"Brandon D. Valentine" wrote:
> 
> 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

Brandon,
I don't mean to sound dense, but under 1.4.2, I was able to use an IDE 
drive in my PC164, so I "assumed" the ide capability was in the
multia too.  That may be a bad assumption on my part.
can you get your hands on a 1.4.2 floppy set?
bob