Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 15:10:49 +0100 (MET) From: Luigi Rizzo <luigi@labinfo.iet.unipi.it> To: abseil@thehub.com.au (Greg Laslett) Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Beyond 'Diskless' into 'Deviceless' Message-ID: <199603121410.PAA20455@labinfo.iet.unipi.it> In-Reply-To: <01BB1063.2B903B60@an103.thehub.com.au> from "Greg Laslett" at Mar 12, 96 09:43:49 pm
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> I am interested in the concept of setting up a FreeBSD boot/file server = > servicing 'n' totally minimal FreeBSD PC's each acting as a processing = > engine. Each of the client PC's would consist only of a motherboard and = > an ethernet card. No Keyboard, no VGA card, no HDD. Booting would be = > via a ROM on the ethernet card and the console would be via an Xterm (or = > similar) session. I'd just leave the standard console stuff (built-in or serial if present), otherwise would postpone things until the machine is up and running and accepts telnet/rlogin connections. > Can anybody advise on an ethernet (later to be fast ethernet) card which = > has an appropriate ROM easily orderable. Alternately perhaps one can = > plug a PROM writer into a FreeBSD box and write a custom net boot for = > say an SMC8432 Etherpower or 3Com 3C5xx ? The code for the bootrom for selected cards (ed0 driver, basically) is alredy available on FreeBSD. Probably it would be nice if the if_xxx drivers were a bit easier to integrate with the "netboot" code. > What net boot servers can be got for FreeBSD ? FreeBSD of course :) Anything which supports bootp&tftp&nfs as a second choice. > What kernel stability issues need to be addressed when there is no = > Keyboard, FDD, serial lines or other normally expected hardware about ? The only concern might be with the absence of keyboard and video board. Perhaps it is just a matter of disabling probes to these devices. Luigi ==================================================================== Luigi Rizzo Dip. di Ingegneria dell'Informazione email: luigi@iet.unipi.it Universita' di Pisa tel: +39-50-568533 via Diotisalvi 2, 56126 PISA (Italy) fax: +39-50-568522 http://www.iet.unipi.it/~luigi/ ====================================================================
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