Diskless boot with onboard NIC

[W Bauske]

Jim fraser wrote:
> 
> I am considering using some inexpensive mother boards as part of a cluster
> project.  These boards (ECS K7AMA) use the
> RealTek 8139C LAN chip on board the motherboard.  They claim it supports
> "Lan card wake-up" .  I have seen some Linux drivers for this chip on the
> Scyld site.
> 

The 8139c is a little slow compared to other chipsets, on the order
of 10% less performance.

> My questions are:
> Is it possible to do a diskless boot without a floppy?  I would prefer a
> etherboot from another system.

Check out linuxcentral.com. They sell a card with etherboot installed.

I'd recommend using 3com or an Intel card for PXE booting though. I've
got quite a few machines that use PXEboot. You can get an Intel PXE
capable card for less than $30. Check around on pricewatch.


Wes