Re: UNDI/PXE for 2.4.x available?

["H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>]

Followup to:  <20020204154633.E2BC267F3@penelope.materna.de>
By author:    Tobias Wollgam <tobias.wollgam@materna.de>
In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
>
> Hello,
> 
> is there a UNDI (Universal Network Driver Interface, a part of the 
> PXE-specification) for the 2.4x kernel available?
> 
> We found one from Intel in its linux-pxe-sdk for the 2.2.x kernel. This 
> one works, but not with all pxe-networkcards.
> 

I think you'll have that problem with any UNDI driver; in either case
I suspect that (a) performance will stink no matter what and (b) it
won't work properly with SMP unless you apply really heavy locking.

The PXE people at Intel really seems enamored with the idea of using
the UNDI stack all the way into the operating system; I don't think
any sane operating system does that (DOS, of course, does, but DOS
isn't a sane operating system.)  If I'm not completely mistaken UNDI
was derived from NDIS 2 or so -- widely considered the crappiest of
all the various specifications for DOS drivers.

> Potentially we will port it from 2.2 to 2.4 or rewrite it for 2.4 with 
> a little assistance.

	-hpa

-- 
<hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private!
"Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt	<amsp@zytor.com>