Anyone booted TCL from NIC(Ethernet)?

[limeblack]

So its funny now a days laptops/desktops are less likely to have cd drives unfortunately.

Has anyone gotten TCL to boot from the Ethernet port?

I am actually working with a desktop computer which can't boot from USB(to old) and some idiot thought it would be a good idea to remove the dvd drive.  I would prefer if I didn't have to open up the computer but will if I have to.

[gerald_clark]

It is covered in the wiki.

[limeblack]

I apologize http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:netbooting?s[]=boot&s[]=ethernet

I searched boot nic with no search results.

So TC Terminal Server comes preinstalled?

[Rich]

Hi limeblack
I've never used  Terminal Server  , but if you click on  Control Panel  there is a button labeled  Terminal Server.

[Misalf]

To boot from USB on hardware that doesn't support it, there is Plop Boot Manager
https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/index.html

[andyj]

I do it all the time. It's how I boot my VM's on my ESX boxes. One machine somewhere needs to be a TFTP/PXE server, and the same or another needs to be a DHCP/BOOTP server if the PXE server address isn't directly entered into the BIOS. Then you'll need a way to get the extensions installed. I used HTTP, but I hear NFS and TFTP work too.

[limeblack]

Do you have to have a router to do this?

[andyj]

Since I'm doing it all in VM's on the same ESX server it's a virtual switch, no routing. DHCP/BOOTP is a broadcast, so you'd have to have a local server or a router that could forward DHCP broadcast requests. If you configure the PXE BIOS with the address and gateway then no special router config should be required. Just let port 69 through for TFTP.  /opt/bootlocal.sh on the PXE server has this:

/usr/bin/udpsvd -E 0 69 tftpd /opt/tftproot &
/opt/dhcpd.sh &
/opt/lighttpd.sh &

dhcpd.sh handles bootp:

#!/bin/sh
#
/usr/local/sbin/dhcpd -cf /usr/local/etc/bootp.conf -lf /mnt/sda1/tce64/bootp.leases \
  -tf /var/log/bootp.log -pf /var/run/bootp.pid eth0 >>/var/log/bootp-sh.log 2>&1 &

lighttpd.sh serves up extensions from the local tce directory:

#!/bin/sh
#
HTTPD=/usr/local/sbin/lighttpd
HTTPD_ROOT=/mnt/sda1/tce64
HTTPD_CONF=$HTTPD_ROOT/lighttpd.conf
cat >$HTTPD_CONF <<EOF
server.document-root = "/"
server.bind = "192.168.1.10"
server.port = 80
server.username = "nobody"
server.groupname = "nogroup"
server.chroot = "$HTTPD_ROOT"
EOF
$HTTPD -D -m /usr/local/lib/lighttpd -f $HTTPD_CONF &

A boot file in pxelinux.cfg looks like this (to start a PostgreSQL server):

DEFAULT pxe
LABEL pxe
KERNEL pxelinux.cfg/default-boot/vmlinuz64-7.2
INITRD pxelinux.cfg/default-boot/rootfs64-7.2.gz,pxelinux.cfg/default-boot/modules64-7.2.gz,pxelinux.cfg/default-boot/my-pgsql-data.gz
APPEND printk.time=1 syslog quiet noswap nozswap tce=/ httplist=192.168.1.10:/pgsql.lst

The third initrd file my-pgsql-data.gz is a "mydata" style filesystem for the target system but in compressed CPIO format.

[limeblack]

Thank you andyj!  I'm afraid that looks complex enough that I may mess something up.  I'm going to experiment with what you gave me.

Plop Boot Manager looks like a really good idea.

I have 2 computers connected by ethernet would Plot boot manager allow me to boot one off the other?

[limeblack]

So I gave the following options for Terminal Server.

1st IP to ?hare?
192.168.0.30

Last IP to share?
192.168.0.60

netcard to use
eth0

IDNS Servers to share
[Return]

Subnet of shared IPs.
255.255.255.0

Gateway to share.
10.0.0.1

any additional boot options?

The thing appears to connect and then gives me a

ftpd: timeout.
ftpd: timeout.
ftpd: timeout.
ftpd: timeout.

[curaga]

If the computers are not connected to a DHCP server (router), but directly with a cable, you need to give the server computer a manual IP before starting the terminal server.

[limeblack]

I have it connect to a router because I would assume this would make it easier to get it working.

Does anyone mind sharing what the output I should be using for each of these commands.
Gateway is easy I get that from ifconfig or ip route show. 

1st IP to Share?
?

Last IP to share?
?

netcard to use
eth0

IDNS Servers to share
[Return]

Subnet of shared IPs.
?

Gateway to share.
// last value on the 1st row
ip route show