So, I know it's not particularly related to the class, but lately I've been working on setting up a Network Boot. The idea is, customers at the shop can bring in a computer, connect it to the network, and boot up the proper OS.
This was easier than I was expecting. My boss did most of the heavy lifting, setting up the DHCP and TFTPBoot, but I managed to get my first experience with Linux menuconfig. It's a very simple scripting language, really, and it's actually fairly similar to rails, or at least the way it handles partials and html. Menuconfig files reference each other with one line, effectively putting the entire contents of one file in its place. Menuconfig even writes a bit like HTML, with just about everything wrapped in begin and end tags, and nests to create a form. What's surprising is how much customization you can do in it. You can effectively lay out the text anywhere, you can insert images, and capture all sorts of inputs. That got me thinking, is menuconfig turing complete? It would be pretty interesting using menuconfig like a programming language. You could make simple programs that boot and run without even loading an OS. With the network boot thing, it might be possible to do a menuconfig on PXElinux that will, for example, image the drive over the network before selecting the reinstall option to automatically back up the data before going through with the reinstall.
It won't be done any time during this semester, but it'll be fun to work on over the summer.
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