Re: Have novell rpl ipx boot for linux

[jt@npdaxp.fuw.edu.pl]

me (jt):
>> There is MARS (Martin Stover's Netware Emulator) which can run on Linux
>> and it can be used for Netware RPL boot. You do not need RPL.COM or NLM.
you:
>Have you actually did this? I has allways though NOVEL RPL would not
>work without some specialized daemon, and that mars did not provided
>those services...

Ops, the name "RPL" seems to be confusing: Novell called by the name
their old boot rom (notice program RPLFIX which was used to fix image
for this boot method), and IBM use the same name for another method,
which is supported on Novell by the RPL.COM/RPL.NLM. The latter uses
frame 802.2 (NOT 802.3 used be old bootrom).

Looking on the Web I found there is some RPL daemon for Linux, I do
not anything about it and its reliability, it is available on:
	http://gimel.esc.cam.ac.uk/james/rpld/index.html
Docs say it has performance problem if kernel has no 802.2 frame support,
it has patch (with severe warning) for 2.2 kernel; 2.3/2.4 kernels have
the 802.2 frame. It is something completely different from old bootroms:
configuration file specifies what Ethernet card requests are to be replied
and what files are to be loaded for every card. It is listed in:
	http://www.daemons.kiev.ua/miscellaneous/
Yet another URL on this topic: http://www.zigamorph.net/ibm8227/rpl.html

I was unable to find any documentation on IBM RPL protocol details.

>And about net$dos.sys, can I build it from any bootable floppy, just
>using dd?

Note: this all information below is for old Novell's bootrom.

For old DOS, it could be done this way, new requires applying RPLFIX
to resultant image. Novell provides DOSGEN utility which makes the
net$dos.sys from a bootable floppy (requires no subdirectories on the
floppy), probably this removes "holes" (areas not used by any files)
to make the image smaller. I wrote program which I called NCPDISK, it
allows mounting of such an image on DOS (note on Linux you can mount
the image using "loop" option) to be able to fix it without using
floppy (and need to keep original floppy used to make the image);
problem: it is not RPLFIX-aware. RPLFIX moves original boot sector
to end of the image, and writes own boot sector containing code which
prevents memory used by bootrom from overwriting during DOS boot,
knowing it one may write program which un-RPLFIX-es the image.

Jerzy Tarasiuk
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