[gPXE] addition to (RTL8139) wiki pages‏

[Kyle Kienapfel]

Is pin 30 connected to anything on those boards? Pin 30 is most significant
address bit with a 2 megabit chip. Maybe they're looking towards the
future?

I had good success with programming some 1megabit eeproms salvaged from dead
motherboards, none of my realteks came with 32pin sockets, but i found three
that were extend-able.

You add the note about 28 pin chips in 32pin sockets to the wiki yourself.

The outdated information on EPROM programmers is probably due to each person
burning eproms needing _access_ to one, not necessarily everyone owning
their own.

I'm not sure a big list of peoples preferences on bootrom chip burning is a
good idea. a better idea would be to have a list of pros and cons for each
of UV, OTP, EEPROM.
"KyleK prefers to burn eeproms on realtek 8139's" a big list like that seems
crufty, but maybe I have the wrong idea?


On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 5:08 AM, Paul Geraedts <p.f.j.geraedts at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hello,
>
> The RTL8139 wiki page (http://etherboot.org/wiki/realtek8139roms)
> contains a lot of very useful information for new users.
>
> Among others it mentions that the 32 pins sockets are backwards
> compatible with the 28 pins chips. I agree with that, but I also
> observed that some PCB manufactures are a bit sloppy here. That is,
> for this to work they should have connected pin 32 (V_DD) to pin 30
> (NC). Meaningless for 32 pins chips, but vital for 28 pins ones: their
> pin 28 (V_DD) ends up in this pin 30 of the 32 pins socket and the
> chip would otherwise not be supplied with power!
>
> So I think it would be a good addition to the wiki page to mention
> that if 28 pins chips do not work in 32 pins sockets, then to check
> that pins 32 and 30 are properly connected together. A quick fix can
> be a wire pushed in both socket pins, but soldering is more reliable
> of course.
>
>
> Than something else. I think it is still a bit intimidating for new
> users to start working on the hardware side of gPXE. For instance what
> EPROM programmer to buy that is both cheap, modern and readily
> available? I couldn't find one in the wiki pages: most programmers
> mentioned there were outdated. After some additional research I
> finally bought a very nice one on EBay (TOP2005+, $45, proper English
> Windows software, unfortunately no Linux support AFAIK). The same is
> true for the type of chip to use: I eventually bought the 28 pins
> (ATMEL AT)27C512R. An OTP version of the original EEPROM: very cheap
> and no hassle with UV lights. A personal choice of course, but I think
> that a list where people can add their preference would be a nice
> addition to the wiki. The same holds for a list of chipset related ROM
> burning info: only accidently I discovered the realtek8139roms page. A
> summarizing list of all wiki pages on this topic would be very helpful
> here I'd say. If such lists are added, I would be happy to add my
> preference.
>
> The whole thing works great now: the combination of WOL and gPXE
> allows me to remotely boot the computers with whatever OS I choose
> without needing any physical access. Very nice system you guys
> implemented!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul
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>
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