[U-Boot-Users] uploading OS over network instead of u-boot do wnloading it from a server.

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear Brian,

in message <5.1.1.6.2.20030624115306.0131de20 at corelis.com> you wrote:
> Wonfgang,

s/n/l/

> >Can you please explain the advantages of the  boot  loader  providing
> >server function?
> 
> The advantage I see is this.
> 1. You ship 1 less piece of software. Less number of application that needs 
> to be installed/started is always better, IMHO, when it comes to support.

Don't you have to ship a (proprietary?) upload client instead of  the
(standard) TFTP server?

> 2. It makes the network configuration a bit simpler. If you do not have a 
> dedicated TFTP server, you must use serial console to setup the  server IP 
> before you can boot if you change the tftp server. Users only have to worry 
> about 1 IP instead of 2 when setting up our product. Since large number of 
> our users are not very network savvy, things like this make a difference 
> when it comes to support.

As mentioned before, the TFTP server which is  used  for  example  by
Abatron does not require any special setup on the host.

In any case you will have to setup both the network interfaces on the
host and the target.


> I think this will be useful only when it is deployed to the field. I agree 
> that during the development, it has little advantages.

So what are the advantages in the field, then?

> I have no idea how complicated it will be to implement server feature. 

It is not complicated. But IMHO not worth the effort.



Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
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