At 8:35 PM -0500 9/12/02, mike wrote:

:)I'm trying to avoid
:)using any os9 disk utilities if possible; I don't have install disks for
:)os9, nor do I have os9 installed.

And I'm trying to avoid describing how to use pdisk -- the installation
steps are already too complicated.  Until Jan 1, all macs ever made shipped
with a bootable CD-ROM.  And since MacOS 9 has been around since late 1999,
it shouldn't be *that* big a deal to boot from a MacOS 9 CD.

I'd be more inclined to write instructions for pdisk if it were actually
included in NetBSD (and particularly in sysinst).  However, since Apple is
gung-ho MacOS X, I'll need to at some point.  Unfortunately, their OSX Disk
Utility app doesn't provide the options we need to make a partition for
NetBSD.

:)can I assign (from sysinst) 2 new partitions to what was previously used
:)by the unused wd0a partition (cylinders 29070-58139) for swap and netbsd
:)root partitions?

No -- you have an Open Firmware 3 system.  Don't do this, or it will hose
your MacOS X install and you won't be able to boot NetBSD/macppc.

:)Can I avoid reinstalling macosx by using this tactic?  Can I avoid
:)apple's partitioning tools altogether, given that I already have the
:)space for netbsd, or is sysinst not currently able to create partitions
:)alongside already existing HFS+ partitions?

You can use MacOS X's pdisk command-line utility to do what you want and
preserve your MacOS X partition.  pdisk cannot edit the drive that you
booted from, though.

:)Is there any known good reason that the osx 'disk utility' won't let me
:)create a partition size less than 2.16 gb?  2.16gb is a mite extravagant
:)for swap.

Just type in the number -- the sliders are imprecise.

:)If I can use sysinst to split wd0a into 2 partitions, what are safe
:)cylinder size & offset values, taking 512mb of swap into account?

Don't worry about cylinders -- it only gives performace gains on slower
machines with older hard drives (i.e. pre-90s technology).

:)Exactly how much trouble am I getting into?

If you're willing to use pdisk, not much.  You just need to make a bootable
MacOS X CD, boot from it, and use pdisk to repartition your internal hard
drive.    Thus the recommendation to boot from an OS9 CD.

Good luck,
  -- MW