> 
> I have a IIvx, i just had to reformat and reconfigure my machine (not
> finished yet).
> should i run generic tarballs (i.e. 1.2, 1.2.1, etc.) or should i run
> NetBSD-current?

Semantic point: generic refers to the type of kernel, a general-purpose
kernel. There are GENERIC 1.2 kernels, GENERIC 1.2.1 kernels, and GENERIC
-current kernels. :-)

> i'd like to use a way that would make my system be able to use IP-NAT
> (route ethernet over pppd on tty00), color X (whenever intvid comes out),
> etc. which do i need?

I think you'll need -current.

> does anyone know whether -current even works on a IIvx? i heard of some
> machines having backward-compatibility problems.

Please try -current kernels & source. The 1.3 feature freeze is in a
few weeks, and we need testing. :-)

> i decided that my machine needed to use the sbc kernel genericsbc#26 (more
> stable - doesn't get me any annoying panics), and now have proc size
> mismatches among some binaries. i looked at the FAQ, and it explains how to
> update the binaries: ftp to ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-current/src/
> and get the src, enter the directories, and "make". unfortunately, the
> Makefiles that they contain look wierd, and my machine will not compile the
> source with a generic "make". i get the error (for "w"): "make: don't know
> how to make fmt.c. Stop".

The Makefiles are different under 4.4BSD. I think they are nicer, being much
slimmer. :-)

The error you see for "w" is because you didn't arrange the source in the
format it lives on the server. You need:

some/root/dir/bin/ps	ps source here
some/root/dir/usr.bin/w	w source here

In the Makefile for "w", there is a line:

.PATH: ${.CURDIR}/../../bin/ps

Which means make will look in ../../bin/ps for source files. fmt.c is in the
ps source. :-)

> how do i make this ps statically linked? gcc complained about the
> __RCSID("$NetBSD......"); lines near the top of the *.c's, so i uncommented
> them out and it seemed to compile fine (what are those for, anyway?). (just
> not statically linked)

That's because there are two other files you need (Colin: FAQ material?):
some/root/dir/bin/Makefile.inc
some/root/dir/usr.bin/Makefile.inc

The -static declaration of ps is bin/Makefile.inc as it is needed for all the
files in bin. The Makefile.inc also includes the install dir.

The __RCSID() macros were recently added to the include files. Your problem
here is that you're trying to compile -current with non-current includes.

> having upgraded to 1.2.1 of NetBSD from 1.2 (for no apparent reason - just
> compatibility with new stuff), pico now reverses text (white on black) and
> does some funny things with delete, like not erase the characters, and just
> move the cursor. anyone know why it would do that? i'm going to get new
> src, anyway, just thought it'd be cool to know why. :-)

Sounds like some sort of termcap weirdness. ??

Take care,

Bill