etherboot -- Software for booting x86 PCs over a network
http://etherboot.sourceforge.net/
Etherboot is a free software package for booting x86 PCs over a
network. In principle this could be any network technology that TCP/IP
runs on that supports broadcasting. In practice, the bandwidth required
means it's only practical over LANs and some WANs. Etherboot is useful
for booting PCs diskless. This is desirable in various situations,
for example:
o Maintaining software for a cluster of equally configured workstations
centrally. o A low-cost X-terminal. o A low cost user platform where
remote partitions are mounted by NFS and you are willing to accept the
slowness of data transfers that results from NFS, compared to a local
disk. o Various kinds of remote servers, e.g. a tape drive server that
can be accessed with the RMT protocol. o Routers. o Machines doing
tasks in environments unfriendly to disks.
Authors: --------
Ken Yap