mirror of
https://github.com/xcat2/xNBA.git
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255 lines
6.9 KiB
HTML
255 lines
6.9 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta name="generator" content=
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"HTML Tidy for Linux/x86 (vers 1st April 2002), see www.w3.org">
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<title>Welcome to EtherBoot.org</title>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
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"text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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<link rel=StyleSheet href="style.css" type="text/css"/>
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</head>
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<body>
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<table summary="welcome" width="95%" border="0" cellspacing="0"
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cellpadding="3" align="center">
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<tr bgcolor="#0F3161">
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<td width="278" bgcolor="#0F3161" valign="bottom">
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<h2 class="c1">Welcome to the</h2>
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</td>
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<td bgcolor="#0F3161">
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</td>
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<td></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td bgcolor="#BFCBD9">
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<div class="c2">EtherBoot Project</div>
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</td>
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<td align="middle">
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<div class="c2">
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<a href="http://osdir.com/Article198.phtml"><img src=
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"http://www.osdir.com/images/2003osdirwinnerbadge.gif" width=
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"125" height="65" border="0" alt="OSDir 2003 Winner Badge"></a>
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</div>
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</td>
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<td bgcolor="#BFCBD9">
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<div class="c4"><a href="index.html" class="c3"><img src=
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"doc/html/images/etherboot_logo.png" alt="Etherboot logo" width=
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"125" height="54" border="0"></a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<table summary="index" width="95%" border="0" cellspacing="0"
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cellpadding="0" align="center">
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<tr>
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<td bgcolor="#0F3161" width="165" height="56" valign="top">
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<table summary="index.html" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing=
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"10" cellpadding="0" align="right">
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="index.html" class=
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"c5"><b>Home</b></a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/etherboot" class=
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"c3">Sourceforge project home</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="http://developer.berlios.de/projects/etherboot" class=
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"c3">Berlios project mirror</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="http://sourceforge.net/news/?group_id=4233" class=
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"c3">News</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="doc/html/documentation.html" class=
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"c3">Documentation</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="http://wiki.etherboot.org" class=
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"c3">Wiki</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="http://rom-o-matic.net/" class=
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"c3">Make ROMs</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4233" class=
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"c3">Download source from Sourceforge</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="http://etherboot.berlios.de/dist/" class=
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"c3">Download source from Berlios (Germany)</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="doc/html/contributing.html" class=
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"c3">Volunteering</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href="http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=4233" class=
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"c3">Mailing Lists</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href=
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"http://etherboot.sourceforge.net/relatedlinks.html" class=
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"c3">Related Links</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td height="45">
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<div class="c4"><a href=
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"http://etherboot.sourceforge.net/clinks.html" class=
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"c3">Commercial Links</a></div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</td>
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<td width="700" height="56" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="top" align=
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"left">
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<blockquote>
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<h2 class="c6">About EtherBoot</h2>
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<p class="c7">Etherboot is a software package for creating ROM
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images that can download code over an Ethernet network to be
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executed on an x86 computer. Many network adapters have a socket
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where a ROM chip can be installed. Etherboot is code that can be
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put in such a ROM. Etherboot is normally used for for booting PCs
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diskless. This is useful in various situations, for example:</p>
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<ul class="c11">
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<li>An X-terminal.</li>
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<li>Clusters of compute servers.</li>
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<li>Routers.</li>
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<li>Various kinds of remote servers, e.g. a tape drive server that
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can be accessed with the RMT protocol.</li>
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<li>Machines doing tasks in environments unfriendly to disks.</li>
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<li>A user platform where remote partitions are mounted over the
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network and you are willing to accept the lower speed compared to
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disk.</li>
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<li>Maintaining software for a cluster of equally configured
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workstations centrally.</li>
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</ul>
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<p class="c7">Etherboot can boot computers faster than from a disk
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because there are no delays in spinning up disks, etc. A moment's
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calculation will show that even with a 10Mbit Ethernet, sending a
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500kB kernel will take only a couple of seconds typically. With
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100Mbit Ethernet it gets even better.</p>
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<p class="c7">Compared to booting from solid-state devices, e.g.
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Flash disks, Etherboot has the advantage of centralising software
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adminstration, the tradeoff being the dependence on a server. This
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can be partly alleviated by providing redundant servers.</p>
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<p class="c7">Etherboot can work with RAM disks, NFS filesystems,
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or even local disks, if desired. It's a component technology and
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can be combined with other technologies to do things the way you
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want.</p>
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<p class="c7">Etherboot is usually used to load Linux, FreeBSD or
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DOS. However the protocol and boot file formats are general, so
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there is no reason why it could not be used to load arbitrary
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images to a PC, including other OSes.</p>
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<p class="c7">Etherboot is Open Source under the GNU General Public
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License Version 2 (GPL2).</p>
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<p class="c7">The components needed by Etherboot are</p>
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<ul class="c11">
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<li>A bootstrap loader, usually in an EPROM on a network card, or
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installed in the flash BIOS, but could be put anywhere in the
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address space the BIOS probes in. For testing this could be put on
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a floppy disk or a hard disk partition. Some configurations may
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even be always run from a floppy disk (e.g. temporary testing
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setups or pedagogic uses).</li>
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<li>A DHCP or bootp server, for returning an IP address and other
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information when sent a MAC (Ethernet card) address.</li>
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<li>A tftp server, for sending the kernel images and other files
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required in the boot process. Alternatively, Etherboot can boot
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from an NFS mount.</li>
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<li>A Linux or FreeBSD kernel.</li>
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<li>Optionally, a NFS server, for providing the disk partitions
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that will be mounted if Linux or FreeBSD is being booted.</li>
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<li>Optionally, a RAM disk contained in the loaded image. This can
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be the initial RAM disk if desired.</li>
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<li>Software tools for building the download image, and tools for
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debugging.</li>
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</ul>
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</blockquote>
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</td>
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<td width="12" height="56" bgcolor="#0F3161"></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<table summary="pad" width="95%" border="0" cellspacing="0"
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cellpadding="0" align="center">
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<tr>
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<td height="5" bgcolor="#BFCBD9"> </td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<table summary="sponsor" width="95%" border="0" cellspacing="3"
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cellpadding="0" align="center" bgcolor="#0F3161">
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<tr>
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<td valign="middle" width="81">
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<div class="c10">Hosted by</div>
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</td>
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<td valign="middle" width="610"><a href="http://developer.berlios.de"><img
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src=
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"http://developer.berlios.de/sflogo.php?group_id=190&type=1"
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width="118" height="52" border="0" alt="BerliOS Logo"></a> </td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</body>
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</html>
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