Re: netboot and dhcpd.conf

On Sun, 1 Feb 2004 12:16:41 +0900
"Toru Nishimura" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I managed to netboot cats board, and post here a tip about how to
> configure dhcpd.conf for reference.  Here goes what I use;
> 
> host terri {
>         hardware ethernet 00:00:F8:05:A7:0D;
>         fixed-address 192.168.0.58;
>         server-name "192.168.0.12";
>         option root-path "/u0/filesys/arm32";
>         option tftp-server-name "192.168.0.12";
>         option host-name "terri";  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< !!!
>         filename "netbsd.aout-GENERIC";
> }
> 
> I was puzzled for a while by cats refused to proceed after two initial
> BOOTP/DHCP transactions between dhcpd.   The point is that cats
> requires to have host-name field.  Without this, cats tries to obtain
> its identity by sending Sun/RPC bootparam whoami request after BOOTP/
> DHCPD messages.   I thought my dhcpd.conf was good enough to
> avoid /etc/bootparams.  It turned out host-name is mandatory to have.

I hadn't noticed that it was required, but then once it was working I
stopped playing with the settings (why fix what ain't broke 8)

> cats firmware Cyclone is made from NetBSD libsa standalone
> framework.  It has some extended facility beyond the original, most
> notably x86emu to run PCI video BIOS for comfortable video console.
> It's charming.  I'm a bit disappointed to see new ABLE firmware looks
> Linux technology derived.

Yes, it does look linux like, of course it can't be though otherwise
they'd have to release code, as GPL is fairly clear on that.  I actually
suspect that they've made it more linux friendly as that's where simtec
probably do more work, and most of their customer base uses linux.

The cyclone firmware probably does use NetBSD stuff as it was written by
Mark Brinicombe, who was once an active NetBSD developer.  Certainly
cats supported NetBSD from the start, however it's the otherway around
now, simtec support linux first, netbsd as and when someone ports to the
board.  (eg I did some work on getting their 7500 board working)

Chris