Looks suspiciously like bootp for linux, but OTOH, you can easily setup linux on one machine and then make an image of the disk and copy it onto another one and stick it in a machine with totally different hardware and it will work just fine. Changing motherboards and processors and almost anything else wont change anything as long as you stay with the same relative level of hardware. Most programs will work on AMD or Intel as long as you dont make a big jump backwards like from a K7 to a 586 or something crazy like that, even then most of the essential apps will be fine.
I just dont think Id like having to do that all the time, Id rather set it up and not have to screw with it ever again till a hard drive fails or something. Cant get work done if the machine is down.