[K12OSN] how to create etherboot CD

Petre Scheie petre at maltzen.net
Wed Feb 15 14:06:15 UTC 2006



David Whitmer wrote:
> 
> --- Petre Scheie <petre at maltzen.net> wrote:
> 
>> I've got a Micron desktop client that when I try to
>> boot it with a Universal Boot Floppy 
>> starts to load the ROM image but then the screen
>> goes grey with a few blinking 
>> characters in the center of the screen and it just
>> stalls there.
>>
>> So, I thought I'd try to get it to boot via a CD.  I
>> followed the instructions at 
>>
> http://www.gnuenterprise.org/~jcater/ltsp/Etherboot-On-CDR-HOWTO.txt,
>> but when I test it 
>> on a Dell OptiPlex that IS able to boot from the
>> Universal Boot Floppy, it starts to 
>> load the ROM image, but then its screen goes grey,
>> the black and nothing else happens.
>>
>> Has anyone managed to translate the Universal Boot
>> Floppy onto a CD?
>>
>> Petre
> 
> 
> Petre,
> 
> I've been using the universal network boot files from
> the Thinstation project.
> 
> The link below will take you to the download page. 
> Download network_boot_floppy+cd+hd_540.zip, unpack,
> and use your favorite CD mastering software to burn
> eb-net.iso to CD.
> 
> http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=80408&package_id=97496
> 
> Hope this helps.
> David Whitmer
> 
Thanks David, that works wonderfully on my Dell test station.  I'll try it on the Micron 
onsite later this week when I get there.

I was able to make the Micron boot from a PXES live CD, and then chose XDM from the boot 
menu, and it brought up the login screen from the terminal server like a champ.  I was 
thinking I'd try to re-master the PXES CD to automatically default to XDM.  That route 
still has some appeal because I like--and I think the users will be less intimidated 
by--the splash screen at the beginning of the PXES boot process.  OTOH, PXES seems to be 
in a state of limbo right now: the wiki is broken, Diego has handed/sold/given the 
project over to X2, and it's not clear what if any further development is being done by 
whom. :-(




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