>> How about letting the user enter a root disk, and if it's not found
>> from the dmesg output, ask them if they're REALLY SURE, instead of 
>> flat out denying the possibility? :)
>
>I don't understand what it is that you are talking about. You
>have not listed what version of NetBSD you are talking about, or what
>architecture, and it is difficult to know what you mean by any
>of this.

NetBSD/sparc 1.2.1-- I thought this part of the installation 
process was common to all ports, maybe I'm mistaken.

install.sh uses the output of the dmesg(8) command to determine
what, if any, disks are present on the system and available for
installation. If for some reason the dmesg output does not contain the
information for the disk, it can't be used to install because
install.sh doesn't think it exists.

Does that clarify?