Re: Recommend hardware

[markus@infoscape.com]

Alejandro Aguilar Sierra writes:
 > I'm using linux 2.x, and I want to be able to boot diskless pc's in either
 > linux or dos(w95), from my linux server. Which network cards would you
 > recommend? 

It all depends on what your priorities are. If you care most about
cost, then you should go with an NE2000 clone (possibly PCI based). If 
care more about performance, then you should consider one of the more
modern cards that are supported by "etherboot" or "netboot".

Personally, I like to use WD80x3 cards. These beasts are _ancient_,
but their performance is quite decent for an ISA card and they are
very well supported by all PC OS's. This is a pro, if you expect to
often hook up other people's machines and don't want to be bothered
with compatibily issues. Also, even though they might sometimes be
hard to find, you can often get them at surplus stores for US$5 a
piece.

 > Also I'd like to be able to burn the EPROMS myself. Which burner would you
 > recommend, thinking in price and quality. URL?

Sorry, I would not know anything about that. I always asked friends to 
get my EPROMs burned. As of recently, I build a FlashCard
(instructions come with both "netboot" and "etherboot"); this is a
add-on FlashPROM card that was designed by Gero. I consider it highly
useful for my purposes, but it might not be that useful too you.

Pros:

 - costs less than an EPROM burner.
 - can easily be reprogrammed as often as you need to. (Very useful
   during development; probably not neccessary for average end-user.)
 - with a little effort, almost any existing network card can be
   upgraded to have a FlashPROM socket.
 - supports a wide variety of different image sizes.


Cons:

 - if you need to equip many machines, then it is more expensive then
   buying an EPROM burner and EPROMs (plus possibly an eraser).
 - increased risk of malicious users changing the contents of the PROM.
 - takes up an extra slot unless you spend the extra effort to include 
   the design as part of an existing netword card.


So long,



Markus

-- 
Markus Gutschke                         Internet: markus@infoscape.com
Infoscape, Inc                          Phone:    +1-415-537-3778
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Disclaimer: The above message represents my personal opinion; It does
            not constitute an offical statement by Infoscape!

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