HOWTO: Install a Soekris server with PXE Boot

The Soekris NETxxxx boards can't boot from CDROM or USB, so installing an operating system requires PXE booting from the network, unless you want to prepare the hard disk or CF card in another machine first.  Another challenge is that the Soekris boards only have a serial console, so you can't use an operating system that assumes a video display and keyboard.  This article outlines your options.

You can use PXE Boot for a wide variety of purposes. My motivation on this occasion was to write a new image the CF card that my Soekris NET5501 AskoziaPBX Asterisk server boots from, without having to unbolt the server from the rack.