From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Mon, 4 Feb 2002 12:33:43 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Mon, 4 Feb 2002 12:33:34 -0500 Received: from neon-gw-l3.transmeta.com ([63.209.4.196]:53008 "EHLO neon-gw.transmeta.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Mon, 4 Feb 2002 12:33:18 -0500 To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org From: "H. Peter Anvin" Subject: Re: UNDI/PXE for 2.4.x available? Date: 4 Feb 2002 09:32:50 -0800 Organization: Transmeta Corporation, Santa Clara CA Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <20020204154633.E2BC267F3@penelope.materna.de> <20020204170844.2AB5667F1@penelope.materna.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Disclaimer: Not speaking for Transmeta in any way, shape, or form. Copyright: Copyright 2002 H. Peter Anvin - All Rights Reserved Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Followup to: <20020204170844.2AB5667F1@penelope.materna.de> By author: Tobias Wollgam In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel > > We want to install PCs over ethernet with PXE. For the first boot from > net we have nothing than the network, we don't know the hardware, so an > UNDI in the kernel would be perfect. IMHO > > > I think you'll have that problem with any UNDI driver; in either case > > I suspect that (a) performance will stink no matter what > > That's ok for the things we will do. > > > and (b) it won't work properly with SMP unless you apply really > > heavy locking. > > Does it matter in our case? > Probably not. > > > The PXE people at Intel really seems enamored with the idea of using > > the UNDI stack all the way into the operating system; > > We need it not to run an operating system, we need it for the > installation of an operating system. > > On the other hand, UNDI will deliver a network driver for all PXE-cards > that come up before there is any direct hardware support. (Ok, then b > matters) > In theory. In practice, from having dealt with enough PXE stacks, I would say that it is more likely you're going to have problems getting the UNDI drivers to work in a Linux environment than you will find that a fully equipped kernel lacks the drivers you need, especially since you can update the kernel on the server as needed. There has been a shakeout in the NIC world, and aren't anywhere near as many in use now as there was a few years ago -- and anything before then isn't going to have PXE. -hpa -- at work, in private! "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot." http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt