Re: debian network workstation
On Wed, Oct 14, 1998 at 02:56:46PM -0400, stick@richnet.net wrote:
> Stephen J. Carpenter said
> > On Wed, Oct 14, 1998 at 08:12:21AM -0700, Kenneth Scharf wrote:
> > > I have an old 386-25 computer with 8m of memory, a 100mb hd, et4000
> > > based video card with 1m of display memory. The mb has no cache, and
> > > only ISA slots. I would like to use this machine as a networked
> > > station tied to my k6-233 acting as a server. I have an acton ne2000
> > > clone I can put in the 386.
> > >
> > > Can I boot linux off the network? Can I put most of the file system
> > > on the network (IE the workstation would mount /bin, /usr, /etc from
> > > the network and maybe even /host/xxxx. What would be then minimun
> > > filesystem that would have to be on the local drive?
> > >
> >
> > Network bootng is easy...
> > you could get away with no hard drive and just a boot disk!
> > (or as little as a few megav=bytes of disk space)
> >
> Absolutely! One company (IGEL LLC) has done just that! They have a line of
> workstations that have a *minimal* filesystem stored in the ROMS (along with
> the kernel) another FS is stored in CMOS (holds /etc stuff). Their minimal
> configuration is a 386sx-16 w/ 8MB RAm and no HD. It works!
Thats very interesting... I figured a ROM would make a great
way to set these up.
> > I would check out my web page
> > http://people.delphi.com/sjc/linux/poor.html
> >
> > this is the "Poor Man's XTerminal" it is for setting up a diskless
> > netbooting XTerminal from a aPC.... it could be adapted for non-X use
> > (ie as a network terminal etc)
> >
> > -Steve
> >
> > --
> > /* -- Stephen Carpenter <sjc@delphi.com> --- <sjc@debian.org>------------ */
> > E-mail "Bumper Stickers":
> > "A FREE America or a Drug-Free America: You can't have both!"
> > "honk if you Love Linux"
> >
>
> Almost forgot...IGEL's solution has been on the market for over 3 years now.
> One of my clients has had 3 of these systmes in place since Feb. 1996. They
> are ZERO administration boxes - I've not done a thing to (or with) them since
> they were installed.
>
> There's no reason why anyone can't put together such a solution...
Well I have done it but...I did it a little differntly...
I just put the kernel on a 3.5" floppy. Then the kernel is setup
to use bootp and NFSroot.
The ENTIRE filesystem is on the server...so any administration can
be done on it (but none should ever be needed once it is setup).
Once I have the time and systems I plan to add suport for
multiple hosts to share the same filesystem and have them
"devine" their unique host information.
-Steve
--
/* -- Stephen Carpenter <sjc@delphi.com> --- <sjc@debian.org>------------ */
E-mail "Bumper Stickers":
"A FREE America or a Drug-Free America: You can't have both!"
"honk if you Love Linux"
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