Subject: Re: Booting only from CD
To: David TAILLANDIER <david.taillandier@domainename.com>
From: John Clark <j1clark@ucsd.edu>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 03/08/2002 07:31:44
Am Donnerstag den, 7. M=E4rz 2002, um 14:13, schrieb David TAILLANDIER:

>
> Crossposted to <netbsd-help@netbsd.org>
>            and <netbsd-tech-kern@netbsd.org>
>
>
> I configured a NetBSD box to act as a ADSL/NAT/firewall/VPN for our
> company. We use those boxes since mounthes with low-end computers
> (down to 386/16Mo). Everything works well.

There is a spec for building a CD which is bootable by PC's, provided
the BIOS supports it. Most 'modern' PC BIOS's do. The spec's name is
'El Torito', perhaps named after the restaurant where the engineer's
who spec'ed it ate lunch that day...

A url reference page would be: =
http://bochs.sourceforge.net/techdata.html
'Bochs', is a windows emulator...

I've used the El Torito CD layout to create bootable images for Power =
PC,
and since I had control over the boot rom, I made sure it had the=20
functionality
to do so.

As for 'once the kernel loads' there are a variety of ways to handle the
diskless nature of the requirement. Look at how a NetBSD distribution
is built and that may give clues.

>
> All this to have a cool box: ON/OFF 50 times in a day if you want, no
> hard-disk failure, low-noise, etc.

It sounds more like you want a flash disk image... or heck, a completely
different box with a completely different processor which is designed to
boot out flash and be customizable to you particular environment... I=20
would
have a suggestion on this... but that would lead to a commercial...

As for 'cool' documentation... well that's why the source code is=20
available...
millions of lines of 'cool documentation'... for some definition of =
cool.