Free diskless remote boot software for linux

File::Remote is a Perl module to read/write/edit remote files transparently.

SYNOPSIS

#
# Two ways to use File::Remote
#
# First, the function-based style. Here, we can use the
# special :replace tag to overload Perl builtins!
#
use File::Remote qw(:replace); # special :replace tag

# read from a remote file
open(REMOTE, "host:/remote/file") or die $!;
print while (< REMOTE >);
close(REMOTE);

# writing a local file still works!
open(LOCAL, ">>/local/file");
print LOCAL "This is a new line.n";
close(LOCAL);

mkdir("host:/remote/dir", 0755);
unlink("host:/remote/file");
unlink("/local/file"); # still works too!
symlink("host:/remote/src", "host:/remote/dest");

chown("root", "other", "host:/remote/dir/file");
chmod(0600, "host:/remote/dir/file");

#
# Next, the object-oriented style, if you dont want to
# mess with the builtins.
#
use File::Remote;
my $remote = new File::Remote;

# Standard filehandles
$remote->open(FILE, ">>host:/remote/file") or die $!;
print FILE "Heres a line thats added.n";
$remote->close(FILE);

# Create a new file and change its permissions
$remote->mkdir("host:/remote/dir");
$remote->touch("host:/remote/dir/file");

# Move files around
$remote->copy("/local/file", "host:/remote/file") or warn $!;
$remote->move("host:/remote/file", "/local/file");

# Read and write whole files
my @file = $remote->readfile("host:/remote/file");
$remote->writefile("/local/file", @file);

# Backup a file with a suffix
$remote->backup("host:/remote/oldfile", "save");

# Use secure connection methods
my $secure = new File::Remote (rsh => "/usr/local/bin/ssh",
rcp => "/usr/local/bin/scp");
$secure->unlink("/local/file");
$secure->rmdir("host:/remote/dir");

This module takes care of dealing with files regardless of whether theyre local or remote. It allows you to create and edit files without having to worry about their physical location on the network. If a file passed into a function is of the form host:/path/to/file, then File::Remote uses rsh/rcp (or ssh/scp, depending on how you configure it) to edit the file remotely. Otherwise, it assumes the file is local and passes calls directly through to Perls core functions.

The nice thing about this module is that you can use it for all your file calls, since it handles both remote and local files transparently. This means you dont have to put a whole bunch of checks for remote files in your code. Plus, if you use the function-oriented interface along with the :replace tag, you can actually redefine the Perl builtin file functions. This means that your existing Perl scripts can automatically handle remote files with no re-engineering(!).

AmaroK XUL Remote is an amaroK script that allows you to control amaroK from any Firefox browser on your network.
Main features:
- basic player manipulation: play, pause, stop, next, previous, seek, volume
- playlist view, plays a track when clicking on it
- collection browser with filtering, support for compilations
- drag and drop tracks, album and artists from the collection to the playlist

vdr_remote is a graphical remote control for the video disk recorder vdr. vdr_remote connects over a TCP/IP network and gives you a complete remote control.

Remote Growl is an extension to Glow which allows remote notification system for Max OS X (server) and any UNIX (client).

This package includes a Cocoa background application server, and a command line client to send notifications to a remote computer.

Xmms::Remote is a Perl Interface to xmms_remote API.

SYNOPSIS

use Xmms::Remote ();
my $remote = Xmms::Remote->new;
$remote->play;

This module provides a Perl interface to the xmms remote control interface. No docs yet, sorry, see test.pl and Xmms.pm for now

Etherboot project is a software package for creating ROM images that can download code over an Ethernet network to be executed on an x86 computer.
Many network adapters have a socket where a ROM chip can be installed. Etherboot is code that can be put in such a ROM. Etherboot is normally used for for booting PCs diskless. This is useful in various situations, for example:
- An X-terminal.
- Clusters of compute servers.
- Routers.
- Various kinds of remote servers, e.g. a tape drive server that can be accessed with the RMT protocol.
- Machines doing tasks in environments unfriendly to disks.
- A user platform where remote partitions are mounted over the network and you are willing to accept the lower speed compared to disk.
- Maintaining software for a cluster of equally configured workstations centrally.
Etherboot can boot computers faster than from a disk because there are no delays in spinning up disks, etc. A moments calculation will show that even with a 10Mbit Ethernet, sending a 500kB kernel will take only a couple of seconds typically. With 100Mbit Ethernet it gets even better.
Compared to booting from solid-state devices, e.g. Flash disks, Etherboot has the advantage of centralising software adminstration, the tradeoff being the dependence on a server. This can be partly alleviated by providing redundant servers.
Etherboot can work with RAM disks, NFS filesystems, or even local disks, if desired. Its a component technology and can be combined with other technologies to do things the way you want.
Etherboot is usually used to load Linux, FreeBSD or DOS. However the protocol and boot file formats are general, so there is no reason why it could not be used to load arbitrary images to a PC, including other OSes.
Etherboot is Open Source under the GNU General Public License Version 2 (GPL2).
The components needed by Etherboot are:
- A bootstrap loader, usually in an EPROM on a network card, or installed in the flash BIOS, but could be put anywhere in the address space the BIOS probes in. For testing this could be put on a floppy disk or a hard disk partition. Some configurations may even be always run from a floppy disk (e.g. temporary testing setups or pedagogic uses).
- A DHCP or bootp server, for returning an IP address and other information when sent a MAC (Ethernet card) address.
- A tftp server, for sending the kernel images and other files required in the boot process. Alternatively, Etherboot can boot from an NFS mount.
- A Linux or FreeBSD kernel.
- Optionally, a NFS server, for providing the disk partitions that will be mounted if Linux or FreeBSD is being booted.
- Optionally, a RAM disk contained in the loaded image. This can be the initial RAM disk if desired.
- Software tools for building the download image, and tools for debugging.
Enhancements:
- This production release should now compile with gcc 4.x.
- In addition, a number of drivers have been updated, including e1000, MCP51 and MCP55 (nvidia), pcnet32, natsemi, sis900, and tg3.
- NetXtreme II cards are now supported.