tonysan’s blog – Things I do for fun

Setting up a PXE boot environment – Postscript

On Intel ME/AMT

I am spoiled with systems equipped with IPMI (which also limited my motherboard choices to few manufacturers), Intel ME/AMT offers just enough of IPMI functionality, so I don’t need to physically re-plug anything into those Dell boxes…(foreshadowing) But there are a few catches.

Setting up a PXE boot environment – Part 2: GRUB config per host, autoinstall (unattended install)

Now that UEFI has been around for over a decade, it’s time to focus on this modern firmware standard. If you’re still stuck with legacy BIOS, the configs are similar, but this article will only cover UEFI – As an extra incentive that upgrading to relatively newer stack rather than upcycling old stuff, for both your sanity and electricity bill. Some napkin math of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) would justify the investments.

Blog migration, alternatives, and other thoughts

There’s tons of ideas and drafts scattered around my six note keeping apps, yet my blog averages about one post per year, not to mention the proliferation of Generative AIs. what’s going on here? It’s not like there’s nothing to write and whine about.

Dual-boot Steam Deck with Ubuntu 24.04 and Windows

The hardware

I’ve always been a fan of handheld form factor. In the 2000s, Sony’s VAIO UX and Fujitsu Lifebook U were my dream gadget, but the hefty price tag were very out of reach for a college student.

Now, the Steam Deck is a gaming PC that fits in the palm of your hand, A 7″ 15W TDP AMD APU that goes for 3-12 hours battery life, depending on usage – it is just too good to be true for my younger self who is still stuck in 2000.

Setting up a PXE boot environment – Part 1: TFTP Server & DHCP Server

Disclaimer: Regardless part 0 is more or less around Raspberry Pi, in this post, I am only implementing a bare-minimum version of PXE, it will only handle single architecture (x64) and either UEFI or BIOS, not a general purpose PXE environment. some of the PXE boot environment mentioned should also work with Raspberry Pi 3B+ or above, here’s the official Raspberry Pi documentation.