> 
> Strangely enough, it didn't. Is there something about an i386-disklabelled
> ATA device that the CATS firmware does not like?
> 
i386 and arm32 uses the same disklabel address, but you can (of course)
_not_ have a DOS disklabel on the disk.

> I used NetBSD/i386 (booted from wd1) to install from the CATS installation CD
> (CATS.19980805) onto wd0. Prior to running the CATS install script, I copied
[...]
> 
> Since the CATS firmware reads the ffs directly, I expected the boot blocks
> to not matter. That leaves the disklabel itself, I think.
> 
> Has anyone else tried this?
> 
I installed from the 19980805 CD onto an ATA disk on an Alpha a week ago.
The Alpha writes the disklabel at the wrong address (Sec 0 off 64) and
the CATS firmware wants it at Sec 1 off 0, so I had to move it with dd.
After that I just moved the disk to the CATS machine and it booted directly.

-- Ragge