ROM-o-matic configuration for Etherboot version 5.2.2 (i386)
for 82559er.zdsk


Make configuration selections and then press to generate and download the ROM image, or to return to the main page.

To make a bootable floppy on a GNU/Linux system, put a formatted floppy in your floppy drive and do:
$ cat eb-5.2.2-82559er.zdsk > /dev/fd0

where "eb-5.2.2-82559er.zdsk" is where you stored your downloaded ROM image.

On a DOS/Windows system, use the RAWRITE program to write the .zdsk image to a formatted floppy. RAWRITE is available on most GNU/Linux installation CDs or on the web.

Some additional help for making floppy or ROM images is available here.


  ASK_BOOT:
  Ask "Boot from (N)etwork ... or (Q)uit? " at startup, timeout after n seconds (0 = no timeout). If unset, boot immediately using the default.
  BOOT_FIRST:
  On timeout or Return key from previous question, selects the order to try to boot from various devices.
(alternatives: BOOT_NIC, BOOT_DISK, BOOT_FLOPPY, BOOT_NOTHING).
See etherboot.h for prompt and answer strings.
  BOOT_SECOND:
  On timeout or Return key from previous question, selects the order to try to boot from various devices.
(alternatives: BOOT_NIC, BOOT_DISK, BOOT_FLOPPY, BOOT_NOTHING).
See etherboot.h for prompt and answer strings.
  BOOT_THIRD:
  On timeout or Return key from previous question, selects the order to try to boot from various devices.
(alternatives: BOOT_NIC, BOOT_DISK, BOOT_FLOPPY, BOOT_NOTHING).
See etherboot.h for prompt and answer strings.
  BOOT_INDEX:
  The device to boot from:
0 == any device.
1 == The first nic found.
2 == The second nic found
...
BOOT_INDEX only applies to the BOOT_FIRST. BOOT_SECOND and BOOT_THIRD search through all of the boot devices.
BAR_PROGRESS
  Use rotating bar instead of sequential dots to indicate a packet transmitted.
NO_DHCP_SUPPORT
  Use BOOTP instead of DHCP
RARP_NOT_BOOTP
  Use RARP instead of BOOTP/DHCP
REQUIRE_VCI_ETHERBOOT
  Require an encapsulated Vendor Class Identifier of "Etherboot" in the DHCP reply Requires DHCP support.
Enabling this makes the boot ROM require a Vendor Class Identifier of "Etherboot" in the Vendor Encapsulated Options This can be used to reject replies from servers other than the one we want to give out addresses to us, but it will prevent Etherboot from getting an IP lease until you have configured DHCPD correctly
ALLOW_ONLY_ENCAPSULATED
  Ignore Etherboot-specific options that are not within the Etherboot encapsulated options field. This option should be enabled unless you have a legacy DHCP server configuration from the bad old days before the use of encapsulated Etherboot options.
  DEFAULT_BOOTFILE:
  Define a default bootfile for the case where your DHCP server does not provide the information. Example:
-DDEFAULT_BOOTFILE="tftp:///tftpboot/kernel"
If you do not specify this option, then DHCP offers that do not specify bootfiles will be ignored.
ALLMULTI
  Turns on multicast reception in the NICs.
CONGESTED
  turns on packet retransmission. Use it on a congested network, where the normal operation can't boot the image.
  BACKOFF_LIMIT:
  sets the maximum RFC951 backoff exponent to n. Do not set this unreasonably low, because on networks with many machines they can saturate the link (the delay corresponding to the exponent is a random time in the range 0..3.5*2^n seconds). Use 5 for a VERY small network (max. 2 minutes delay), 7 for a medium sized network (max. 7.5 minutes delay) or 10 for a really huge network with many clients, frequent congestions (max. 1 hour delay). On average the delay time will be half the maximum value. If in doubt about the consequences, use a larger value. Also keep in mind that the number of retransmissions is not changed by this setting, so the default of 20 may no longer be appropriate. You might need to set MAX_ARP_RETRIES, MAX_BOOTP_RETRIES, MAX_TFTP_RETRIES and MAX_RPC_RETRIES to a larger value.
  TIMEOUT:
  Use with care!! See above. Sets the base of RFC2131 sleep interval to n. This can be used with -DBACKOFF_LIMIT=0 to get a small and constant (predictable) retry interval for embedded devices. This is to achieve short boot delays if both the DHCP Server and the embedded device will be powered on the same time. Otherwise if the DHCP server is ready the client could sleep the next exponentially timeout, e.g. 70 seconds or more. This is not what you want. n should be a multiple of TICKS_PER_SEC (18).
CAN_BOOT_DISK
  Can boot from floppy/hd if bootimage matches the pattern "/dev/[fh]d*"; if you do not have enough space in the EPROM, then disable this feature and use "mknbi-blkdev" for booting from a local blockdevice.
  TRY_FLOPPY_FIRST:
  If > 0, tries that many times to read the boot sector from a floppy drive before booting from ROM. If successful, does a local boot. It assumes the floppy is bootable. Requires -DCAN_BOOT_DISK.
EMERGENCYDISKBOOT
  if no BOOTP server can be found, then boot from local disk. The accessibility of the TFTP server has no effect, though! So configure your BOOTP server properly. You should probably reduce MAX_BOOTP_RETRIES to a small number like 3.
TAGGED_IMAGE
  Add tagged image kernel boot support (recommended)
AOUT_IMAGE
  Add a.out kernel boot support (generic)
ELF_IMAGE
  Add generic ELF kernel boot support (recommended)
EL64F_IMAGE
  Add generic ELF64 kernel boot support (useful for > 4GB disks).
WINCE_IMAGE
  Add the ability to boot WINCE.... now only sis630 OK!
FREEBSD_PXEEMU
  Add the ability to boot PXE images... only FreeBSD supported
Support for PXE emulation. Works only with FreeBSD to load the kernel via pxeboot, use only with DOWNLOAD_PROTO_NFS
X86_BOOTSECTOR_IMAGE
  Add the ability to boot 512 byte x86 boot sectors
IMAGE_MULTIBOOT
  Add Multiboot image support (currently only for ELF images)
IMAGE_FREEBSD
  Add FreeBSD image loading support (requires at least -DAOUT_IMAGE and/or -DELF_IMAGE)
FREEBSD_KERNEL_ENV
  Pass in FreeBSD kernel environment
AOUT_LYNX_KDI
  Add Lynx a.out KDI support
MULTICAST_LEVEL1
  Support for sending multicast packets
MULTICAST_LEVEL2
  Support for receiving multicast packets
DOWNLOAD_PROTO_TFTP
  If defined, boots by tftp (recommended).
DOWNLOAD_PROTO_NFS
  if defined, boots from a NFS mount and disables tftp loading. Default is DOWNLOAD_PROTO_TFTP if neither is defined.
DOWNLOAD_PROTO_SLAM
  If defined, boots via Scalable Local Area Multicast.
DOWNLOAD_PROTO_TFTM
  If defined, enables booting via TFTP Multicast mode.
  SAFEBOOTMODE:
  Enables "Safe Boot Mode": Only boot images after verification with public-key-cryptography, this is WORK IN PROGRESS must be or'ed from one publickey storage method and one nbi-digest method value
0 = store key in code (safeboot_key.h)
1 = store key in ROM somewhere else (to do)
0 = crypted digest in first 512 bytes - as bytes 446...509 (compatible with most NBIs!?)
16 = crypted digest as ELF block (to do... Eric?)
So for now, only valid mode is "0"
CONSOLE_FIRMWARE
  Set for firmware/BIOS provided (default if nothing else is set). Normally this is shows up on your CRT.
CONSOLE_SERIAL
  set for serial console.
CONSOLE_DUAL
  Both of the above
  COMCONSOLE:
  set port, e.g. 0x3F8
  CONSPEED:
  set speed, e.g. 57600
  COMPARM:
  set Line Control Register value for data bits, stop bits and parity. See a National Semiconditor 8250/ 16450/16550 data sheet for bit meanings. If undefined, defaults to 0x03 = 8N1.
COMPRESERVE
  Ignore COMSPEED and COMPARAM and instead preserve the com port parameters from the previous user of the com port. Examples of previous user are a BIOS that implements console redirection, lilo and LinuxBIOS. This makes it trivial to keep the serial port speed setting in sync between multiple users. You set the speed in the first user and the rest follow along.
POWERSAVE
  Halt the processor when waiting for keyboard input which saves power while waiting for user interaction. Good for compute clusters and VMware emulation.
RELOCATE
  After starting etherboot relocate to the top of memory. This allows loading fairly arbitrary rom images. This doesn't work with a couple of drivers, e.g. lance.
CONFIG_PCI
  Include support for devices using the pci bus.
CONFIG_ISA
  Include support for devices using isa bus.
PCBIOS
  Compile in support for the normal pcbios
LINUXBIOS
  Compile in support for LinuxBIOS
BBS_BUT_NOT_PNP_COMPLIANT
  Some BIOSes claim to be PNP but they don't conform to the BBS spec which specifies that ES:DI must point to the string $PnP on entry. This option works around those. This option must be added to LCONFIG.
NO_DELAYED_INT
  Take control as soon as BIOS detects the ROM. Normally hooks onto INT18H or INT19H. Use only if you have a very non-conformant BIOS as it bypasses BIOS initialisation of devices. This only works for legacy ROMs, i.e. PCI_PNP_HEADER not defined. This option was formerly called NOINT19H.
BOOT_INT18H
  Etherboot normally hooks onto INT19H for legacy ROMs. You can choose to hook onto INT18H (BASIC interpreter entry point) instead. This entry point is used when all boot devices have been exhausted. This option must be added to LCONFIG.
CONFIG_PCI_DIRECT
  Define this for PCI BIOSes that do not implement BIOS32 or not correctly. Normally not needed. Only works for BIOSes of a certain era.
CONFIG_TSC_CURRTICKS
  Uses the processor time stamp counter instead of reading the BIOS time counter. This allows Etherboot to work even without a BIOS. This only works on late model 486s and above.
CONFIG_NO_TIMER2
  Some systems do not have timer2 implemented. If you have a RTC this will allow you to roughly calibrate it using outb instructions.
PXELOADER_KEEP_UNDI
  For implementation later with UNDI.
IBM_L40
  This option uses the 0x92 method of controlling A20 instead of the traditional method of using the keyboard controller. An explanation of A20 is here: http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/kbd/A20.html This occurs on MCA, EISA and some embedded boards, and sometimes with the Fast Gate A20 option on some BIOSes. Enable this only if you are sure of what you are doing.
CONFIG_X86_64
  Compile in support for booting x86_64 64bit binaries.
MOVEROM
  If your motherboard does not cache adapter memory space, then this option can speed up loading of compressed BOOT-Prom images. It has no affect on uncompressed images. Unless you are very tight on free space, you will usually want to define this option. This option must be added to LCONFIG! (recommended).
IGNORE_E820_MAP
  Ignore the memory map returned by the E820 BIOS call. May be necessary on some buggy BIOSes.
CONSOLE_DIRECT_VGA
  Set for direct VGA console (only for x86).
ALTERNATE_DHCP_PORTS_1067_1068
  Use ports 1067 and 1068 for DHCP instead of 67 and 68. As these ports are non-standard, you need to configure your DHCP server to use them. This option gets around existing DHCP servers which cannot be touched, for one reason or another, at the cost of non-standard boot images.

To make a bootable floppy on a GNU/Linux system, put a formatted floppy in your floppy drive and do:
$ cat eb-5.2.2-82559er.zdsk > /dev/fd0

where "eb-5.2.2-82559er.zdsk" is where you stored your downloaded ROM image.

On a DOS/Windows system, use the RAWRITE program to write the .zdsk image to a formatted floppy. RAWRITE is available on most GNU/Linux installation CDs or on the web.

Some additional help for making floppy or ROM images is available here.



Rom-o-matic.net works best with Netscape or lynx browsers. If you're using MIE 5.5 or are having problems downloading a ROM image, please read this.

For more information about Etherboot and network booting in general, see:



Please email webmaster@entity.com with questions or comments about this website.