Re: [Etherboot-developers] Re: 3Com MBA+nbi image support patch

[<ke...@us...>]

>Aha!  Good question.  Short answer: interoperability.
>
>Long answer: I have an embedded system with legacy components which
>boot using 3Com MBA ROMs.  I am designing replacement components which we
>do not want to purchase rolls of 3Com ROMs for.  Instead we've elected to
>go with etherboot.  However, one of the requirements is that the new and
>legacy components must be able to coexist with no changes to the boot
>server, hence the preceeding patch.
>
>It is possible to further modify the MBA probe code to support an MBA only
>boot, but I do not have the time (nor the mandate :) to do that at
>present.
>
>Thanks for your interest!

I'm kind of tickled by the idea of booting MBA images on non-3Com
hardware. I'm like E&E just as much as M$ as long as it's FLOSS that's
doing E&E. :-)

I am willing to accept the patch provided:

1. It's enclosed in suitable #ifdefs so that not selecting the MBA
option costs nothing.

2. Your contact address is inserted somewhere so that if someone has a
query or wants to improve the code, they can contact you. It would be
nice if you could continue to maintain it, but I understand that people
move on to other projects. Just as long as someone can email you and you
can tell them: yes that is the right fix, or sorry I'm no longer
maintaining it, UTSL, and it's yours to maintain should you choose to
accept the mission.

I'll have a look over the code later. My body time is still somewhere in
the ocean.