Subject: Re: unattended cdboot
To: Bang Jun-Young <junyoung@NetBSD.org>
From: Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@antioche.eu.org>
List: current-users
Date: 07/13/2005 20:15:09
On Wed, Jul 13, 2005 at 04:07:30PM +0900, Bang Jun-Young wrote:
> > I would like it if the keypress was optional, too.
> 
> I think everybody is already familar with the keypress, isn't he? :-)
> Unfortunately, there's no single solution that can satisfy everybody.
> 
> Let me a bit further explain the situation: when I decide to install
> an OS with CD-ROM, I turn on the machine, insert the install CD into the
> drive, and see the boot screen carefully. So when "press any key to boot
> from CD..." message appears on the screen, I can react appropriately
> without difficulty (i.e. pressing Enter). But once installation is done,
> I reboot the machine and often leave the computer with the CD inserted
> in the drive (for coffee, phone, etc.). When I'm back, what is waiting
> for me is the installer on the CD-ROM, not a freshly installed OS on the
> hard disk. This would be enough for a newbie to get more or less nervous
> to see what's wrong. Even though I'm not a newbie, I still find it
> annoying.

You can also use cdboot to build hardned systems (with hard drive only
for logs, for example). In such a case you want to boot from CD without
human intervention.

I think the boot loader should load automatically (eventually after
a configurable timeout) from the device the BIOS is configured to
boot from.

-- 
Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@antioche.eu.org>
     NetBSD: 26 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--