[Beowulf] Re: 1000baseT NIC and PXE?

[David Mathog]

Andrew Robbie wrote:
> Can I suggest you consult the rom-o-matic database maintained by the  
> etherboot/gPXE project? The raw list is at:
> http://rom-o-matic.net/gpxe/gpxe-git/gpxe.git/src/bin/NIC
> 
> For example, it shows that the DGE-530T is supported with the skge  
> driver.

I did visit that site, but the documentation was not exactly "make PXE
work when it didn't before" newbie friendly.  It looked very helpful if
one already knows what it means!  

Yesterday I called a bunch of tech support lines for the various cheap
NIC manufacturers and was that ever a miserable experience.  D-link and
netsys both sent me to Indian phone support hell, in one instance so bad
the questioner got into a loop on her script and started asking the same
questions again, at which point I threw an exception and hung up.  For
those cards which had an empty socket to hold an EEPROM, nobody could
(or would) tell me what type of chip to put in there, or where to get
the software to load on it.  The most honest answer of the day was (not
an exact quote) "we just make the things, ask Realtek if it can do
that".  (Still waiting for Realtek to reply.)

Gus Correa sent me the simplest solution - PXE boot using the existing
100baseT on the mobo and use the new gigabit card once the system comes up.

Regards,

David Mathog
mathog at caltech.edu
Manager, Sequence Analysis Facility, Biology Division, Caltech