On Jan 18, 2007, at 2:58 PM, Arnaud Lacombe wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 18, 2007 at 02:45:46PM -0800, Jason Thorpe wrote:
>>> Somehow, some of those network devices can pxeboot a kernel - even
>>> though
>>> we need to download a massive file in order to use the device from
>>> within
>>> the kernel....
>>
>> ...because they have a small firmware image in the ROM of the card  
>> for
>> that.
>>
> Doesn't such card have some "legacy" working mode that would allow  
> us to
> mount root from NFS without all their capabilities, and then beening
> able to use them at "full speed" once the firmware is loaded ?

I guess that depends on the card, and I suppose it also depends on  
whether or not some hypothetical "legacy" mode were even documented so  
a driver could be written.

In any case, I think that would certainly NOT be the case with most  
devices that fall into this category.

-- thorpej