The short version is:  color X is now working.  For the boring long
version, read on!  :-)

>> Emboldened by my success, I decided to go for broke and install the SLOTMAN
>> kernel and OSFA color X server.  At this point, having the ability to
>> select the active kernel from the booter is a lifesaver.
>
>It is also quite possibly a problem.  More below.

Indeed so!  I replaced SLOTMAN-HWD-NCR with SLOTMAN-HWD-SBC (I now have a
few kernels at '/' and hard link to the appropriate one for tests), and the
system booted right past the hangup.  SBC seems more tolerant of long
dangly SCSI busses... but SBC hung once anyway, out of about 10 boots.
Guess I need to get that 1GB drive and dispense with all the cabling. :-)

>> I booted Paul's
>> latest SLOTMAN-HWD-NCR, but forgot to put the Mac in color mode.  It did
>> boot to userspace without a fuss.  Just for grins, I softlinked X ->
>> Xmac68k.OSFA and invoked startx; the OSFA server failed to connect, giving
>> socket errors, and finally gave up.  This may be a separate problem.
>
>Next time, you might try doing a "startx >& error.log" and see what it has
>to say.  Sometimes the error messages are useful (but not always).

It told me it couldn't find X.  This should have cued me immediately. :-)
I replaced my soft link X -> Xmac68k.OSFA with a hard link (yeah, they're
in the same directory already).  Voila!  Color X!  Obviously there are
subtle (and not-so-subtle) things going on here...  I swear I didn't change
anything else.

>> Trying a different tack, I booted the HWDIRECT#61 kernel while leaving the
>> display in 8-bit color.  It thought the Mac was in monochrome mode, but
>> booted to userspace.  Must not be a problem with the video card. :-)
>
>Maybe not.  I've seen some screwy behavior recently.  You should be able
>to boot in B&W and have the SLOTMAN kernel switch to color mode for you.

That works just fine, even though SLOTMAN initializes the display during
the latter part of the boot and messes up the progress log. :-)  However, I
tried two or three times to boot SLOTMAN in color, and it hung just BEFORE
the message where it's starting to mount the filesystems.  It was pretty
consistent.  Booting in b/w isn't a handicap, so I'll leave it at that.

>Please try the SBC SLOTMAN.  It might not fix the X problems, but it might
>get around the hang during boot problem.  I generally boot in 1-bit mode
>so that 'dt' will work, but 8-bit should be fine.

So, in summary, SBC SLOTMAN is much more reliable that NCR SLOTMAN on my
configuration, but hasn't yet booted in 8-bit color with my TFB card even
though it knows it's a TFB card in 8-bit mode.

>I've noticed that the server tends to come up in B&W the first time
>around, but if I quit and restart it works just fine in 8-bit color.

It's come up in 8-bit both times for me so far.  YMMV. :-)

>> 3) Should I install the video LKM with a GENERIC or HWDIRECT kernel, and
>> avoid the OSF X server?  Does the OSFA require a HWDIRECT kernel?
>
>Maybe.  No.

I haven't tried a non-HWDIRECT kernel since I'm using a IIci which is
pretty well established.  I may try one later for fun...

>it is always a good idea to have your booting kernel be /netbsd (mine is
>just a hard link).  This might be the source of some of your troubles.

It does seem to make a difference.  Hard links from now on!

fvwm2 looks good in 8-bit mode, but I notice that it and the default X
server configurations expect a larger-than-640 pixel screen.  More
twiddling of the startup files before I'm satisfied.  Then, on to try and
make PPP work!  :-)

Thanks for the guidance, Colin.

--
| Greg Dunn                       | "god money's not looking for the |
| gregdunn@indy.net               | cure.  god money's not concerned |
| GregDunn@aol.com                | with the sick among the pure."   |
| http://members.aol.com/gregdunn |                Trent Reznor      |