PINE64

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Can the PINE 64 boot from a TFTP server or NFS Share?

For example, could a bootstrap be placed on the micro-SD that would boot a Linux OS over the network?  The bootstrap on the SD card would be simple and rarely change.  The Linux OS on the TFTP or NFS share could be dynamic.

Thanks!
-Ken
(12-09-2015, 09:46 PM)BostonBay Wrote: [ -> ]Can the PINE 64 boot from a TFTP server or NFS Share?

For example, could a bootstrap be placed on the micro-SD that would boot a Linux OS over the network?  The bootstrap on the SD card would be simple and rarely change.  The Linux OS on the TFTP or NFS share could be dynamic.

Thanks!
-Ken

Sounds possible, but not yet try out.
Sure, it's an u-boot feature and you've to configure the kernel correctly. Whether it's useable depends on the Pine guys being able to figure out how to configure this using Allwinner's BSP.
Looks like there are functionalities in GRUB to boot from network, so that may be a possibility (but I am not a GRUB expert).

Made my pledge for a 1GB/Gigabit Ethernet board - Delivery in March. Looking forward to playing with it.
(12-10-2015, 08:03 AM)BostonBay Wrote: [ -> ]GRUB

GRUB? You should start from here on: http://linux-sunxi.org/U-boot

And if you're lucky and the Pine guys manage to get someone paid or community support you will able to benefit from http://linux-sunxi.org/Mainline_U-Boot
You should be able to pull a filesystem down over a network connection with the kernel or something like that. I've never done it but I don't think the bootloader has to be involved if you don't want it to. I don't know if there are (dis)advantages to either approach but take a look at this.

https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation...fsroot.txt

There may be other network boot methods which use Linux alone, surely bootloader support is unnecessary.
(12-22-2015, 08:19 AM)Groupers Wrote: [ -> ]surely bootloader support is unnecessary.

LOL! YMMD. You will be surprised how much stuff depends solely on the bootloader in question when entering ARM/Allwinner land.
You might also want to look at the FEL, FEL USBBoot, BROM, links on linux-sunxi's site.  Also, the link that I found that first showed me FEL: the-pine-a64-is-about-to-become=the-cheapest-ARM-64-bit-platform-to-run-Docker

I have a project I plan on using FEL on this forum: http://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=782
yes you can, but you will still need a sd card in the pine to hold u-boot to do dhcp and tftp operations and load the kernel and initrd images, after that kernel can do its things and do the same (+ nfs for example).

I do not think pine64 can run u-boot without reading it from sd card right now.
Pine64 U-Boot has no support for networking.
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