Re: [Etherboot-developers] pxe

[<prl...@sy...>]

> ahh, but i did mean pxeboot :-)

> I'm very much interested in booting via PXE, and FreeBSD specially
> (hence pxeboot), and could put in some time, but my x86 assembly
> skils are close do zero, but i have some resources at my disposal.

OK - it seemed you were talking about a machine that ran Linux, which
is the main focus of Etherboot. Just bear in mind that the initial
target for development of PXE on Etherboot will probably be pxelinux.

If you have a real need for PXE, that's fine, but there is a common
misconception that "PXE" is another term for "network boot". Not so -
if you just want Linux, PXE is just unnecessary complication.

> 	im interesetd in etherboot setting the env. so that the loaded
> program thinks it got loaded by a pxe boot-rom, actualy a minimum
> pxe emulation is great - just open/close/udpread/uptwrite - not all
> the jazz of wfm.

The "E" in PXE means Environment; it is an execution environment
defined by Intel's spec. When Etherboot provides a PXE environment, it
really will BE a PXE implementation - not an "emulation". Code really
will have been booted by a "PXE boot-rom", namely Etherboot; it does
not have to be written by Intel to be PXE.

I was trying to make the point that in addition to the desirable
feature of supporting NBPs on top of Etherboot, a PXE boot rom can
invoke Etherboot as an NBP (and soon use UNDI - note the separate
thread on Michael Brown's progress). Just be aware that references to
PXE in the context of Etherboot may not be want you want.

I *believe* that the existing code for FreeBSD was designed to do
exactly what you are describing, but it may have degraded in recent
versions if no-one has stressed it. If you have having problems,
consider reverting to an earlier version of Etherboot at the point
where the FreeBSD stuff was added, since I believe that was reported
as working: look through list archives to track what happened. I don't
know if the original contributor of that code is still on the list,
but you could try contacting him.

> i can put the etherboot image on it's root partition (it has a micro
> disc + some flash memory), or it can boot from a floppy, i'll check
> that asap, just to make sure it's loaded ok. btw, how - if at all -
> can i use lilo to boot etherboot?

Get a LILO Etherboot image from rom-o-matic, put it somewhere on a
partition LILO where can see it and add an entry in lilo.conf.  It's a
very convenient way to prototype boot environments.