[Etherboot-users] Back to the Future, Part 2

[Marty C. <md...@et...>]

Hello Everyone,

About a year ago, I sent the following message:

     http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=11633136

It was a grand vision to begin migration of our primary focus from  
Etherboot to GPXE.

Well, I think the time is right to revive the idea, and take steps to  
make it happen.

So, Etherboot 5.4 will be the last branch of Etherboot, and Etherboot  
5.5 will shortly be renamed to GPXE 0.5.5.

All the reasons to do it remain the same from a year ago, and now  
there are even more compelling reasons:

First, we have a critical mass of talented hackers nearby who are  
ready to help make it happen.

Second, we have to get over the legacy associations with Etherboot.   
Just the other day I found a website that claimed that Etherboot did  
not support PXE and could only load Linux kernels:

     http://www.argontechnology.com/products.aspx?id=65

There's just so much documentation and history associated with the  
name "Etherboot" that it's hard to overcome it.  There are just too  
many misconceptions to correct.

GPXE gives us a chance for a new start.  It will more fully support  
the PXE spec, and will allow us to explore the new BIOS directions of  
the http://www.uefi.org/ folks, and understand what the implications  
of 64-bit processors network booting.

I've already secured the domains GPXE.ORG (and .NET and .COM) for  
that matter, so people will be able to find us easily.

For now, we'll basically rename the Etherboot-5.5 cvs module to  
GPXE-0.5 so as to create the minimum disruption to development.

The Etherboot-5.4 branch will remain, and fixes and improvements will  
continue to be applied for some time.  I'm sure the current Etherboot  
code base will benefit from what we discover.

Soon, I'd like to start populating GPXE.ORG with documentation and a  
new wiki focussing on how to use GPXE as your PXE stack.

Michael has done a lot of work getting Etherboot-5.5 PXE-ified.  The  
code base is much more modular, and has a new build system, an  
integration of the Adam Dunkel's uIP stack, and lots of other  
improvements.

There is still a whole lot of work to do, and the opportunity to  
really learn about the low-level business of loading operating  
systems and working at bare metal.

There is also the need for a first-class wiki, documentation re- 
writing, testing, testing, and more testing, and dozens of other  
activities.

The GPXE-Discuss mailing list exists, and sometime soon I'd like to  
copy addresses from Etherboot-Users and Etherboot-Developers to GPXE- 
Discuss so we can have a single address for GPXE discussion.

I think this will be exciting.  If you've ever wanted to learn more  
about how computers really work, and want to work on something new  
and useful, now is the time.  GPXE is the place.

Let's get it on.

Cordially,

Marty