Status FAI & potato

[Wouter Hanegraaff]

Hi,

What's the current status on fai and potato? I haven't heard much on
this list, lately. Is there a beta or even alpha package for potato fai
available? What are the new features, and how does the new directory
structure look?

I would like to know what the exact problems are and how we can help
solving them, the sooner the better. If we could download the "daily
builds", that would be great. If there's anything that would help
speeding up the release of potato fai, please let us know, we need fai
very hard.

The reason that I am in a bit of a hurry is that I have to install a
cluster of workstations for one of my customers in a few weeks, and it
would be nice to use fai and potato for that. Installing all
workstations from scratch is of course not an option...

On the subject of boot proms:

We managed to get bootware working with linux, but in a very kludgy way. 
Although the bootware support (support_lantech at 3com.com) was very
helpful, the current way to create a boot prom is not easy. If you are
interested, we can write down how we did it and post it to the list in
some more detail. Better yet, if more people mail to the bootware
support, maybe the will come up with a real solution.

Bootware support gave us some useful links:

http://www.ltsp.org/ - linux terminal server website, a lot of
information on remote booting.
http://etherboot.sourceforge.net/ - here you can download the source to
create rom images you can use in an eprom burner. 
http://www.disklessworkstations.com/ - here you can buy boot proms for
linux.

A bit more information on Open Office:

We are a startup company that focusses on bringing linux to the desktop
in small business. We believe that for a lot of small business
companies, all software that is needed to run the office is available
for linux. Remote administration, low software costs, stability and
flexibility are some of the features that make linux an excellent
solution for use in small business.

One of the main reasons linux is not considered ready for the desktop is
the (supposed) difficult installation. In an office environment, this is
not an issue, because it is done by an administrator. With tools like
FAI, things become even easier. 

Open Office provides installation of linux networks, migration from
dos/windows networks to linux, remote support and training.

Wouter Hanegraaff