[K12OSN] using really old PCs as clients

Wed Oct 14 15:29:09 UTC 2009

Also remember that even though the floppy drives aren't working, you can 
accomplish the same thing with the hard disk instead.  What I do in this 
case is pull the old box's hard disk out of it, install it in another 
GNU/Linux or other UNIX-style box, and then "cat" the Rom-O-Matic image 
to the hard disk, like so.  This example is for the 3Com 3C905 series, 
and it assumes the old box's hard disk shows up as /dev/hdb.

  terrell at thinclientmaker$ su - root
  Password:  (enter root's password here)
  root at thinclientmaker# cat eb-5.4.4-3c90x.zdsk > /dev/hdb
  root at thinclientmaker# halt

Then, just pop this new "EtherBoot hard disk" back into the old box and 
boot from it.  If you set up one box to do all your old hard disks this 
way, it goes pretty quickly.  I did something similar with some EIDE Sun 
Ultra 5 hard disks a few years back (I used an x86 machine for the 
cat'ing), and I had ten hard disks all config'd in about 20 minutes.

--TP
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raju VK wrote:
> Thanks for the clarification.  Hardware vendors and other people were 
> not sure of this. That is why I posted it. This assumes significance 
> as the floppy drives on al these machines  are not working. Therefore 
> I  have decided to give a try even if  the query is not answered.
>
>
>
> with many thanks,
> Raju
>
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 8:54 AM, "Terrell Prudé Jr." 
> <microman at cmosnetworks.com <mailto:microman at cmosnetworks.com>> wrote:
>
>     Actually, it was answered, but perhaps you're not understanding
>     just what it is we're saying here.  Any card that supports
>     PXE-booting is just such a card as you describe, with its own boot
>     ROM on it.
>
>     Here's some additional information as well.  If you have any 3Com
>     3C905 cards handy (either the original or the "B" variant), you'll
>     notice a socket for a chip.  That socket is where you'd put the
>     boot ROM for that card.  If you do put that in, then your PC will
>     happily boot from the network.  Jim McQuillan sells these chips
>     for several types of network card, not just 3C905's.  But what if
>     you don't happen to have that chip, and your employer will not pop
>     for these chips?  That's when you "substitute" the boot ROM chip
>     for a floppy disk, hard disk, or CD-ROM with that same boot ROM
>     image on it.  It accomplishes exactly the same thing.
>
>     Hopefully this helps to clear some things up.
>
>
>     --TP
>     _______________________________
>     Do you GNU <http://www.gnu.org>?
>     Microsoft Free since 2003 <http://www.cmosnetworks.com>--the
>     ultimate antivirus protection!
>
>
>     raju VK wrote:
>>     Thanks for all the replies. But even now my question is not
>>     properly answered. It is simply,  if I use a new network card
>>     with boot ROM, 
>>     whether I can boot in to a network even if the boot options does
>>     not have an entry for network card as boot device.
>>
>>     From the replies I assume the answer is negative and the only
>>     option is to use a boot floppy.
>>
>>     regards,
>>     Raju
>>
>>
>>     On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 9:48 PM, Klaus Ade Johnstad
>>     <klaus at skolelinux.no <mailto:klaus at skolelinux.no>> wrote:
>>
>>          Søndag 11. oktober 2009 17.44.09 skrev raju VK :
>>         > I have successfully installed the terminal server on my fc10
>>         >  desktop.. Now my question is now I can use some vintage
>>         (1998/99)
>>         >  PCs as clients. The PCs has no option to boot from
>>         network. Other
>>         >  wise they are still functional. If I use a network card
>>         with boot
>>         >  ROM can I connect these PCs to the terminal server ?. I
>>         googling the
>>         >  net last two days does not yield any result.
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > with thanks in advance,
>>         > Raju
>>         >
>>
>>         One person that is using realy old PC as clients (like i486
>>         w/4MB ram)
>>         is Alberto Castillo from Argentina. Search the listarchives
>>         for mail
>>         from him,  Alberto Castillo <proyecto.edulin at gmail.com
>>         <mailto:proyecto.edulin at gmail.com>>
>>
>>         That would be a good startin point.
>>
>>         --
>>         Klaus Ade
>>         67E61D18B2C44F8A3DA35C6D849F9F5F 26FA477D
>>
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>>
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