Welcome to the Utopic Unicorn edition of Ubuntu Netboot, an open source project that allows you to boot and install the latest version of the Ubuntu Linux operating system directly from the network, without having to download an ISO image and write it on a CD/DVD disc or USB flash drive.
Supported architectures and availability
At the moment, the Netboot edition of Ubuntu is available for download as a collection of files that are required for booting the operating system, as well as to download the Ubuntu Installer and any other packages that are required to install Ubuntu on a personal computer or multiple PCs over the network.
Supported hardware architectures include 64-bit (amd64/x86_64)), 32-bit (i386/x86), 32-bit PPC (PowerPC), 64-bit ARM, ARMhf (ARM Hard Float), 64-bit PPC (PowerPC), e500 PPC (PowerPC), e500mc PPC (PowerPC) and PPC64el (PowerPC 64-bit Little Endian).
How to boot or install Ubuntu over the network
Ubuntu Netboot offers netboot images for booting and installing the Ubuntu operating system over the network. To boot Ubuntu and start the installer, you will have to access the BIOS of your computer and choose the Boot from Network or LAN (Local Area Network) option. Then, you will have to enter the path of the Ubuntu installation files (see the links on the download section above).
Once the operating system has booted, you will be able to mount the local file systems with NFS (Network File System), download the Ubuntu Installer and perform a fresh installation, just like you would do if you were using a Live CD ISO image.
Supported network connection types
Currently, you will be able to boot Ubuntu over the network using the PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet) connection type via either HTTP or FTP protocols. After installation, it is possible to configure the system to use the ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) and PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) connections.
