[K12OSN] using really old PCs as clients

Thu Oct 15 00:11:34 UTC 2009

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 11:36:36PM +0530, raju VK wrote:
> I was about to try this method. But I am facing a peculiar problem. The
> oldest HDDs I currently have is of 39 pin. But the connector on board is of
> 40 pins. When I tried to boot the PC by connecting one of these HDDs, (with
> (DOS), the PC refuses to start.  I tried by flipping the cable ( to check
> whether it is fitted reversley). Once the HDD is disconnected, the PC starts
> without any problem.
> Any clue what went wrong ?
> 
> Regards,
> Raju
> 
If you can't get this working, you can also boot from a CD or a USB
device to accomplish the same end result.

-Rob

> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 8:59 PM, "Terrell Prudé Jr." <
> microman at cmosnetworks.com> wrote:
> 
> >  Also remember that even though the floppy drives aren't working, you can
> > accomplish the same thing with the hard disk instead.  What I do in this
> > case is pull the old box's hard disk out of it, install it in another
> > GNU/Linux or other UNIX-style box, and then "cat" the Rom-O-Matic image to
> > the hard disk, like so.  This example is for the 3Com 3C905 series, and it
> > assumes the old box's hard disk shows up as /dev/hdb.
> >
> >   terrell at thinclientmaker$ su - root
> >   Password:  (enter root's password here)
> >   root at thinclientmaker# cat eb-5.4.4-3c90x.zdsk > /dev/hdb
> >   root at thinclientmaker# halt
> >
> > Then, just pop this new "EtherBoot hard disk" back into the old box and
> > boot from it.  If you set up one box to do all your old hard disks this way,
> > it goes pretty quickly.  I did something similar with some EIDE Sun Ultra 5
> > hard disks a few years back (I used an x86 machine for the cat'ing), and I
> > had ten hard disks all config'd in about 20 minutes.
> >
> > --TP
> > _______________________________
> > Do you GNU <http://www.gnu.org>?
> > Microsoft Free since 2003 <http://www.cmosnetworks.com>--the ultimate
> > antivirus protection!
> >
> >
> > raju VK wrote:
> >
> > Thanks for the clarification.  Hardware vendors and other people were not
> > sure of this. That is why I posted it. This assumes significance as the
> > floppy drives on al these machines  are not working. Therefore I  have
> > decided to give a try even if  the query is not answered.
> >
> >
> >
> > with many thanks,
> > Raju
> >
> > On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 8:54 AM, "Terrell Prudé Jr." <
> > microman at cmosnetworks.com> wrote:
> >
> >>  Actually, it was answered, but perhaps you're not understanding just what
> >> it is we're saying here.  Any card that supports PXE-booting is just such a
> >> card as you describe, with its own boot ROM on it.
> >>
> >> Here's some additional information as well.  If you have any 3Com 3C905
> >> cards handy (either the original or the "B" variant), you'll notice a socket
> >> for a chip.  That socket is where you'd put the boot ROM for that card.  If
> >> you do put that in, then your PC will happily boot from the network.  Jim
> >> McQuillan sells these chips for several types of network card, not just
> >> 3C905's.  But what if you don't happen to have that chip, and your employer
> >> will not pop for these chips?  That's when you "substitute" the boot ROM
> >> chip for a floppy disk, hard disk, or CD-ROM with that same boot ROM image
> >> on it.  It accomplishes exactly the same thing.
> >>
> >> Hopefully this helps to clear some things up.
> >>
> >> --TP
> >>  _______________________________
> >> Do you GNU <http://www.gnu.org>?
> >> Microsoft Free since 2003 <http://www.cmosnetworks.com>--the ultimate
> >> antivirus protection!
> >>
> >>
> >>  raju VK wrote:
> >>
> >>  Thanks for all the replies. But even now my question is not properly
> >> answered. It is simply,  if I use a new network card with boot ROM,
> >> whether I can boot in to a network even if the boot options does not have
> >> an entry for network card as boot device.
> >>
> >>  From the replies I assume the answer is negative and the only option is
> >> to use a boot floppy.
> >>
> >>  regards,
> >> Raju
> >>
> >>
> >>  On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 9:48 PM, Klaus Ade Johnstad <klaus at skolelinux.no
> >> > wrote:
> >>
> >>>  Søndag 11. oktober 2009 17.44.09 skrev raju VK :
> >>>  > I have successfully installed the terminal server on my fc10
> >>> >  desktop.. Now my question is now I can use some vintage (1998/99)
> >>> >  PCs as clients. The PCs has no option to boot from network. Other
> >>> >  wise they are still functional. If I use a network card with boot
> >>> >  ROM can I connect these PCs to the terminal server ?. I googling the
> >>> >  net last two days does not yield any result.
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> > with thanks in advance,
> >>> > Raju
> >>> >
> >>>
> >>>  One person that is using realy old PC as clients (like i486 w/4MB ram)
> >>> is Alberto Castillo from Argentina. Search the listarchives for mail
> >>> from him,  Alberto Castillo <proyecto.edulin at gmail.com>
> >>>
> >>> That would be a good startin point.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Klaus Ade
> >>> 67E61D18B2C44F8A3DA35C6D849F9F5F 26FA477D
> >>>
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> >>>
> >>
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