New netboot version 0.8

[Gero Kuhlmann <gero@gkminix.han.de>]

Hello,

today the latest netboot version 0.8 has been released. You can get it from
the netboot WWW home page at http://www.han.de/~gero/netboot. Alternatively,
it should show up at any sunsite mirror pretty soon in the directory
/pub/Linux/system/Linux-boot. The total size of the compressed archive is
539kB.

netboot has been changed significantly since version 0.7.3. Actually, there
are so many changes that I haven't been able to thoroughly check absolutely
everything. Please try it out and let me know if you find anything which
looks like a bug. I would also appreciate any other comment - even if it just
works for you as intended ;-))  At least it works absolutely stable in my
personal network setup. If you are using a server/base system other than
Linux please tell me, as I haven't been able yet to check netboot out on
the systems on which I have tested the older 0.7 version.

Here are the changes new to version 0.8:

- changes to the bootrom:
	* changed the memory management of the bootrom which now uses
	  upper memory, thus freeing all DOS simulator ram space for use
	  by DOS programs. You now have approx. 60kB of free ram available
	  for a packet driver and other programs (which is about 20kB more
	  than previously with older netboot versions). If you had problems
	  with a packet driver not fitting into memory, please try it again
	  with this new version and let me know!
	* besides these memory management changes, I had to modify the
	  internal buffer handling, with the result that the bootrom kernel
	  code is now not only smaller but also noticably faster.
- added support for a configuration file and system database file to all
  user programs. You can now simply specify a system name on the command
  line of mknbi-linux for example, and it will generate a Linux netbootable
  image without any other command line options. Basically, after you've setup
  a system in the database, you don't have to remember the various command
  line options for the different programs anymore.
- added various hex file formats to makerom. If you have an EPROM programmer
  which only accepts certain hex formats, you can now directly generate those
  formats without the need of an external converter. Presently supported are
  Intel hex, Motorola hex and Tektronix hex formats.
- new program: ROMCHECK - this is a program to interactively verify the
  installation of a netboot bootrom. If your boot EPROM doesn't seem to
  work you can use romcheck to find out why. It's probably similar to the
  romscan program found in etherboot, even though I have never seen that.
  Please try out romcheck, even if you don't have problems with the bootrom,
  and let me know what you think about it. Especially, if you find bugs or
  have ideas for extensions please tell me.
- changed the directory structure of the package: it now contains a library
  with routines common to all user programs, many files moved from the main
  directory into some subdirectory. I've also reworked most of the Makefiles.
- added two new packet drivers for DC21x4 and Intel Etherexpress cards from
  the Crynwr packet driver collection.
- many bug fixes (too numerous to list them here - see the HISTORY file for
  a comprehensive listing)
- extensive documentation updates, including man pages

gero.

-- 
There is no knowledge that is not power.
  - Ralph Waldo Emerson
--
Gero Kuhlmann, Hannover     0511/6497525 (Voice)        gero@gkminix.han.de