Re: Promless netbooting?

[C J Considine <conx@connectnet.com>]

We netboot Linux and msdos on hundreds of Intel pro100's.  The current
generation is pila8460b, which has a PXE rom one can reflash under 
msdos.  We have a boot image to reflash to etherboot.  We should just 
download a secondary etherboot programmed to PXE which would then be 
card independent.  We also support Lanworks proms.  The only problem
is that the TFTP blocksize isn't 60k+ bytes, but netbooting appears 
faster than floppy or hard disk.

PXE is a confused and rapidly evolving boot rom.  It should have been 
a secondary boot level.  The first trick with PXE is getting him to 
respond to the first DHCP response without timeouts and retries.  He
also imposes many limits and requires a new boot file format and API.
Although inferior, it seems all factory roms will soon support PXE
as an Intel standard.  Our goal is PXE boots etherboot boots Linux,
which will leave us card independent, with only two TFTP transfers.

CJ

Bill Broadley wrote:
> 
> I'm build a lab of 30 diskless linux workstations and have as yet not
> purchased any hardware.  We would like to avoid buying a $X00 PROM burner,
> individual proms, and the hassle of installing the proms.
> 
> Does anyone know of of any network cards with EEprom's that can
> be programmed via software on a pc?
> 
> Is it possible to boot linux on the motherboards that support
> boot from LAN?  (I.e. on many new NLX/Micro ATX boards)
> 
> Any help appreciated, thanks (followup to the list or I'll
> summarize).
> 
> --
> Bill Broadley
> Mathematics, UC Davis
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