All of the Series 700 workstations are capable of running diskless.
However, some models of Series 700 workstations are not supported by NetBSD. These unsupported models include, but are not limited to, the newer machines that use the bootp and tftp protocols to load the boot program.
Even when a model is supported by NetBSD, that does not imply that all the features of that model are supported (i.e., the keyboard and screen on all models). You should check the hppa port page for hardware compatibility issues.
Any single built-in Intel Ethernet will support netbooting. NetBSD refers to this single built-in Ethernet as ie0.
Most older Series 700 workstations (with PA-7000 (PCXS), PA-7100 (PCXT), PA-7150 (PCXT)) use the RMP (Remote Maintenance Protocol) to netboot. Specifically, they use the rboot protocol to retrieve their boot program. The following list of RMP-only Series 700 workstations is probably complete, but has not been tested:
Newer Series 700 workstations use bootp and tftp to retrieve their boot program. The following list of BOOTP-only Series 700 workstations is probably complete, but has not been tested:
All hppa machines ship with ethernet. Some models may have two ethernet media types built into the motherboard. You may only use one at a time. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be an easy way of determining which is active. You might try attaching a transceiver to the AUI port, as it should only be powered if that port is selected.
If the wrong type of network is selected, you will need to change the ethernet port. For models 720 and 730, you will need to remove the motherboard to access the jumper. Be sure to use static-prevention measures, as you could easily fry your motherboard from carelessness. If you are uncomfortable with this, ask a friend who is aware of these issues. There is a block of 8 jumpers at the rear of the motherboard, labeled AUI/Thin. You will need to put the jumpers in the position necessary for your type of ethernet.
You will need to determine the Ethernet hardware address of your workstation. This is sometimes also known as the "link level address" or MAC address. It is a twelve digit hexadecimal number (i.e. it uses 0-9 and A-F for each digit). For example, 08:00:09:49:15:19 is the Ethernet address of my workstation. AFAIK, all older HP workstations start with 08:00:09:XX:XX:XX.
The easiest way to determine your Ethernet address is to reboot your workstation. While it is Searching for Potential Boot Devices, hit the Escape key until you reach a menu with the option to Enter Boot Administration mode. Select this option, and type in lan_addr (see the FAQ for help).
BOOT_ADMIN> lan_addr LAN Station Address: 080009-491519
The order in which the firmware searches for bootable devices depends on your model. In general, it will try to boot off a locally attached hard drive or CD-ROM before checking the network. See the entry in the FAQ.
If the Ethernet device has a lower boot device priority than your hard drive(s), you'll need to enter the Boot Administration mode of the firmware. On any Series 700 machine, the procedure is the same:
Selecting a system to boot.
Searching for Potential Boot Devices.
Enter Boot Administration Mode
BOOT_ADMIN>
See the FAQ for more help.
This is because the NetBSD/hppa boot program only knows how to use the firmware to load a kernel from the very same Logical Interchange Format (LIF) volume that contained the boot program. This is why every time you recompile the kernel, you need to use the mkboot program to rebuild the LIF volume served by rbootd or tftpd. Otherwise, you'll just load the old kernel the next time you reboot.
For example, to rebuild the LIF volume /usr/mdec/rbootd/SYSNBSD from the kernel in /usr/obj/sys/arch/hppa/compile/GENERIC, you might do:
cd /usr/obj/sys/arch/hppa/compile/GENERIC ln -sf /usr/obj/sys/arch/hppa/stand/boot/boot ./boot mkboot -v boot netbsd /usr/mdec/rbootd/SYSNBSDNote that this assumes that you have a suitable mkboot program, compiled for the host, in your PATH. mkboot is found under sys/arch/hppa/stand/mkboot and should be compilable on any NetBSD host.