RE: GRUB vs BootManage TCP/IP BOOT-PROM

[Malte Forkel]

Hi Kjeld

I'm afraid the PXE MBR is started twice but never finishes. Three
observations to support that: There are less dots printed after the "Loading
ROM image" than when I boot from the PXE floppy. I get the "Loading ROM
image" line twice but none of the PXE messages that show up on a PXE floppy
boot. The file containing the etherboot MBR is downloaded from the TFTP
server only once, not twice.

So differentiating between TCP/IP BOOT-PROM filename and PXE filename is not
the problem (yet, unfortenately :-)

The machines don't have floppy drives to prevent users from booting their
own software.

Thanks
Malte

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kjeld Flarup Christensen (ST/LMD)
> [mailto:address@hidden
> Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 1:53 PM
> To: Malte Forkel
> Subject: RE: GRUB vs BootManage TCP/IP BOOT-PROM
>
>
> Hi Malte
>
> Possibly it is the filename parameter that actually gives you
> a problem.
> The PXE boot will not boot the floppy image. So to solve that you may
> need to modify the PXE booter to use another bootp parameter.
>
> So, the simplest solution is to leave a PXE boot floppy in the disk
> drive, and forget about the boot prom :-/
>
>   Kjeld
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:
> > address@hidden
> >
> > [mailto:bug-grub-bounces+kjeld.flarup.christensen=ericsson.com
> > @gnu.org] On Behalf Of Malte Forkel
> > Sent: 15. november 2005 12:24
> > To: address@hidden
> > Subject: RE: GRUB vs BootManage TCP/IP BOOT-PROM
> >
> > Hi Kjeld
> >
> > Unfortenately, TCP/IP BOOT-PROM seems to be very picky on
> > what boot floppy images to boot from.
> >
> > Following your suggestion, I created a PXE boot floppy (using
> > http://www.rom-o-matic.net/5.4.1/) that boots the machine
> > fine from the its floppy drive. From that floppy I then made
> > a TCP/IP BOOT-PROM boot image (using their BMIMAGE utility).
> > That image is activated on boot, but then I get two identical
> > lines "Loading ROM image ........ " and the machine hangs.
> > Same result when I use the TCP/IP BOOT-PROM intermediate boot
> > loader BPBOOT to boot the MBR extracted from the PXE boot floppy.
> >
> > For fun, I tried a boot image created from a FreeDOS boot
> > floppy. That hangs the machine after printing "FreeDOS".
> >
> > Additional question: If I could get secondary booting into
> > PXE to work, how could I specify the file to be downloaded by
> > PXE? The BOOTP filename parameter is already used to tell
> > TCP/IP BOOT-PROM which file to load for the primary boot.
> >
> > Thanks, Malte
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Kjeld Flarup Christensen (ST/LMD)
> > > [mailto:address@hidden
> > > Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 8:22 AM
> > > To: Malte Forkel
> > > Subject: RE: GRUB vs BootManage TCP/IP BOOT-PROM
> > >
> > >
> > > Hi Malte
> > >
> > > It sounds to me like you can grab any floppy, and send the
> > image over
> > > the network. That will of course not work with GRUB.
> > > But maybe you could try to use a PXE-boot floppy, and then
> > boot twice.
> > > There are some PXE-boot floppy images out there.
> > >
> > > --------------------- With Regards ------------------
> > >   Kjeld Flarup (Christensen), Specialist, Software
> Architecture and
> > > Technology
> > >   Ericsson Danmark A/S, PDU MSA
> > >   Faelledvej 17, DK-7600 Struer, Phone +45 97 86 94 10, Fax
> > > +45 97 85 44
> > > 22
> > > -----------------------------------| A small but great part
> > > of Ericsson
> > > |
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From:
> > > > address@hidden
> > > >
> > > > [mailto:bug-grub-bounces+kjeld.flarup.christensen=ericsson.com
> > > @gnu.org] On Behalf Of Malte Forkel
> > > > Sent: 14. november 2005 23:09
> > > > To: address@hidden
> > > > Subject: GRUB vs BootManage TCP/IP BOOT-PROM
> > > >
> > > > Hi,
> > > >
> > > > I have a couple of older PCs that I would like to use
> as diskless
> > > > Linux clients. They have a BootManage TCP/IP BOOT-PROM from a
> > > > company named bootix , formerly Incom GmbH.
> > > > As far as I understand, this is pre-PXE and has various
> > options to
> > > > boot a PC. Especially, it can start a boot image (specifically
> > > > created from a DOS boot disk) or start another boot
> loader (via a
> > > > special boot image named BPBOOT). There is plenty of
> > documentation
> > > > and software for TCP/IP BOOT-PROM at
> > > > http://www.bootix.com/download/download_en.html.
> > > >
> > > > I would like to start GRUB via the TCP/IP BOOT-PROM to
> > profit from
> > > > GRUB's configurability and flexibility, but have not
> > managed to do
> > > > so. I would appreciated any suggestions on what to do or try.
> > > >
> > > > Here is what if have tried so far. As I know little to
> > nothing about
> > > > boot loaders, some of these attempts probably look pretty
> > stupid to
> > > > the expert's eye.
> > > >
> > > > Using the TCP/IP BOOT-PROM to boot an image created form
> > a FAT GRUB
> > > > boot floppy runs into a "GRUB Hard Disk Error". May be GRUB is
> > > > unable to determine the size of the RAM disk it is running from?
> > > >
> > > > Same error occurs when using stage1 as the boot image. Using an
> > > > adapter in front of stage2
> > > > (http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-grub/2005-09/msg00033.h
> > > tml) to make GRUB look like a linux kernel halts the machine or >
> > > produces garbage after an initial promising "Linux" (with
> > > > BPBATCH, see below).
> > > >
> > > > BPBATCH, as described in the Linux Remote-Boot HowTo, can
> > be used to
> > > > boot Linux with a TCP/IP BOOT-PROM. I successfully
> booted an old
> > > > RedHat 7.2 kernel, but failed with SuSE 2.4 or
> > > > 2.6 ("Direct booting from floppy is no longer supported.
> > > > Please use a boot loader") kernels.
> > > >
> > > > The TCP/IP BOOT-PROM boot image format seems to be
> different from
> > > > those used by Netboot and PXE. I ran into various errors trying
> > > > nbgrub and pxegrub or images created with mknbi.
> > > >
> > > > According to bootix, it should be possible to use the
> > image of a DOS
> > > > boot disk with loadlin and a Linux kernel. I have not
> tried this.
> > > > The image size is limited to 2,880 kb and preparing multiple
> > > > image(s) is rather tedious and not very flexible.
> > > >
> > > > So, how do I run GRUB from the BootManage TCP/IP BOOT-PROM?.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Malte
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Bug-grub mailing list
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> > > > http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-grub
> > > >
> >
> >
> >
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