[gPXE] Wi-FI connectivity from CDROM

[Joshua Oreman]

On Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 8:34 AM, Doug Glenn <dglenn99 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Currently, the boot CD rom (made from rom-o-matic) only initializes
> the internal eth0 connection and not the wifi connection, so it does
> not connect.
>
> I need to have these boot and connect via Wi-Fi then boot from the server.
>
> Restrictions:  I can't modify the hard drive or install software on
> it.  Political and unchangeable. Story too long and has no bearing on
> the problem, so I won't go into it.
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.  I have downloaded the source,
> but am clueless on how to modify it for my needs.  I checked out the
> current patches, but none appear to be what I need. I have read the
> Wiki section on wireless, but without sucess.
>
> The laptops apparently use the broadcom chipset and are initialized by
> 'modprobe lw' from what I can figure out googling for the WiFi init
> answer.

Thank you for your interest in the project, and especially for having
done some research before asking your question.

Wireless network booting is at the very bleeding edge of "new", and
each additional wireless chipset requires a lot of work to be able to
use it in gPXE. Currently that work has only been done for Realtek and
Atheros (rtl8185 and ath5k) chipsets. Broadcoms are not yet supported,
in part because they require loading a large firmware file onto the
card before anything can be done.

Can you boot the laptops into a Knoppix livecd? If so, running "lspci
-nn" on them and giving us all lines about network or Ethernet
controllers might help identify exactly what type of wireless chipset
you have. (lw is not the module for Broadcom chipsets I'm familiar
with, so I'm not sure)

Since gPXE is unlikely to get Broadcom support soon unless it's
sponsored - it's a large project and we all have other jobs - you may
have better luck creating custom ISOLINUX boot CDs that have a kernel
+ initrd already on them. The initrd can have all the Linux wireless
support, and bring up the wireless interface before mounting your root
filesystem over NFS. TFTP wouldn't be used at all in this case.

Hope this helps!

-- Josh