> howdy... I'd like to make a minimalistic "network appliance" looking bearing firewall box... Is there a motherboard out there that will boot without a video card? since after the load all that would be needed is a network or serial connection...
There are a number of these available, but you'll have to dig for them. Typical markets include embedded systems and server appliances. Typically, these systems have console re-direction (ie the normal BIOS boot screens and configuration are done via the serial port, rather than kb/monitor). These systems will be generally more expensive than "standard" hardware due to the more limited market. You may find obtaining a complete system is easier than finding just a motherboard. Right now you can get Intel INS1010 hosting appliances for about $400. This is a 1U box with CPU, memory, HDD, dual on-board NIC's, and 2 PCI slots (one normal, one low-profile). Their BIOS supports serial-port re-direction, and would make a nice router. I've got several of the INS1020's (same box with a faster CPU, more memory, and Ultra-160 SCSI) I'm using for servers. Best places I know of to find these boxes are e-bay and Business Systems Connection http://www.bizsyscon.com/products.asp?grp=spl All standard disclaimers apply...I bought my INS1020's from CompGeeks, not the BSC guys, so I know nothing about them, except they claim to have a stash of the 1010's, and are selling them occasionally on e-bay. Of course, you can always just pull the video card and turn off all errors in the BIOS. Some systems will boot this way, while others will complain there's no VGA card. Also, if memory serves, I think I've seen some cards that were essentially "console redirectors"...basically a ROM on a card with software that looks like a video card bios, but actually uses the serial port. It's been ages since I saw one of these, however, and with most BIOS's supporting serial redirection these days (at least if you buy a BIOS license and are building your own hardware...typical for the embedded market), I'm not sure if these cards are still around... Charles Steinkuehler http://lrp.steinkuehler.net http://c0wz.steinkuehler.net (lrp.c0wz.com mirror) _______________________________________________ Leaf-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-user
