Very Computer

        I have an idea for something that I think would be really cool to
do, but I am unsure if it is possible.  Here's the idea: Our school runs
dos machines in its labs.  The machines are all connected via ethernet to
the campus T1.  Each machine has its own IP.  What I would like to do is
make a boot disk such that I could walk to any machine in the labs and put
it in, and have the machine boot linux and NFS mount my roomates Linux
system, which is also on the same ethernet network, and logon to his
system, and run things remotly from it.

Does this sound unreasonable? Can this be done with current utilites? Has
it been done already? Can anyone offer me advice on how to do it if it
has not?

Steve

Now if you want to run DOS on the lab machine it is no problem...
Grab your favorite archie site and look for nfsdrv (something) which is
a PD/Shareware nfsdriver, you will also need a packetdriver.
Make a bootdisk with dos on it, load the packetdriver and the nfsdriver
and you will be able to mount a disk if it is exported from /etc/exports.
This can all be done with current tools.

If you want to run Linux, well, you could use a DOS Telnet clone (I use
Minuet) with a packet driver. You will be running linux programs on _his_
machine, the lab computer being a terminal, but this will work as well.

If you meant booting from a bootdisk and running Linux on the machine,
hm, this is more difficult. I don't know... ask around a bit more.

Good luck,
Arno Brevoort

Quote:

>        I have an idea for something that I think would be really cool
to
>do, but I am unsure if it is possible.  Here's the idea: Our school runs
>dos machines in its labs.  The machines are all connected via ethernet
to
>the campus T1.  Each machine has its own IP.  What I would like to do is
>make a boot disk such that I could walk to any machine in the labs and
put
>it in, and have the machine boot linux and NFS mount my roomates Linux
>system, which is also on the same ethernet network, and logon to his
>system, and run things remotly from it.

>Does this sound unreasonable? Can this be done with current utilites?
Has
>it been done already? Can anyone offer me advice on how to do it if it
>has not?

>Steve

:       I have an idea for something that I think would be really cool to
: do, but I am unsure if it is possible.  Here's the idea: Our school runs
: dos machines in its labs.  The machines are all connected via ethernet to
: the campus T1.  Each machine has its own IP.  What I would like to do is
: make a boot disk such that I could walk to any machine in the labs and put
: it in, and have the machine boot linux and NFS mount my roomates Linux
: system, which is also on the same ethernet network, and logon to his
: system, and run things remotly from it.

: Does this sound unreasonable?
No
: Can this be done with current utilites? Has
Yes
: it been done already?
Yes
: Can anyone offer me advice on how to do it if it
: has not?
There are several possibilities. One is to create a standard rescue disk
and put some networking tools on it. Boot and mount the linux system,
set some symlinks from /lib and /usr and other directories in the
root to the mounted file system.
Another is to find the netboot kernel patches and mount the root
filesystem from the network during kernel boot.
There the iX-Terminal package which gives you an Xterminal on a
diskless PC (an existing disk is not problem :-).

In both cases you need to check how you find your IP number, if a bootp
server is used you can use "bootpc" to get the address, if not you
should look for a safe method to find it.

Read up on the HOWTOs on bootfloppies, nfs and the network for more info.

Fons

: :     I have an idea for something that I think would be really cool to
: : do, but I am unsure if it is possible.  Here's the idea: Our school runs
: : dos machines in its labs.  The machines are all connected via ethernet to
: : the campus T1.  Each machine has its own IP.  What I would like to do is
: : make a boot disk such that I could walk to any machine in the labs and put
: : it in, and have the machine boot linux and NFS mount my roomates Linux
: : system, which is also on the same ethernet network, and logon to his
: : system, and run things remotly from it.

: : Does this sound unreasonable?
: No
: : Can this be done with current utilites? Has
: Yes
: : it been done already?
: Yes
: : Can anyone offer me advice on how to do it if it
: : has not?
: There are several possibilities. One is to create a standard rescue disk
: and put some networking tools on it. Boot and mount the linux system,
: set some symlinks from /lib and /usr and other directories in the
: root to the mounted file system.
: Another is to find the netboot kernel patches and mount the root
: filesystem from the network during kernel boot.
: There the iX-Terminal package which gives you an Xterminal on a
: diskless PC (an existing disk is not problem :-).

: In both cases you need to check how you find your IP number, if a bootp
: server is used you can use "bootpc" to get the address, if not you
: should look for a safe method to find it.

: Read up on the HOWTOs on bootfloppies, nfs and the network for more info.

: Fons

Ermm... he doesn't HAVE to use a linux boot disk.  You could use
3COM software and PCNFS and install the files required on just 1 floppy
which you could boot from and then use dos/nfs/unix (telnet) at
the same time..

Jag