Re: [Etherboot-developers] Q: Multiple drivers.

[Peter L. <P.L...@sy...>]

> Marty, I'm sorry, I'll have to strongly disagree with you here. I think
> this cure is worse than the disease. While this is nice for bespoke ROMs
> for NICs, it makes it necessary for the user to find out the MAC
> address, have it put into the ROM, and put the ROM on the right NIC. It
> makes mass programming of ROMs impossible. I know it would do wonders
> for the stock price of rom-o-matic though. :-)

Impossible?

Ken, I'm sorry, I'll have to strongly disagree with you here. :)

I have in mind a "PXE nuker" bootable image which runs on new COTS
hardware; it registers the new box with the local admin database,
reports which nics and other hardware are there and performs any local
tweaking that we'd like, e.g. flash nic and/or system rom with LinuxBIOS
and or Etherboot, and insert whatever is needed in the way of local
state. Then it would run tests and exercisers, report that everything's
OK and initiate an appropriate system install. Why not have a local
rom-o-matic on the server which magics up a bespoke image for the system
at install? Indeed, why not check for updates (and reflash if needed) at
*every* reboot?

> I think the outline solution we arrived at is acceptable.

No argument from me. These are 2 useful defaults which will cover most
of the bases for the near future; as such it's just right as a medium
term solution for Etherboot. However, I think that the awkward squad
will find lots of fun things to do with flash rom which probably aren't
suitable for those of a nervous disposition, or who just want to install
100 LTSP instance.