Netboot people seem not to want to help us (do they assume that we
are their competitor?), so let's solve your problem ourselves...
From: Chip Salzenberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [PATCH] Kludge for Intel's PXE scan order
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 19:14:09 -0700
> Many of the systems with which we will be using GRUB have multiple
> Ethernet adapters. As it happens, all of them are Intel EEPro100s
> with Intel's PXE BIOS for netbooting. Unfortunately, PXE insists on
> always preferring the LOM (LAN On Motherboard), if any; it is
> unable/unwilling to detect which adapter is actually connected. Even
> worse, Intel's LOMs almost always show up *last* in a PCI scan, so
> GRUB never uses it.
I have a very simple question: can't you disable the driver which is
not used by the PXE BIOS?
> A much better solution, IMO, would be to give GRUB the ability to send
> DHCP requests out on *all* adapters *simultaneously*. The Linux
> kernel does this for its boot-time DHCP support, and it's a wonderful
> way to prevent headaches for users.
Agreed, but that's not very easy, I think. The design of Etherboot
is based on the assumption that the user does use a single ethernet
card at one time. Probably we will have to throw away the Etherboot's
device drivers and use OSKit instead, as my original plan, in the
future. That plan is still in my mind but you have to wait for GRUB
1.0, because that is impossible without rewriting GRUB completely.
Okuji
