Re: [Etherboot-developers] World domination, anyone?

[<ja...@Mc...>]

Marty,

You've brought up some excellent ideas.  I'll comment on each below.


On Thu, 24 Apr 2003, Marty Connor wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
> 
> I've been thinking about additions to Etherboot, and thinking about 
> some of the recent discussions we've had, and thought I'd start a 
> thread to discuss what new directions people think are valuable. With 
> the recent architecture and  infrastructure improvements that Eric has 
> worked so hard on, we have a springboard for some exciting new 
> additions.
> 
> I'll start by listing some of the things that personally come to mind:
> 
> 	o USB support
> 	o PCMCIA support

I'll lump these 2 together, as they are kind of similar.

By offering etherboot support for USB and PCMCIA, that opens us
up to a whole new world of capabilities.  Booting from USB and PCMCIA
wireless cards is something I'd really like to see.


> 	o UNDI driver

I think I understand this to be a "generic" driver that PXE would load,
that wouldn't have to be written for any specific NIC.  It would talk
through some UNDI api to the pxe code.



> 	o PXE Support

What do you mean by PXE support ?  As I understand it, we already
have pxe support in the work that peter and Vasil have provided.

If you are thinking PXE instead of Etherboot, i'm not sure that
is a goal we need.


> 
> Of the list, I think the last two interest me the most right now. We've 
> talked about them for some time. The NILO project was working on a free 
> PXE implementation, and there is some code there.
> 
> The recent messages about getting PXELINUX to work with Etherboot 
> sounded like fun. The UNDI driver discussion seemed interesting as 
> well, though I need Peter or Vasil to explain how it works -- one more 
> time :)
> 
> But what do you think?  If we went for PXE or UNDI, where are the big 
> wins? I'm always thinking about ways Etherboot could be used by more 
> people, and how we could become even more useful as a component 
> technology.
> 
> Btw, this is much more than of theoretical interest. I'd like to see us 
> implement something really cool for LinuxWorld Expo SF in August, and I 
> may be able to swing some limited funding for some of this.
> 
> Ok, so go ahead. What do you think would be cool to do? Could you do 
> it? Do you know who could or would? And, most importantly, would it 
> bring us closer to WoRLd DomINatIoN? ;)


If you are looking to make a big splash at Linux world, I think that
PCMCIA or USB support is the thing that would make the biggest 
impression.  I just don't think that people would get excited about
UNDI or PXE.


As for who can do the work, i'll have to say that i'm happy to
provide opinions wherever possible, but i'm not likely to be of
much help during the next couple of months.  We are working like
crazy to get LTSP-4 out the door by LWCE.


Just think, Etherboot USB/PCMCIA support and LTSP-4 would be great
for the world of diskless booting at Linux World.

Thanks Marty, keep up the good work,

Jim McQuillan
ja...@Lt...