[Novalug] Accessing BIOS

[James Ewing Cottrell 3rd]

Boy, we can go on forever with terminology. The answer to my own 
question "I am still wondering, however, how PXE differs from any other
BOOTP or DHCP environment." is "Nothing Much Really", at least not for 
systems that actually use BOOTP to do do more than just get IP 
parameters, but to actually download and boot into the operational 
system. Like an NCD X Terminal.

So PXE is just what they call that part in a PC. Actually, it's slightly 
more than that, as it's a standard, and an API, and probably a floor wax 
and a dessert topping as well.

JIM

Bryan J Smith wrote:
> Megan had it correct.
> 
> PXE is what allows SYSLinux (more specifically, the PXELinux program)
> to be loaded.  Yes, this is provided by BOOTP/TFTP, but PXE is
> the standard that is _not_ part of the PC BIOS that hooks itself
> in to provide this support.  Without PXE, or another approach
> (the PC world has had several), there is *NO* netboot capability
> (at least not without "helper media").
> 
> Hence my analogy to DMI.  It's just one standard, of several, to
> provide facilities that are not inherent, differ and, in some cases,
> are vendor-specific and not universal.  Fortunately PXE has become
> the most common, just like DMI.  Not everything has DMI, just like
> not everything has PXE.
> 
> --  
> Bryan J Smith - mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org  
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile  
>     
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Ewing Cottrell 3rd <JECottrell3 at Comcast.NET>
> Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:52:56 
> To: Megan Larko<larkoc at iges.org>
> Cc: <novalug at calypso.tux.org>
> Subject: Re: [Novalug] Accessing BIOS
> 
> BOOTP, and DHCP by extension, supplies a field which the client can 
> interpret as a filename and retrieve via TFTP. Sound like PXE?
> 
> Perhaps the best example is an X Terminal. The X Terminal BIOS (er  ... 
> firmware (Bryan rests his case again)) sends a BOOTP request, and 
> downloads the operational code for the terminal.
> 
> Many embedded systems use BOOTP to download their executable images to 
> run in memory this way, saving the need for a local disk.
> 
> JIM
> 
> Megan Larko wrote:
>> James Ewing Cottrell 3rd wrote:
>>> We all do. I am still wondering, however, how PXE differs from any 
>>> other BOOTP or DHCP environment.
>> Well, I thought it was in the diskless boot (syslinux execution) 
>> ability.  DHCP can assign a lease for an IP number (either routable or 
>> non-routable).  PXE allows exectution of syslinux.  I don't know if 
>> plain DHCP "executes" anything.
>>
>> I'm sure Bryan J. Smith will correct me.   Smile.
>>
>> megan
>>> Or is PXE a specification about what the downloaded program's 
>>> environment will be?
>>>
>>> JIM
>>>
>>> Megan Larko wrote:
>>>> Gee Whiz...I actually like the PXE (pre-execution environment) name; 
>>>> it makes sense to be for diskless booting of many node cluster 
>>>> systems.   Is that so wrong?
>>>>
>>>> SMILE!
>>>> megan
>>>>
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