Date:        11/9/2001 3:56 PM
Received:    11/9/2001 4:05 PM
From:        Steve Tilden, stilden@sicom-sys.com

...

2)  I have added conditional code to main.c from Etherboot 5.0.4 to add
a new default boot option and I have included the modified main.c as an
attachment to this message.

As I received Etherboot 5.0.4, in the Config file, if you select
ASK_BOOT with a non zero time-out option, then you also get to set
ANS_DEFAULT = ANS_NETWORK or ANS_DEFAULT = ANS_LOCAL to determine what
will happen if the operator does not respond to the prompt.   I have now
added conditional code in main.c such that if you set ANS_DEFAULT =
ANS_AUTO, the default answer will be set according to whether or not
there is a hard disk in the system (as detected by the BIOS).  If a hard
disk is present, then if the operator does nothing, the system will boot
from it.  If a hard disk does not exist, then again if the operator does
nothing, the system will boot via the network.  Either way, for our
particular environment, the operator has to do nothing to get it to boot
correctly.  Yet the operator can still override the default selection
to, for example, allow a unit without a hard disk, to boot directly from
a floppy rather than the network, or to allow a unit with a hard disk,
to boot from the network.

I don't know it the code I have added might be correct for a future
production version of Etherboot, but I thought I'd send it to you and
let you get it into the system if you feel it might be appropriate.

Thanks,

Steve Tilden
Sicom Systems Inc.
stilden@sicom-sys.com

[Ed: On a compliant BIOS, it will actually boot the next device in the
BIOS list if local is selected, either explicitly or by timeout, which
may or may not be the hard disk, which is why it's less than general and
not included in the distribution by default.]