Re: cheap pxe enabled ethernet adapters

["Richard C Ferri" <rcferri@us.ibm.com>]

Marty,
     Thanks for your response.  I guess what I really want is the ability
to boot my nodes remotely without having to use a boot diskette.  From your
note, that means I could use netboot or pxe technology.  I didn't realize I
had a choice -- I assumed pxe was synonymous with diskette-less boot, and
netboot always required diskettes to boot -- I see now that that is not the
case.
     Since I don't have a ROM burner, and I'm not sure I have the patience
to invest in writing my own EPROMs (I'm more a software guy, I like my
hardware "commodity off the shelf") I guess I'm back to either the eepro100
or 3com that you mention.    You know, since IBM makes an eepro100 card,
and I work for IBM, maybe I could actually *order* some internally... no,
it's too much to ask ;-)

thanks again, Rich

Marty Connor <mdc@thinguin.org>@baghira.han.de on 01/15/2001 05:18:37 PM

Please respond to netboot@baghira.han.de

Sent by:  owner-netboot@baghira.han.de


To:   "Netboot List" <netboot@baghira.han.de>
cc:   Richard C Ferri/Poughkeepsie/IBM@IBMUS
Subject:  Re: cheap pxe enabled ethernet adapters




On 1/15/2001 3:24 PM Richard C Ferri rcferri@us.ibm.com wrote:
>Hi everyone,
>     I'm looking for a reasonably priced ethernet adapter that is pxe
>enabled for network boot.  I have to buy about a dozen of them for my lab,
>so cost is an issue.

Interesting question.  Being an Etherboot developer, if you hadn't
specifically asked for PXE I'd suggest using Etherboot, but I'm sure you
have your reasons for wanting PXE, and so here is some advice...

>I have an eepro100 (etherjet) adpater which PXE boots
>nicely,  but the going price is about $75USD per adapter, and that's
>expensive.  Can anyone suggest a cheaper adapter?  I don't quite
understand
>the disparity between the typical PCI ethernet adapter which is about
>$15USD, and the eepro100, which is 5 times more expensive...   from what I
>understand the PXE elemet is only a couple of dollars more...

The eepro/100+ has expensive flash ROM on it, the Intel brand (and
associated advertising costs), and it's a fast, well-made card.  3Com has
a card in the same price range 3c905c-tx-m that has PXE in flash ROM as
well.  The advantage being that you can update the card's flash without
having to replace a ROM.  In the case of the 3Com, you can do it while
the card is running.  Pretty nice.  (we've been able to develop tools and
techniques as part of the Etherboot project to flash Etherboot code into
those cards as well).

>     Anyway, I'd appreciate any suggestions for a reasonably priced pxe
>enabled ethernet adapter... thanks in advance.

Well, here's what you might consider doing.  Try a cheap rtl8139-based
card. Many if not most of the less expensive cards are RTL8139 based.
ADDTRON makes a nice little one. I've seen them for about 12$US in
stores, with ROM socket.  Linux supports them.  Now you need a PXE boot
ROM.

Check out:

   http://www.bootix.com/us/products/promtypes.shtml#Realtek

and:

   http://www.bootix.com/us/price/pxeprom.shtml

There's your (commercial) PXE boot ROM.  16$US apiece (qty discounts
available).

So you put a 16$ bootrom on a 12$ PCI 10/100 card, and theoretically, you
have a PXE-enabled card for less than 30$US (figure tax and shipping,
etc).  With volume discounts, perhaps less than 20$US.  Of course you
have to do some work to make it work, and your time is worth something,
but it might still be a win.

Now a ROM itself is probably 3$US, so if you could use Etherboot or
Netboot or NILO (http://nilo.sourceforge.net/) you wouldn't have to pay
so much for a boot ROM (which may well cost more than the whole ethernet
card).  You'd need to get a ROM burner or have the ROMs burned, however,
so that could add cost if you don't have that capability in-house.

So that's my initial, off-the-cuff impression to get you going;  there
are possibly others who have implemented PXE on inexpensive cards that
can make other suggestions.

I hope this helps you.

Marty

---
    Try: http://rom-o-matic.net/ to make Etherboot images instantly.

   Name: Martin D. Connor
US Mail: Entity Cyber, Inc.; P.O. Box 391827; Cambridge, MA 02139; USA
  Voice: (617) 491-6935, Fax: (617) 491-7046
  Email: mdc@thinguin.org
    Web: http://www.thinguin.org/


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