<I tried emailing this directly to Jon, but it bounced.  My name server  
cannot find alfred.ons.octel.com>

>Just a quick question about the pc532 boot sequence:
>
>Does the serial port settings change drastically when the NetBSD kernel
>switches to the /etc/rc script?  The reason I ask is that I recently
>moved my pc532 home, so it's now connected to a MacII with ZTerm 0.9

Gee, I have an identical setup except for the fact that I have a IIfx, not a  
II (effectively, this means I can never run MacBSD without a miracle taking  
place ;-<).

>instead of a PC runnng ProComm.  I didn't think this would be a big
>deal, but I no longer get the "Automatic reboot"... message correctly
>durring boot. The SCSI probe output is just fine, but everything in
>/etc/rc and after is coming out like it has a bunch of the 8th bits
>set.  About 1/4 of the characters are correct, and the correct ones are

I am having the very same problem.  I got around most of it by putting an  
stty at the top of my /etc/rc.  I do not recall exactly what I did, but I  
think it was either a cs8 or I played with the parity.  I discovered the  
setting by playing with Zterm's communications settings and pressing <Return>  
until the login banner looked right (:->)  Anyways, this handles /etc/rc (and  
rc.local) but as soon as they are done the terminal settings return to  
previous values and I start getting more goop.

>consistent.  The bad ones are consistent too for that matter, and after
>seeing part of a login prompt I was able to login, although the
>username echo was hosed.  I tried switching from 8N1 to 7E1 and 7O1
>with worse results, not being able to login at all among them.  Both

I played with the /etc/ttys and made a custom gettytab entry invocation to  
fix this - I set it to be whatever I determined to work in the stty in  
/etc/rc.  There still is a small window between the end of /etc/rc and getty  
prining the login prompt where things are messed up . . . I guess there is  
something like the SystemV /etc/issue which is being spewed.  Sigh!

>machines talk to the monitor and to Minix (before the conversion) just
>fine.  The PC talks to NetBSD 1.0 and a about Mar10 supped -current
>just fine.

My version is a little older - I got it directly from Phil (road trip!) in  
late January and have never got around to moving the latest sources over to  
the PC532.

>>From this I conclude that something is happening between when the
>kernel finishes the SCSI probes and when it starts /etc/rc.  Zterm
>reacts to this differently than ProComm.  It appears to be only on the
>output side of the driver/hardware.  Anyway, I'm stumped, and I thought
>some of you might have a better idea of what's going on.

It seems to me that the boot PROM needs 8N1 (which is what my Zterm is set  
to) while what NetBSD does is "somehow" different.  I guess all I can do is  
confirm your stump'ed-ness.  As I say, I have modified and played and diddled  
until there is now only a small window of confusion, but it is still there.   
If you would like the details of what I did, I will collect the necessary info  
tonight and send it off via email (If I get a working email address!).  It  
was/is not very much work and it does make the system quite useful.

My guess is that Zterm is being too literal in how it approaches parity and  
such.  I say this since it seems to work for everyone except us poor Macintosh  
users (if two data points can be considered significant).

If you get any other words of wisdom, please forward them to the mailing list  
or directly to me.

Robbin.