VaKo Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 I have a spare PC thats currently running Win2003 as a headless box (using remote desktop to control it). What i'd like to be able to do is dual boot between Win2003 and *nix. But since this machine is headless i can't just run a boot manager and do it normally. So, is there any type of boot manager than has a VNC (or similar) client? I'd like to be able to pipe monitor/kb/mouse to any computer on the LAN, but before either OS has loaded. (once the OS has loaded i can do VNC stuff normally). Possible or pipe dream? The other option is a KVM switch and 10m of cables... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sentinel Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 Umm I guess you could run a virtual pc (like in ep 3.5)...but that's not very practical. I think to do what you really want to do you have to look at hardware. there are KVM switches that run over ethernet, but I don't think they're cheap. Also check out this mod: http://www.geocities.com.nyud.net:8090/dou...gaovercat5.html If you like that, it seems like it wouldn't be too hard to adapt it to mouse and keyboard too - they could probably even share a second cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted March 25, 2006 Author Share Posted March 25, 2006 The VGA to CAT5 looks pretty funky. Cheers for that. Think this is gonna have to wait until I have my computers closer together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mubix Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 You can always try the xen linux distro. Lightweight and it boots VMWare style virtual machines. worth a look. You could probably put VNC on that, and watch it boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted March 26, 2006 Author Share Posted March 26, 2006 Given that the "server" is a 950mhz AMD with 512mb ram, will it cripple the performance of win2003? Need that to learn about Active Directory and win2003 admin stuff. Xen doesn't seem to support Win2003 without hardware VT, which I don't have... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrall Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 Why not put linux on it instead of Windows. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sentinel Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 the system sounds alright, it should run just fine. (obviously not as fast as it could, but surely fast enough for what you need it for) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted March 26, 2006 Author Share Posted March 26, 2006 http://www.xensource.com/xen/downloads/ What do i need? the tarball, the RPM? Boy do i feel like total n00b atm... Basically i need an always-on webserver, and the abillity to run Windows 2003 (its for learning, so i can get work and eat). But I only have this one box and an ancient compaq p2 laptop to play with (main machine and my other laptops are for work so i can't piss around with them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooper Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 More expensive boxes have something like this built in, but it's an expensive option. What they basically have is a VERY bare-bones system attached to the actual server which is able to reset the machine as well as provide the contents on the display (and interact with it) using screen scraping techniques. It's a bit hackish, but it works. Chances are you can just buy a PCI card that does this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted March 27, 2006 Author Share Posted March 27, 2006 Wonder if i could run something like that on the old P2 (compaq armada 3500, mint laptop in its day)? Got a link so i can see the concept a bit clearer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooper Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Here's one. And here's one from Dell Mind you, this is server gear, so it tends to come with a server gear pricetag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 Hmmm... unless to magic upgrade crowbar turns up, i may as well just buy a couple more old PC's and be done with it looking at the tags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trash Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 i have a "workaround" you may have heard that you can add a kernel loader to the windows nt bootmenu? its relatively easy there are step by step guides just google it. all you need to do, is write two different boot.ini files, and have a script that does attrib -h -s -r boot.ini & ren boot.ini boot.other & copy boot.linux boot.ini & shutdown -r -t 00 and it will shutdown windows and boot linux. all you need to do is write a script under linux to do the same thing, or if you run wine with the appropriate permissions you could even run the same script under linux before you reboot.... thats what i would do if my scond box had no monitor. It would at least give you the functionality you want, i.e decide what os will boot (next) , via vnc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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