However it leads me on to another related question..
After the install (Etch, netinstall) the /etc/modules file
contained the following:
# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.
ide-cd.load
ide-disk.load
ide-generic.load
psmouse.load
sbp2.load
But I have no idea why the '.load' suffixes - and it would appear
that the system doesn't know either, because all it does is produce
a series of 'FATAL' messages on the console during boot...
Does anyone know of a reason for this? Or is this something that should
go into a bug report to the install people?