brandon D. Valentine <bandix@looksharp.net>
"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a
good example."  --  Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson