[9fans] Boot floppy

[9fans] Boot floppy

[vdharani]

Hi,

I managed to setup a plan9 CPU/Auth/fs server (with kfs). I wanted to make
a boot floppy for diskless workstation. If I remember correctly, I used to
derive the contents of the floppy from the Plan 9 installation floppy.
Looks like that method doesnt work anymore.

All I am trying to do is make a floppy that loads PBS, recognizes ethernet
card (i82557), sends DHCP (or bootp?) request and gets boot paramaters and
then loads the image from p9 server. As you can see, this is kind-of the
usual way it is done. I think I setup the p9 server correctly. What is
needed is a way to make the right boot floppy. Any pointers?

If not, if I keep 9pcdisk in the floppy itself, will it work? Do I have to
specify IP address of workstation itself, fs and auth machines in the
floppy itself? How do I do it? I remeber there used to be a long line with
these details but I dont think 'man plan9.ini' deals with it. Any pointers?

Thanks in advance.

Regards
dharani

Re: [9fans] Boot floppy

[David Presotto]

The following should be enough to make a boot floppy:

disk/format -b /386/pbs -df /dev/fd0disk /386/9load /tmp/plan9.ini

Just make sure that /tmp/plan9.ini has

ether0=type=<whatever>
bootfile=ether0

in it.

Re: [9fans] Boot floppy

[vdharani]

dave,

> The following should be enough to make a boot floppy:
>
> disk/format -b /386/pbs -df /dev/fd0disk /386/9load /tmp/plan9.ini
>
> Just make sure that /tmp/plan9.ini has
>
> ether0=type=<whatever>
> bootfile=ether0

that helped. thanks.

however, i have two questions:

1. i have intel 82559ER (i think) cards. if i am right, the boot code
recognizes only 82557 cards. so dhcp/tftp works only for 82557 cards. it
doesnt work for 82559/82559ER cards etc. what is the problem? is it too
tough to fix it? given that intel cards are widely used and available
(including on-board ethernet ports), can we make all 82557/8/9 ethernet
ports get recognized during boot time?

for now, i have added the kernel 9pcdisk in the floppy itself. it boots
from the floppy, then does dhcp to get the ip address and proceeds from
there.

2. once the configuration settles, i want to burn a bootable CD image for
booting 9 terminal right from the CD instead of floppy. is it possible? how
can i do it?

thanks
dharani

Re: [9fans] Boot floppy

[jmk]

On Thu Jan 22 16:38:46 EST 2004, vdharani@infernopark.com wrote:
> ...
>
> 1. i have intel 82559ER (i think) cards. if i am right, the boot code
> recognizes only 82557 cards. so dhcp/tftp works only for 82557 cards. it
> doesnt work for 82559/82559ER cards etc. what is the problem? is it too
> tough to fix it? given that intel cards are widely used and available
> (including on-board ethernet ports), can we make all 82557/8/9 ethernet
> ports get recognized during boot time?
> ...

The boot code has been seen to work successfully on the following PCI
device ids:

		case 0x1209:		/* Intel 82559ER */
		case 0x1229:		/* Intel 8255[789] */
		case 0x1031:		/* Intel 82562EM */
		case 0x2449:		/* Intel 82562ET */

What do you have?