Russell Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I've just about finished getting network boot going.
> 
> Currently the method appears to get to you configure the
> unattended.txt on the fly.  Is that true?

Yes.  My goal was to get new users up to speed as quickly as possible,
while still allowing flexibility.  Asking a bunch of questions seemed
like the simplest approach.

The unattend.txt file is always generated on the fly, but you can
control that generation in several ways.  Answering boot-time
questions is merely one of them.

> We went for a profile approach, where different unattended.txt
> belong to certain type of hardware builds.  But one of the main
> advantages I am trying to get is to not have to answer any
> questions.  Since we rebuild 20-80 pc's at a time, in different
> locations.

Another goal was to allow you to avoid the questions if you are
deploying lots of machines.  This is the part of the documentation
which I have not finished yet:

  http://unattended.sourceforge.net/advanced.html

Briefly, there are two ways to avoid the questions.

First, you can create z:\site\unattend.txt.  Any settings there will
override and augment the defaults in z:\lib\unattend.txt.  The actual
unattend.txt will be generated from those two.  It does not need to be
a complete answer file; only the settings you are changing need to be
provided.  (If you miss anything, you will still be asked the
corresponding question.)

Second, you can create z:\site\config.pl, which needs to be some Perl
code for doing other settings.  This allows infinite flexibility; for
example, you could ask the user to pick from a menu of stock
configurations and then make a bunch of settings based on that (for
example, by merging in yet another partial unattend.txt file).  This
is the part of the documentation I still need to write; I will include
a bunch of examples.

The bad news is that my company is moving our offices on Nov. 8, and I
am completely hosed dealing with that.  I may find some time for
Unattended this weekend, but I will likely not have time again until
mid-November.

> I am wondering whether some network boot documentation would be
> helpful as I had a hard time getting it going the first time.

Do you have a more concrete suggestion?  Is there particular wording
you think should be changed, or a new section (or whole document) you
would have found useful?

> I would like to talk on IRC about some things if possible.  on
> open-projects, create a channel #unattended.

I have never used IRC, and I generally prefer the "flex time" of
Email.  But others here might be interested.

 - Pat


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