> 
> 1) What's the significance of the numbers displayed on the console just
>    after booting starts -- the ones with the "spinning bar" to their right?
it's loading kernel. numbers show from what sectors it's loaded.
 
> 2) Does NetBSD/i386 code use features of the more recent Intel CPUs?
>    I presume the answer is "yes", so I guess the binaries installed by
>    sysinst from the distribution's *.tgz files differ depending on which
>    processor is in the machine?

you can recompile it for new CPU's. i have 1.5 already recompiled with
-mpentiumpro (runs on ANY machine) and i'm using it everywhere. i could
put it on http somewhere if anyone like.

> 3) Leading on from 2), if NetBSD/i386 is installed on a disk in one PC can
>    that disk be used in any another PC (assuming the swap space on the disk
>    is appropriate for the amount of RAM in the second machine)?

yes of course. just don't delete generic kernel when you compile your own
because generic runs on every machine (but takes a lot of ram)