Dear Brian,
in message 5.1.1.6.2.20030624115306.0131de20@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.
- 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?
- 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