Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!usc!ucsd!pacbell.com!tandem!mytardis!jb
From: jb@mytardis.UUCP (John Bartas)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Software assigned Ethernet Addresses
Message-ID: <119@mytardis.UUCP>
Date: 31 Jul 90 21:06:58 GMT
Lines: 24


I lost the posting from the fellow who was going to build an ethernet
board without an address prom and assign the address via software,
but I once worked for a company that was going to do the same thing. 

Although they didn't find anything in the spec saying NOT to do it, I
was uneasy about the fact that although it seemed an obvious way of
reducing parts and cutting mfg costs, no one else that I knew of did
it. We even prototyped some boards and had them working in our labs
with commercial net protocols. Hand assigning unique ethernet numbers
to each board we brought up was a pain, but is was doable.

We gave up on the idea when we thought about booting via the net. We 
needed an address to start to boot, but we needed to be booted for software
to assign an address. Chicken and Egg. There were other problems too, 
but I left all my notes at the company and don't recall details. You
didn't mention what your machine was for, so maybe none of this applies
to you.

-JB-

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