diskless system

I would like to try to setup my system to boot up my system from the network
and I want to know if there is a chance that it might work with me before I
try. The reason I ask such a silly question is because I have an Asus m/b
that has an option in the bios to boot off the network. I notice that there
is a link to a site from ltsp.org that sells network cards with some boot
roms or whatever. Would I not need one because of the way my m/b is set up?
Thanks. (btw, don't send me to that irc channel because a) I don't have a
chat program here at work and cheapo internet at home and b) I'm only asking
a yes/no question.)

Miguel De Anda wrote:

> I would like to try to setup my system to boot up my system from the
> network and I want to know if there is a chance that it might work with me
> before I try. The reason I ask such a silly question is because I have an
> Asus m/b that has an option in the bios to boot off the network. I notice
> that there is a link to a site from ltsp.org that sells network cards with
> some boot roms or whatever. Would I not need one because of the way my m/b
> is set up? Thanks. (btw, don't send me to that irc channel because a) I
> don't have a chat program here at work and cheapo internet at home and b)
> I'm only asking a yes/no question.)

Am I suffering from deja vu, or was the same question asked about a month
back?

Doug.
--
Registered Linux User No. 277548.
They say lightning never strikes twice in the same place. My typing is
about as accurate. Apologies for any typos that slip in. - Doug.

In article <(E-Mail Removed) m>,
Miguel De Anda wrote:
> that has an option in the bios to boot off the network. I notice that there
> is a link to a site from ltsp.org that sells network cards with some boot
> roms or whatever. Would I not need one because of the way my m/b is set up?

You do indeed need a NIC with a boot ROM. If it's an onboard NIC, check
the motherboard documentation to see if it's bootable. It may be.
--
/dev/rob0 - preferred_email=i$((28*28+28))@softhome.net
or put "not-spam" or "/dev/rob0" in Subject header to reply

/dev/rob0 wrote:

> In article <(E-Mail Removed) m>,
> Miguel De Anda wrote:
>> that has an option in the bios to boot off the network. I notice that
>> there is a link to a site from ltsp.org that sells network cards with
>> some boot roms or whatever. Would I not need one because of the way my
>> m/b is set up?
>
> You do indeed need a NIC with a boot ROM. If it's an onboard NIC, check
> the motherboard documentation to see if it's bootable. It may be.

One can also do this by booting from hardisk or floppy. Just search for
etherboot or netboot.


Regards,
Bernd

PS: Etherboot and netboot make your networkcard sending a dhcp and tftp
request and so downloading the kernel (specially prepared) via network. If
your network card has a boot-rom (like 3com cards have, though one has to
use a special 3com tool to get it working with etherboot), you won't need
the floppy or hardisk.

"Doug Laidlaw" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
newsu8r11-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Miguel De Anda wrote:
>
> > I would like to try to setup my system to boot up my system from the
> > network and I want to know if there is a chance that it might work with
me
> > before I try. The reason I ask such a silly question is because I have
an
> > Asus m/b that has an option in the bios to boot off the network. I
notice
> > that there is a link to a site from ltsp.org that sells network cards
with
> > some boot roms or whatever. Would I not need one because of the way my
m/b
> > is set up? Thanks. (btw, don't send me to that irc channel because a) I
> > don't have a chat program here at work and cheapo internet at home and
b)
> > I'm only asking a yes/no question.)
>
> Am I suffering from deja vu, or was the same question asked about a month
> back?
>
> Doug.
> --
> Registered Linux User No. 277548.
> They say lightning never strikes twice in the same place. My typing is
> about as accurate. Apologies for any typos that slip in. - Doug.


It could be. Outlook Express doesn't seem to search very well and google's
groupd search doesn't have very good navigation. (I'm at work and I have to
use Win2k, I don't understand why, but whatever)

So did you manage to get it work or what? I was going to try the ltsp.org
project but it doesn't work with my system (Vector). I'm going to try it
with the Slackware tonight. I don't think it'll work either, the website has
a short list of supported distros. Is there a premade package that I can use
as a basis for a boot system?

I tried messing with two of my computers last night, and tried setting that
network boot feature on. It seems to look for something on the network for
about a minute until it times out or I hit escape.

"Miguel De Anda" <_sodamnmad_@_hotmail_._com_> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) s.com...
> I would like to try to setup my system to boot up my system from the
network
> and I want to know if there is a chance that it might work with me before
I
> try. The reason I ask such a silly question is because I have an Asus m/b
> that has an option in the bios to boot off the network. I notice that
there
> is a link to a site from ltsp.org that sells network cards with some boot
> roms or whatever. Would I not need one because of the way my m/b is set
up?
> Thanks. (btw, don't send me to that irc channel because a) I don't have a
> chat program here at work and cheapo internet at home and b) I'm only
asking
> a yes/no question.)
>

Read the Diskless-HOWTO in the Linux Documentation Project.

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio @ iki fi