> 
> Before you bother reading this, the general content is in regards
> to networking with localtalk cables in NetBSD.

Can't do it now. We don't support LocalTalk. It's percolating up my
to-do list, but don't count on it for a couple of months (like 6
or so).

> My equipment:
> Performa 550 w/fpu (machine running netbsd 1.2 generic20bc kernel)
> Performa 575 (partitioned entirely as MacOS, sys 7.5.5, OT networking)
> Mac SE (MacOS, 7.0.1, classic appletalk networking)
> 
> My goal:
> To at least establish a connection between my P550 and P575 that will
> support TCP/IP communication.

Can do. Just use a printer cable to hook the two computers together and
run ppp.

> Furthermore, I'd *really* like to be able to connect P575 to P550
> printer port (tty01) and use modem port (tty00) to establish an
> internet connection with my ISP via 28.8kbps modem.  In other words,
> turn my P550 NetBSD machine into a server for ftp, telnet, http, etc.
> *NOTE: My provider assigns me a dynamic IP address on PPP establishment.

Can do. You need to look at the firewall kit on puma (not sure where).
All the traffic from MacOS will go through the NetBSD box, which will
fake all the other computers into thinking the clients are on it.

> My progress to date:
> Hardly worth mentioning.  I have *almost* got the machines to sustain
> a PPP connection through a serial connection from printer port to
> printer port.  It dies immediately telling me that it cannot locate
> a local ip address.  I have messed with many many config files including
> named.boot, hosts, /etc/ppp/options, /etc/*.conf, etc, etc.  I'm at
> a loss at this point.

They should be able to do that. Sounds like you forgot to tell one of the
sides the IP addresses. On the NetBSD side, you will need two options files,
one for the modem ppp, and one for the to-MacOS ppp. In the to-mac options
file, add a "10.0.0.1:10.0.0.2" and set the netmask for this ppp to be
"255.255.255.255". On the modem options, add "defaultroute", as it's
the default route out.

In /etc/hosts, add two entries like:
10.0.0.1	mybox-backdoor
10.0.0.2	macosbox

(pick whatever names you like, of course).

You can use the ppp kits on puma as guides, but I think they're off as
they look for the presence of a "pppd" process to know if pppd's up,
when they really should look at the lock file to see if pppd is up on
the port they're trying to use.

> My plea:
> Could someone please mail me with a generalized outline, or refer me to
> a document that would do so, for getting a local area tcp/ip network
> organized with NetBSD and giving that LAN internet access?

There's no good document for doing this now. The closest is the firewall
kit, which will (should) let you do most everything. As I said above,
LocalTalk's not really an option.

> In my wildest dreams I imagined a daisy chain localtalk setup enabling
> me to even route tcp/ip packets from my SE as well.

The problem is that LocalTalk will make the machine(s) sluggish. You could,
though, daisychain ppp links, if you didn't need the SE/30 to run MacOS.
Just repeat the above steps (w/o firewall), with 10.0.0.3 and 10.0.0.4 the
two sides of the SE/30<->MacOS link, and .1 and .2 the two sides of the
NetBSD w/ modem <-> other NetBSD link, and play with the routes some.

Take care,

Bill