[syslinux] token ring for pxelinux

[JohnPoltorak]

On Thu, Feb 27, 2003 at 12:43:03PM +0100, Josef Siemes wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> John Poltorak <jp at manninghammills.org> schrieb am 26.02.03 00:19:27:
> > 
> > On Tue, Feb 25, 2003 at 02:46:25PM -0800, richard turner wrote:
> > > is token ring supported by pxelinux or only ethernet?
> > 
> > I'm interested in pxelinux over token ring too.
> > 
> > Which card I you looking at?
> 
> I have it  working with IBM Token Ring cards. 

Don't suppose it will work with any old MCA cards...

> All cards above 'IBM Token Ring
> PCI Adapter 2' support PXE and RPL, the old 'IBM Token Ring PCI card' 
> only supports RPL. Use the 'PXE 1 Rom' for booting clients, since the
> 'PXE 2' rom doesn't seem to work for me. Especially the 'low profile
> token ring adapteer' comes with the PXE 2 rom preinstalled.

I have a small PCI adapter, but not sure what type it is. It does show 
any signs of PXE, although I can start a RIPL boot with it -but it 
doesn't get very far. I also have a TR port embedded in an IBM Network 
Station which will support PXE. That is my only exposure to PXE so far, 
but it is proving difficult to getting it working.

 
> > I was also interested if it was possible to upload some microcode to 
> > support a newer version of pxe...
> 
> IBM has updated PXE roms available, and you'll need a rom version of
> at least 3.16 (AFAIR), since the old roms don't do anything good. You can
> verify the rom version while booting the client, it shows at the 'AL-'
> and 'BL-' fields. These should show something with '16', every older number
> should be updated. And no, these are not the numbers the rom disk has ...

Is it possible to upload microcode to these cards, or do you actually need 
to physicall replace roms?

As far as these AL- BL- fields go, is there a reference anywhere as to 
what they all stand for? I've looked at them for years wondering what they 
all mean.

 
> BTW, this is working quite good on about 1000 clients for two years now, 
> with token ring on the client, ATM with lan-emulating token ring on the 
> server (IBM RS/6000 with AIX 4.3.3).
> 
> And yes, token-ring is still used. I know of several banking and insurance customers
> still using it. Some plan to migrate to ethernet, though.

I read somewhere that 100Mb TR was now available, but I guess cards would 
be prohibitively expensive compared to Ethernet...

 
> If anyone needs more info on this, there's some documentation for the PXE rom
> (and the RPL variant too ...) on the IBM web site. Also ask here, and I'll try to answer.

I'm familar with RPL, and have thoughtit was a great technology for years.


 
> Regards,
> 
> Josef

-- 
John