[ECOS] Etherboot & eCos

["Christian Axbrink" <Christian dot Axbrink at hb dot se>]

Hi!

We are currently creating a flexible Ethernet network for research in distributed computing. The least common denominator will be i386-compatibles booting remotely using the Etherboot boot loader.
Some of these i386s will be diskless embedded pc/104 boards which shall run eCos programs.
We need Redboot/eCos executables to be downloaded and launched by Etherboot, however Etherboot does not like the image format of the default eCos i386 output.
According to the Etherboot documentation, with some considerable fiddling and some assembly programming, it should be possible to convert
an eCos/RedBoot executable to a 'tagged image' of a format that Etherboot can accept.
An alternative would be if an eCos/RedBoot executable somehow could be launched from DOS. Then that could be part of a bootable DOS floppy image, which Etherboot can handle 'out f the box'.

Now, before we start banging our foreheads on this problem, we wonder if someone already have done this, and are willing to share their knowledge on how to:

1. Convert an eCos/RedBoot executable to a valid Etherboot 'tagged image'

and/or

2. Launch an eCos/RedBoot executable from DOS.

We are well aware of the overlap in functionality between Etherboot and RedBoot. We need Etherboot as base, because it supports a much larger variety of NICs than do RedBoot. We want RedBoot anyway because of its non-network features, i.e. remote administration & debugging over serial line.

Greetings