diskless station using bootrom without network card?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homedesigned (More info?)

Hi there,
I'm trying to find information on how to build a bootrom card. I want to
put some EPROM's on it which contain the OS, (like bare DOS6.22) then maybe
later on in development I'll make it so I have banks of RAM that would act
as a very small HD, But i'd ideally like to just make one with EPROM's on it
for now.

My theory is that I program the roms with the OS and put it within the
addressing range for a ethernet bootrom, or maybe the IDE rom range. im not
sure about that aspect of PC hardware.

any help would be greately apreciated.

If its any help I was going to do this on some 386 and 486 boards and maybe
find a use for them in a control environment.

Peter

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homedesigned (More info?)

Sorry to not answer your question directly, but suggest an alternative - one
which is simpler, affordable and will take less time to develop.
I've done it myself.
Compact flash cards come invarious sizes up to about 1 Gb, but even 16 Mb is
more than enough to run DOS 6.22 on.
You can get little adapter cards which will take a compact flash card and
let you connect it on an IDE bus. They are bootable. Once connected in
place, you just treat them like a normal hard drive.
A quick-and-easy solid-state-disk solution !
Kevin.

Peter Murray <ratgod@cogeco.ca> wrote:
| Hi there,
| I'm trying to find information on how to build a bootrom card. I
| want to put some EPROM's on it which contain the OS, (like bare
| DOS6.22) then maybe later on in development I'll make it so I have
| banks of RAM that would act as a very small HD, But i'd ideally like
| to just make one with EPROM's on it for now.
|
| My theory is that I program the roms with the OS and put it within
| the addressing range for a ethernet bootrom, or maybe the IDE rom
| range. im not sure about that aspect of PC hardware.
|
| any help would be greately apreciated.
|
| If its any help I was going to do this on some 386 and 486 boards and
| maybe find a use for them in a control environment.
|
| Peter

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homedesigned (More info?)

Well, i know the compact flash would work, I've got the schematic for the
adaptor somewhere.
but compact flash is a little more then id like to spend on a 386/486
computer, and I was thinking of putting solid state disks in about 7 of
these motherboard so it probably wont be cost effective using compact flash.
thanks for the reply eitherway

but I was mainly thinking of keeping this as simple and low budget as
possible

"Kevin Lawton" <socks.kepla.shoes@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:c706ca$bqs$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
> Sorry to not answer your question directly, but suggest an alternative -
one
> which is simpler, affordable and will take less time to develop.
> I've done it myself.
> Compact flash cards come invarious sizes up to about 1 Gb, but even 16 Mb
is
> more than enough to run DOS 6.22 on.
> You can get little adapter cards which will take a compact flash card and
> let you connect it on an IDE bus. They are bootable. Once connected in
> place, you just treat them like a normal hard drive.
> A quick-and-easy solid-state-disk solution !
> Kevin.
>
> Peter Murray <ratgod@cogeco.ca> wrote:
> | Hi there,
> | I'm trying to find information on how to build a bootrom card. I
> | want to put some EPROM's on it which contain the OS, (like bare
> | DOS6.22) then maybe later on in development I'll make it so I have
> | banks of RAM that would act as a very small HD, But i'd ideally like
> | to just make one with EPROM's on it for now.
> |
> | My theory is that I program the roms with the OS and put it within
> | the addressing range for a ethernet bootrom, or maybe the IDE rom
> | range. im not sure about that aspect of PC hardware.
> |
> | any help would be greately apreciated.
> |
> | If its any help I was going to do this on some 386 and 486 boards and
> | maybe find a use for them in a control environment.
> |
> | Peter
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homedesigned (More info?)

Peter Murray wrote:

> Hi there,
> I'm trying to find information on how to build a bootrom card. I want
> to
> put some EPROM's on it which contain the OS, (like bare DOS6.22) then
> maybe later on in development I'll make it so I have banks of RAM that
> would act as a very small HD, But i'd ideally like to just make one with
> EPROM's on it for now.
>
> My theory is that I program the roms with the OS and put it within the
> addressing range for a ethernet bootrom, or maybe the IDE rom range. im
> not sure about that aspect of PC hardware.
>
> any help would be greately apreciated.
>
> If its any help I was going to do this on some 386 and 486 boards and
> maybe find a use for them in a control environment.
>
> Peter

How about a device that is IDE based and can run off of a 1 gig flash memory
card??

http://store.ituner.com/ituner/emstcfl.html

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homedesigned (More info?)

Peter Murray wrote:

> Hi there,
> I'm trying to find information on how to build a bootrom card. I want
> to
> put some EPROM's on it which contain the OS, (like bare DOS6.22) then
> maybe later on in development I'll make it so I have banks of RAM that
> would act as a very small HD, But i'd ideally like to just make one with
> EPROM's on it for now.
>
> My theory is that I program the roms with the OS and put it within the
> addressing range for a ethernet bootrom, or maybe the IDE rom range. im
> not sure about that aspect of PC hardware.
>
> any help would be greately apreciated.
>
> If its any help I was going to do this on some 386 and 486 boards and
> maybe find a use for them in a control environment.
>
> Peter
You might find some kind of IO card with DOC technology. Try doing a search
for ISA and DOC. Some motherboards have a socket for a DOC module but they
are usually on motherboards designed for embedded solutions.

Only other thing I can think of is some kind of RAM Drive but you would need
more memory probably. Might Research RAM Disk or look at a Win98 Boot
Floppy for how they do it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homedesigned (More info?)

Last Boy Scout wrote:
> Peter Murray wrote:
>
>
>>Hi there,
>> I'm trying to find information on how to build a bootrom card. I want
>> to
>>put some EPROM's on it which contain the OS, (like bare DOS6.22) then
>>maybe later on in development I'll make it so I have banks of RAM that
>>would act as a very small HD, But i'd ideally like to just make one with
>>EPROM's on it for now.
>>
>> My theory is that I program the roms with the OS and put it within the
>>addressing range for a ethernet bootrom, or maybe the IDE rom range. im
>>not sure about that aspect of PC hardware.
>>
>>any help would be greately apreciated.
>>
>>If its any help I was going to do this on some 386 and 486 boards and
>>maybe find a use for them in a control environment.
>>
>>Peter
>
> You might find some kind of IO card with DOC technology. Try doing a search
> for ISA and DOC. Some motherboards have a socket for a DOC module but they
> are usually on motherboards designed for embedded solutions.
>
> Only other thing I can think of is some kind of RAM Drive but you would need
> more memory probably. Might Research RAM Disk or look at a Win98 Boot
> Floppy for how they do it.
there is a wealth of info on diskless workstations, with out any special
hardware! Most use GNU/Linux live CDrom, or, a USB stick, or, a Floppy!

There are so many, in fact, that they are categorized by usage!

For use of an I386 (386/486/586) as a firewall/router, Off of a
floppy/mini-CD, 130Mb hard drive, check out the dozen firewall routers,
and, ideas for self booting systems, here:
http://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=firewalls

Networks, thin clients, diskless workstations:
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/4472/1/
http://www.ltsp.org/


Live CDs:
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
http://linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=44
http://knopper.net/knoppix

80+ distros of LiveCDs, that boot fast, and run from the RAM...

http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/FaqCustomising

Plus, you can make your own distro, customizing it to contain only the
files and apps that you want, and have it self boot upon application of
power to the unit!