Submitted by ShErbO on Sat, 15/01/2005 - 17:50.
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Hello,

I'm thinking of trying some thin client stuff, and I think the most suitable option for booting is to use a boot ROM.

  1. Are they available in Egypt ?? if so, where do I get them ? (Computer stores/Electronics stores??)
  2. Which cards do support them ?? I only know of the D-Link
  3. How do I program them ? (are they EEPROM or do they require a UV-programmer or what?)
  4. Do you suggest any other alternatives ??

Only alternative I can think about is using a floppy, which (IMHO) sucks because floppies are of nasty quality and are really slow (though I don't think slowness will be really a problem).

THanks alot.


boot ove the network

Alaa's picture

yes a perfect alternative exists, use etherboot or whatever they call the network boot protocol.

you'll need a dhcp server and tftp server on the network, thats all.

cheers,
Alaa


http://www.manalaa.net "i`m feeling for the 2nd time like alice in wonderland reading el wafd"

Sure Etherboot

ShErbO's picture

Alaa I think you're missing the point here, Etherboot requires a NIC with a ROM chip, which is what I'm asking about.

nope

Alaa's picture

what I'm talking about is your nic loading a boot image over the network from a tftp server.

I'm yet to see a NIC that does not support this.

and I'm talking about something I actually used.

cheers,
Alaa


http://www.manalaa.net "i`m feeling for the 2nd time like alice in wonderland reading el wafd"

Sorry!

ShErbO's picture

I guess it really wasn't obvious from the Etherboot site.. I never thought of that before !
Thanks man, I'll try it and if anything goes wrong I'll ask here.

p.s while surfing I found out another alternative - flashing the boot image to the BIOS!! kinda risky and I'm not sure if there's really any advantage, just wanted to share...

boot over the network

Alaa's picture

just boot over the network, nothing is easier, there are actually two standards for that etherboot and PXE, PXE is more flexible (allows for larger images).

cheers,
Alaa


http://www.manalaa.net "i`m feeling for the 2nd time like alice in wonderland reading el wafd"

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