[syslinux] Loading progress indication

[Paul Civati]

Hi all,

back in previous versions (3.x I think) when you loaded the kernel or
initrd (at least through PXELINUX) you would get some loading progress
on screen with a series of periods.

At some point this feature just seemed to disappear.

No idea why and I've not yet managed to track down a note in the change log.

I found this feature really useful because it gave you some positive indication 
that loading was proceeding rather than wondering if:
a) the transfer had stalled or got stuck
b) the file had loaded but then hung within the loaded code
c) the file had a typo in the pxelinux config and wasn't loading at all

Often now it's a case of hitting return from your menu and hoping that
something is happening, particularly when you are loading a large image.

I suppose that really I want to see this feature back in, especially now that 
there is also the option of loading over other non-TFTP streams, it would
be useful to see that transfers are happening.

I wouldn't object to this being an option rather than a default.

Is there a reason not to have this feature?

Would code be accepted if someone were to contribute it?

I suppose the first thing to ascertain is if this was removed because of a
technical reason or due to general user dislike?

Regards,

-Paul-