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power270 · 2016-03-10, 01:56

I have approx. 30 Dell tablets with an AX88772 - USB2.0 to 10/100M nic built into the dock. Does iPXE support usb nic booting?

SebastianRoth · (This post was last modified: 2016-03-10 08:42 by SebastianRoth.)

(2016-03-10 01:56)power270 Wrote: I have approx. 30 Dell tablets with an AX88772 - USB2.0 to 10/100M nic built into the dock. Does iPXE support usb nic booting?

As you can see in this thread http://forum.ipxe.org/showthread.php?tid=6151&page=3 USB NIC support is still kind of new. But I have seen successfully booting several different devices with USB NICs and iPXE. It is possible. The big problem is that there is no generel "yes" to your question. It always depends on the combination of PC/tablet *and* USB NIC because the BIOS/UEFI firmware needs recognize and talk to the NIC (chip) to be able to PXE boot from it. As far as I know there is no list to tell which NIC would work with which device. You just need to try it out.

For example here is a HP X2 210 tablet booting iPXE: https://youtu.be/ob_5qC7KRqs and a Surface 3 tablet: https://youtu.be/UFYNan98lmw

You want to read through this as well I am sure: http://www.johnwillis.com/2014/03/pxe-bo...ongle.html

***mcb30*** · 2016-03-10, 19:21

(2016-03-10 01:56)power270 Wrote: I have approx. 30 Dell tablets with an AX88772 - USB2.0 to 10/100M nic built into the dock. Does iPXE support usb nic booting?

iPXE has support for several USB NICs, including the CDC-ECM, CDC-NCM, and CDC-ACM standard(ish) USB NICs. The (poorly-documented) Asix USB NICs are not included yet.

Michael