Re: Mkfs and NetBSD Installer

On Mon, 29 Jan 2024 09:18:24 -0700, Stan Johnson wrote:
> I know there's some work to update the Mac OS NetBSD Booter using Code
> Warrior. Would it be possible to also update the Mac OS Mkfs and NetBSD
> Installer programs to allow creation of ffs2 filesystems and
> installations that exceed the 1 GiB boundary of a SCSI disk?

Given a large bag of round tuits, yes, sure. I am not sure, though, 
whether there is much of a point in it...

> The reason I'm asking is because I would like to use the "Traditional
> Method" to install NetBSD on ancient systems (such as a Mac IIci). Using
> the Traditional Method, I can install NetBSD on a IIci's disk (in an
> external enclosure) relatively quickly using a faster system, such as a
> Beige G3 or a PowerBook Lombard, without needing to find a SCSI CD-ROM
> drive that's still working.

It will still be slow. Like watching-wallpaint-dry slow.

> If no one wants to update Mkfs and the Installer, please let me know how
> they were compiled (Code Warrior, MPW, Think C), including appropriate
> versions.

Given the age of mkfs and the native installer, I would suspect Think C.

> It might be possible to find the appropriate version(s) on eBay.

The Macintosh Repository <https://www.macintoshrepository.org/> will 
help. If you go that way, you'll be better off with CodeWarrior, since 
it ships with PDF manuals. The Think C manuals, while good, were in 
paper only.
 
That being said: You can boot the mac68k install kernel 
(installation/instkernel/netbsd-INSTALLSBC.gz) from the native side, 
and serve the installation tarballs from another machine via ftp. No 
CDROM necessary, and probably not slower.

Cheerio,
Hauke

-- 
Hauke Fath                        <[email protected]>
Linnéweg 7
64342 Seeheim-Jugenheim
Germany