Re: src to netboot for pci cards

[markus@infoscape.com]

Adrian Caceres writes:
 > I need to write an option rom for a networking (atm) pci card on a
 > x86 machine.
 > 
 > I am not familiar with the PCI Bios and would love to
 > get src to a netboot that I can use as a model/base.
 > 
 > Trying not to reinvent the wheel so any pointers/suggestions are
 > appreciated. email to ali@ipsilon.com

The most recent version of "etherboot"
(http://www.syd.dit.csiro.au/staff/ken/personal/etherboot/index.html)
comes with some support for PCI based network cards. So far, this is
only used for NE2k clones, but it might help you in writing your
driver. If you have access to decent technical documentation on your
card and/or to sample source code, then writing a new driver should
not require more than about one week of work. Feel free to contact me,
if you have any specific questions.

Alternatively, if you do not want to go to all the trouble of writing
a new driver, you might also get away with plugging _two_ cards into
your diskless client. One card would only be used for booting the
machine (you could use a cheap WD80x3 or NE2k clone) whereas the
other one is used once the machine is up and running.


Markus

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Markus Gutschke                         Internet: markus@infoscape.com
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