Subject: Re: Booting straight to NetBSD
To: <>
From: Jason Duerstock <jason@rhubarb.arl.qwestip.net>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 05/28/2001 14:10:34
If you look in most Mac ROMs, you will find a '.netBOOT' device.  I tried
to disassemble it, but the most I really figured out was that it checked
some PRAM setting, and then tried to find a network server to try to map a
drive and load off of.

If anyone wants to know more, let me know and I will do some more
digging...

Jason


On Mon, 28 May 2001, lint wrote:

> I checked with my (sometimes dubious) source and he said that the
> LC/SI could netboot. However that feature never made it out the door.
> It of course required an appleshare server (which could easily be
> faked out on bsd). And of course some way to choose netboot. Perhaps
> an ancient version of the startupdisk had it as an invisible option.
>
> >On Sun, 27 May 2001, Lloyd I Freese Jr wrote:
> >
> >>   From what I understand (which, admittedly isn't much) it's not
> >>  possible. There was a thread called "Mac m68k booting process" from
> >>  September of last year that talked about the different problems with
> >>  it.
> >
> >There's a difference between "not possible" and "merely difficult", and
> >I'm convinced that this is firmly on the "merely difficult" side of the
> >line. ^_-
> >
> >>  IIRC there was a person in this list a while ago that was working on
> >>  it but I can't find his posts in my archive (I assume he gave up).
> >
> >Try the thread "Installation without MacOS", November 2000 - January 2001,
> >specifically the stuff from December onwards.
> >
> >Which reminds me, is there any documentation on how to use libsa, or is
> >this one of those UTSL things?
> >
> >>  At 9:27 AM +0100 5/27/2001, Matthew Theobalds wrote:
> >>  >Whilst we're on the subject of NetBooting and Ethernet cards, is it
> >>  >ever going to be possible to boot into NetBSD direct?
> >>  >
> >>  >Or would such a move require more information from Apple than they
> >>  >are prepared to give?
> >>  >
> >>  >All the best.
> >>  >
> >>  >Matthew
> >>
> >>  --
> >>
> >>  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> >>
> >>  "Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education."
> >>  -- Bertrand Russell
> >>
> >
> >---------------------------
> >All programming can be viewed as an exercise.
> >---------------------------
> >Alastair Bridgewater
> >e-mail: nyef@softhome.net
>