Hi Leo,
> > installboot refuses to do anything, it just displays this message:
> > installboot: NetBSD 1.2 199306: OS revision not supported
> I just uploaded a corrected installboot(1) program to ftp.netbsd.org.
I've downloaded the file, copied it over to my TT and booted the BOOT
kernel I've already copied to my GEMDOS partition C. I had some kind
of success: installboot accesses the disk and displays a different
error message:
NetBSD bootblock not on primary AHDI partition

My disclabel looks like this:
# /dev/rsd0c:
type: SCSI
disk: SCSI disk
label: fictitious
flags:
bytes/sector: 512
sectors/track: 92
tracks/cylinder: 4
sectors/cylinder: 368
cylinders: 2853
total sectors: 1057758
rpm: 3600
interleave: 1
trackskew: 0
cylinderskew: 0
headswitch: 0		# milliseconds
track-to-track seek: 0	# milliseconds
drivedata: 0 

8 partitions:
#        size   offset    fstype   [fsize bsize   cpg]
  a:    65536   229377    4.2BSD     1024  8192    16 	# (Cyl.  623*- 801*)
  b:    98306   294914      swap                    	# (Cyl.  801*- 1068*)
  c:  1057758        0    unused        0     0       	# (Cyl.    0 - 2874*)
  d:    65536        2     MSDOS                    	# (Cyl.    0*- 178*)
  e:    65532    65539     MSDOS                    	# (Cyl.  178*- 356*)
  f:    98304   131072     MSDOS                    	# (Cyl.  356*- 623*)
  g:   262144   393220    4.2BSD     1024  8192    16 	# (Cyl. 1068*- 1780*)
  h:   402394   655364    4.2BSD     1024  8192    16 	# (Cyl. 1780*- 2874*)

The disc is a Quantum Maverick 540. It was "low-level" formatted on
a Adaptec 2940UW and was partioned with HDX. As you can see, the first
three partitions are used for TOS (32 MByte C:, 32 MByte D:, 50 MByte E:),
followed by the root partion (32 Mbyte), 48 MByte Swap, 128 MByte for
/var, the remaining 196 MByte will be used for /usr. I hope this is
enough to keep a *full* source tree. 

I've checked the root sector with the display function of my virus
killer (don't laugh, I'm still searching for a decent sector editor
that works in TT high with AHDI. The old SED crashes, the new SED
depends on CBHD and it's SCSI device driver). The structure HDX
inflicted on the disc looks like this:

		type	size	status		
First entry:	BGM	65536	bootable	(GEMDOS C:)
Second entry:	XGM	327682	valid
Third entry:	NBD	262144	valid		(/var)
Fourth entry:	NBD	402394	valid		(/usr)	
I guess (I can't check it) that the XGM sector contains D:, E:,
/ and swap in exactly that order. I think this is the reason
why installboot bails out. Or is it the fact that the first
partition (GEMDOS C:) has type BGM?

If the root file system has to be in the first root sector, would
NetBSD and installboot accept this structure:
First entry:	BGM, ~64 MByte, GEMDOS C:
Second entry:	BGM, ~64 MByte, GEMDOS D:
Third entry:	NBD, ~32 MByte, /
Fourth entry:	XGM, remaining disc

With the following extended partitions:
First entry:	NBS, ~40 MByte, swap (20 MByte physical memory * 2)
Second entry:	NBD, ~128 MByte, /var
Third entry:	NBD, remaining disc, /usr

Please don't tell me "I dunno, try it and you will see". 

On the other hand, it doesn't matter if I have to backup the whole
stuff again, because:

I rebooted my system and booted from the kernel floppy, giving sd0
as root device. Yet another error message: segmentation violation,
core dumped.

The next thing I tried was a complete re-install. Something spooky
was going on, the installer kept crashing. I switched the system off,
waited 2 minutes, switched it on again. This time, the installer
crashed while creating the device nodes. To be precise, the system
entered an endless crash loop (read: crash on debugger startup).
Time to get some sleep...

I'm reasonably sure that this is not a problem with the kernel or
miniroot floppies, they are write protected. The installation
sets on the GEMDOS haven't been modified between the two installation
attempts. The only remaining reason is the hardware modification I
made between the two attempts: I've added a MegTT fastram card
with 16 MBytes of RAM. I've tested the card after purchase and
works fine under TOS/Mag!C. I'm currently hitting it again, fast
and hard, with every test program I can find. So far (2 hours)
none has found an error. Tests will continue until I go to bed,
the fan is far too loud to keep the TT running while I try to sleep.

Additional question: I'm going to buy a DAT streamer (HP1533A, DDS-2,
4 Gbyte native capacity, hardware compression) within the next days.
I intend to use it with all the (psuedo) operating system I'm running:
FreeBSD, DOS, TOS and NetBSD. FreeBSD will work, DOS doesn't really
matter, NetBSD should work (famous last words?), TOS will give me
trouble. I've found only one good software package for using SCSI
streamers under TOS: Gem-AR. Unfortunately, GEMAR requires the
installation of a generic SCSI device driver. This device driver
only works if I use CBHD (the hard disc driver package from Claus
Brod's famous Scheibenkleister book). The big question: Is CBHD 
compatible enough for NetBSD?

/s/Udo
PS: I've subscribed to port-atari, so cc to me aren't neccessary
anymore.
-- 
Udo Erdelhoff						ue@nathan.ruhr.de