On Sat 06 Sep, Simon Knott wrote:
> Right I've installed RiscBSD from the 1.2 CDROM and am using the voy4656
> kernal.  I've just about got most bits working but have a couple of
> niggles.
> 
> 1.  I can't print.  During the boot phase a message reports lpt0 as out
> of paper.  If I queue anything for printing then lpq reports "waiting
> for printer offline?".  If I copy a file direct to /dev/lpt0 then the
> response is device busy.

I suggest that you try a later kernel, e.g. the Voy-5328.

I haven't set up a printer myself in NetBSD (RiscBSD), so I am
afraid that I cannot help you there.

> 2.  Is it possible to shutdown the system without logging in as root.
> My main user id belongs to wheel and operator groups so I can execute
> the shutdown command but can't execute the halt command.  I tried using
> shutdown -kh which I thought would do the trick but the response is
> "You'll have to do it yourself"

You have to specify the time to shut down to the shutdown command.
I normally do it like this:
shutdown -h now

I don't know whether it is possible to shut down without being root,
as I always su to root to do it as a safety measure.

> As you can probably tell I'm a bit of a novice at this Unix stuff and
> any pointers would be appreciated ( I have read the FAQ and installation
> guide but that doesn't mean to say I've not missed something ).

Neither of those are meant to cover the basics of NetBSD. There should
be a third guide covering the main things for system administration
that is specific to NetBSD.

You should get yourself a book that covers UNIX and specifically
BSD on the user and system administration. As a start I would like
to recommend the excellent book "UNIX Power Tools" from O'Reilly
and Bantam books. This book is very expensive, but it is worth
every penny.

Believe me, UNIX is very complex, and I myself have spent years
working with it. I still have very much to learn.

You should also read the online manual pages. Start with the
commands:
man man
man intro

If you need any pointers to other information etc. please visit
my home page:
http://login.eunet.no/~kjetilbt/

I hope this is of any help to you!

Kjetil B.