I've got:

- a freshly installed NetBSD 1.2.1 system on a Mac IIci
- running on a freshly low-level formatted internal Seagate 1GB drive
- 950MB Root&Usr partition
- 40 megs of swap (20MB RAM)
- 15MB System 7.0.1 partition for booting

(The drive was formatted with FWB's Hard Disk ToolKit. Great stuff -- I
highly recommend it.)

I've also got some packages on another HFS (System 7.6) drive that I
want to install under NetBSD. (This one is Apple-formatted, yesterday in
fact, with HD SC Setup 7.3.5.) The internal drive is ID 0; the external
drive is ID 1.

The problem: the Installer can't install some of them, even though
they're gzipped tar files (yes, I downloaded them in binary mode) -- it
says the format is invalid and suggests using cpin. (Incidentally, how
does cpin work? Do I need to specify absolute filenames on both ends?)

I don't have enough disk space on the Quantum to un-gzip them and try
installing the straight tar files.

I figured I'd use hfsutils (which compiled without a hitch) to copy them
from the external Quantum HFS partition to the internal Seagate Root&Usr
partition. Seems like the right tool for the job, no? Well, I couldn't
mount *any* HFS partition, from /dev/sd1a through /dev/sd1h. (Not sure
which the HFS partition is, so I tried all.) Some complained about not
being configured (probably Apple_Free); others complained about not
being able to get a lock on the device ("Operation not supported", "mode
sense returns nonsense"). I'm pretty sure the HFS partition was one of
this last kind.

Norton 3.5 checks out the Quantum fine -- no problems whatsoever. I'm
having some minor difficulties with the SCSI chain, which might be
throwing a wrench into the whole thing... namely:

1) Can't boot the HFS partition on the internal Seagate, even when
specified with *both* Startup Disk and System Picker, when the external
Quantum is on.

2) When booting Mac OS 7.6 from Quantum, the internal HFS partition does
not auto-mount like SCSI volumes should. I have to use SCSIProbe to get
it mounted.

3) The internal Seagate drive does not spin up at all (!) when I power
up the IIci without the Quantum and its terminator on the SCSI bus. The
Quantum doesn't have to be on -- it just has to be plugged into the SCSI
bus and have a terminator on the end.

In fact, the only way I can boot NetBSD as intended (boot internal Mac
OS partition, open booter on that partition, boot) is to leave the
Quantum connected to the SCSI bus and leave it off. Pretty strange!

Should I remove the 3 terminating resistors from the internal drive? Or,
is there a 25-pin SCSI terminator somewhere which I can put directly
into the Mac's SCSI port? Or is there something else which I am
completely missing?

I've used Macs for 11 years and have never encountered SCSI strangeness
like this. Could it explain my hfsutils problem? Maybe... but the
Installer had no problem at all getting NetBSD and X installed.

My brain hurts... :p

-- 
Amitai Schlair
amitai.schlair@usa.net
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