NAME

       mklnim - make Linux Netinstall Image

SYNOPSIS

       mklnim outputfile [path-to-cdrom]

DESCRIPTION

       mklnim  is  a shell script that takes a SuSE, TurboLinux or a RedHat CDROM, or equivalent disk directory,
       and   creates   a   network   bootable   image    (NBI)    that    can    be    used    with    Etherboot
       (http://etherboot.sourceforge.net/)  or  Netboot  (http://www.han.de/~gero/netboot.html).  This NBI, when
       booted via the network, will make the target computer behave just as if a CDROM boot (TurboLinux),  or  a
       floppy  boot  (RedHat  and  SuSE)  had been selected.  A conventional install can be done from this point
       onwards.

       There are several occasions when this technique is useful: 1. It can be used to  quickly  boot  a  target
       computer  when  the floppy loading is very slow. 2. In the case of TurboLinux, it loads the CDROM initial
       ramdisk which does not require any further floppy loading. In the case  of  RedHat,  it  only  loads  the
       floppy  initial  ramdisk which does not contain the material in the supplementary floppy, and may require
       more floppy insertion.  3. It can start the install from a floppy of any size, not just 1.4 MB,  or  even
       from a floppyless machine, if one has a boot ROM (providing no further floppy access is required).  4. It
       could be used as part of an automatic installation process.

       Naturally, all this assumes that the infrastructure for diskless booting (bootp  and  tftp  servers)  has
       been set up.

BUGS

       If  supplementary  floppies  are  required, this script doesn't include that material in the network boot
       image. Please feel welcome to fix this problem.

SEE ALSO

       Etherboot tutorial at http://etherboot.sourceforge.net/

COPYRIGHT

       mklnim is under the GNU Public License

AUTHOR

       Ken Yap (ken_yap@users.sourceforge.net)

DATE

       Version 0.4 April 2000

                                                  25 April 2000                                        MKLNIM(1)