> I think there is only one thing that will ever allow us to remove
> the BOOTP code from the kernel, and that is if a time comes when
> the BIOSes for all standard off-the-shelf motherboards all have
> the ability to set a boot-from-network option. When/if that ever
> occurs, then we will be able to remove the code.
Please take a few minutes to go to developer.intel.com and read about
PXE. Note that it's card-centric, not board-centric, so it doesn't
require any buy-in from motherboard vendors. Also, because it's
software only, there are already third-party vendors with software for
most cards on the market.
The last time I looked, InCom had support for well over 100 different
network cards. With the general adoption of PXE in the WfM context
for diskless WinTel installs, you can be certain that any network
adapter with a bootrom socket is going to have PXE-compliant support
available.
If you want to participate in this dicussion much futher without
dragging us off on these irrelevant tangents, it's quite important that
you catch up on your reading. If you've been and looked at PXE more
than a few months ago, go back again as they've massively updated the
spec for PXE 2.0.
Note that PXE 2.0, and UNDI in particular, go so far as to make it
quite feasible to write a generic kernel driver that will talk to any
PCI or PnP network adapter with a PXE-compliant bootrom. Not that I'm
advocating this, you should understand.
--
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\\ Tell him he should learn how to fish himself, \\ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
\\ and he'll hate you for a lifetime. \\ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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