Cool project! I had mistral vibecode me something similar (split into two services and run via docker compose) just a few weeks ago! I still have dome nitpicks with the result, maybe I'll switch my stack over to your solution!
PXE is one of those easy to take for granted without appreciation for how much of a PIA it is to get working sometimes.
I run a homelab PXE & NFSboot, so no hard drives in the homelab. Works great until I do something to bork it up.
I have been fine tuning setup scripts to automatically get things going for scratch, but I always find there was one more hack I didn't automate last time.
Has anyone else noticed how readily identifiable AI generated text is? This is a very cool project, and I suppose it's hard to know for sure, but everything about the site describing the project "feels" AI generated to me.
I do not say this to detract from the value of the project or its very interesting nature, by the way. Just an orthogonal observation.
Author here, I did disclose website + frontend + docs are AI Generated - I see this as a fairly reasonable compromise as 1 person doing this with other jobs and projects. but hey can't please everyone feel free not to use it.
Nice, although if you already are running your own DHCP and web server, it's very easy to add a TFTP server and configure everything to serve whatever you want. So it does feel a bit like reinventing the wheel to me.
A PXE boot server has many uses. The project already mentions using it for tools like GParted, Memtest86+ and so on. Booting live OS or OS installers via netboot.xyz is also great. But you can automate things even further; at a previous job (~18 years ago) I used PXE to serve a debian installer image with a preseed file to add user accounts with SSH keys, apt install all the dependencies, and install local binaries to get machines up and running useful stuff without needing to do any manual configuration. Nowadays you'd probably just have it do a minimal install + add just an SSH key, and then let another tool like Ansible take over the rest of the provisioning.
Author of Bootimus here, for a internal facing admin panel, it would be great for you to show me some of your work so i can take inspiration - that being said, I'm a backend engineer not a frontend.
Pxehost is much less featureful than Bootimus, no dashboard, and only supports netboot.xyz.
I am curious how Bootimus got udp broadcast to work via Docker on arm macOS. I could not figure that out and it’s why I released pxehost as a cross platform binary.
We need a good ISO to set up new hosts to run firecracker VMs in k3s. That would be a killer homelab tool. Tooling to make custom ISOs. And some Kairos/Talos immutable image update style tooling would be great too.
The dream is to boot via PXE once per host to setup secure k8s nodes, using just Ethernet cord, ISP router, and a windows laptop or an iPhone.
> I am curious how Bootimus got udp broadcast to work via Docker on arm macOS. I could not figure that out and it’s why I released pxehost as a cross platform binary.
Going by the Github, I'd be that it was Claude who figured it out. Which yeah, checks out.
Author of Bootimus Here - It's not based on some mental Ansible system with a CI/CD Pipeline tied in github to get a freaking custom ISO to show on the menu.
That being said, Bootimus can chainload to netboot.xyz if you so wish.
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[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 44.6 ms ] threadThat being said what may be more useful is a EFI binary you can push to a motherboard that does this with a tpm key
I run a homelab PXE & NFSboot, so no hard drives in the homelab. Works great until I do something to bork it up.
I have been fine tuning setup scripts to automatically get things going for scratch, but I always find there was one more hack I didn't automate last time.
iPXE is on my to-learn list.
I do not say this to detract from the value of the project or its very interesting nature, by the way. Just an orthogonal observation.
A PXE boot server has many uses. The project already mentions using it for tools like GParted, Memtest86+ and so on. Booting live OS or OS installers via netboot.xyz is also great. But you can automate things even further; at a previous job (~18 years ago) I used PXE to serve a debian installer image with a preseed file to add user accounts with SSH keys, apt install all the dependencies, and install local binaries to get machines up and running useful stuff without needing to do any manual configuration. Nowadays you'd probably just have it do a minimal install + add just an SSH key, and then let another tool like Ansible take over the rest of the provisioning.
Slop websites are getting very old very fast.
https://vorpus.github.io/performativeUI/#/components/status-...
Pxehost is much less featureful than Bootimus, no dashboard, and only supports netboot.xyz.
I am curious how Bootimus got udp broadcast to work via Docker on arm macOS. I could not figure that out and it’s why I released pxehost as a cross platform binary.
We need a good ISO to set up new hosts to run firecracker VMs in k3s. That would be a killer homelab tool. Tooling to make custom ISOs. And some Kairos/Talos immutable image update style tooling would be great too.
The dream is to boot via PXE once per host to setup secure k8s nodes, using just Ethernet cord, ISP router, and a windows laptop or an iPhone.
Going by the Github, I'd be that it was Claude who figured it out. Which yeah, checks out.
Is there firmware around that still doesn't support IPv6, or is it simply that PXE over IPV6 isn't that common in general?
That being said, Bootimus can chainload to netboot.xyz if you so wish.