[K12OSN] Recommended Gigabit Network card?

[Terrell Prude' Jr.]

The other option (besides a floppy) is to take the old computer's hard 
disk and "cat" the EtherBoot file onto it.  I've done this with some 
older 4GB hard disks with excellent results.  You end up with an 
"EtherBoot hard disk" which of course will not get lost.

Downside is that power requirements for those older boxes are now about 
as high or higher as the newer low-power ones.  And the graphics is 
better now.  But on a budget, this remains a great solution, especially 
if you're using K12LTSP 5EL...which I do.

Peter's right, the clients don't really need gigabit.  100Mbps is quite 
sufficient for LTSP purposes, even for games like TuxType.

--TP

Peter Scheie wrote:
> Generally, it is only the server that needs a gigabit card.  100Mb is 
> usually sufficient on the client.  As for the clients, most machines 
> of the last ten years have some sort of PXE option in the BIOS, 
> sometimes referred to 'boot from LAN' or some such.  If the machines 
> don't have that, but have floppy drives, you can also use a universal 
> boot floppy; I think there's still a link to it on the K12LTSP wiki.  
> The downside is floppies can get lost, although some people just hide 
> the whole floppy drive & disk inside the case where users can't get to 
> them.  Nevertheless, a NIC with a boot prom is nice, and quicker than 
> using a floppy; www.disklessworkstations.com has them for US $30.
>
> Peter
>
> Conrad Lawes wrote:
>> Do the nics you mention come in onboard PXE bootrom?
>> One of Joseph's key requirements is the ability for network booting.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 3:42 PM, Phydeaux <reb at taco.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> Have look at argontechnology's offering - $50 for NIC with PXE boot 
>>>> ROM
>>>> onboard.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> http://argontechnology.com/PXE-Network-Adapters/Argon-Gigabit-PCI-Ethernet-Adapter-with-Managed-PC-Boot-Agent.html 
>>>
>>>> Argon is based north of Toronto in Vaughan
>>> For $50 you can buy a whole motherboard with on-board gigabit Ethernet!
>>>
>>> If all that is needed is a PCI card, they are available for 
>>> USD$10-USD$15
>>> in
>>> all sorts of places.  In the US, Amazon has this for $12.50:
>>>
>>>   TRENDnet Gigabit PCI Adapter Card TEG-PCITXR
>>>
>>> reb