x90e I used 8.1 instead but its leading to all sorts of dependency problems
That's normal, a lot of things changed in-between.
x90e I thought maybe there wasn't a 9.0 directory because it was current or something but I see it referenced.
9.0 was just released. I don't know if binaries are being build or if waiting for pkgsrc-2020Q1 is the solution. NetBSD the OS and pkgsrc are not always in sync. You can use the Japan repo that @Jay mentioned, that's what I'm using, just be aware that the binaries there are current, i.e. pkgsrc current, not NetBSD-HEAD (current) 😉
Now, I understand your issues and frustration. Simply add the Japan repo at install time won't work, I've tried 😉
Just install without pkgin as @Jay says above and after the installation is done run the pkg_add command.
Then set-up the repo by creating the file /usr/pkg/etc/pkgin/repositories.conf. Run pkgin update and you should be good to go 🙂
No... don't do this! This command pulls pkgsrc-2019Q4 and, the repo is for pkgsrc-current
The easy way is to download the tarball for current and unpack it into place followed by updating it. See Chapter 3 of the pkgsrc guide for details.
