Hi all, back in previous versions (3.x I think) when you loaded the kernel or initrd (at least through PXELINUX) you would get some loading progress on screen with a series of periods. At some point this feature just seemed to disappear. No idea why and I've not yet managed to track down a note in the change log. I found this feature really useful because it gave you some positive indication that loading was proceeding rather than wondering if: a) the transfer had stalled or got stuck b) the file had loaded but then hung within the loaded code c) the file had a typo in the pxelinux config and wasn't loading at all Often now it's a case of hitting return from your menu and hoping that something is happening, particularly when you are loading a large image. I suppose that really I want to see this feature back in, especially now that there is also the option of loading over other non-TFTP streams, it would be useful to see that transfers are happening. I wouldn't object to this being an option rather than a default. Is there a reason not to have this feature? Would code be accepted if someone were to contribute it? I suppose the first thing to ascertain is if this was removed because of a technical reason or due to general user dislike? Regards, -Paul-
I'm definitely missing this feature; Best, Patrick
So I just realised that things were changed and the presence of the 'quiet' keyword on the command line suppresses some status messages about loading of the kernel/initrd. I had thought this keyword was strictly for the kernel.. I only realise this now from the note in the change log for 3.74 - so I suppose my suggestion is not quite so important if you remove the 'quiet' keyword from your config. I don't know if anyone else cares for more informational display about loading progress than that.. -Paul-
On Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 9:02 AM, Paul Civati via Syslinux <syslinux at zytor.com> wrote:> Hi all, > > back in previous versions (3.x I think) when you loaded the kernel or > initrd (at least through PXELINUX) you would get some loading progress > on screen with a series of periods.Correct, this was changed in 5.00 as the loading code moved to pure C rather than ASM and involved exactly 1 generic function call.> At some point this feature just seemed to disappear. > > No idea why and I've not yet managed to track down a note in the change log.Trying to find the history of this. Initially each period was 64k then 1M. The new code came from linux.c32.> I found this feature really useful because it gave you some positive indication > that loading was proceeding rather than wondering if: > a) the transfer had stalled or got stuck > b) the file had loaded but then hung within the loaded code > c) the file had a typo in the pxelinux config and wasn't loading at all > > Often now it's a case of hitting return from your menu and hoping that > something is happening, particularly when you are loading a large image. > > I suppose that really I want to see this feature back in, especially now that > there is also the option of loading over other non-TFTP streams, it would > be useful to see that transfers are happening. > > I wouldn't object to this being an option rather than a default. > > Is there a reason not to have this feature?Not yet implemented.> Would code be accepted if someone were to contribute it?Likely but bear in mind the printing would have to be quite conditional.> I suppose the first thing to ascertain is if this was removed because of a > technical reason or due to general user dislike?Technical. The old code was ASM. -- -Gene
On 18 Mar 2015, at 1:39 am, Gene Cumm <gene.cumm at gmail.com> wrote:>> Would code be accepted if someone were to contribute it? > > Likely but bear in mind the printing would have to be quite conditional.In what respect? I would opt for some kind of progress bar or percentage, but I have realised that whatever is coded would have to play nicely over serial as well as VGA output, which may neccessitate keeping it very simple. -Paul-