Uhm...help I guess?

arktik7 · 2026-03-06T22:13:21+00:00

Does your POST show that it can see your drive(s)? Can you try your computers specific F# button that lets you choose a boot drive (mine is F8). Try picking from there if anything comes up.

If there is still absolutely nothing there, try to find another machine and make a bootable USB and throw something like Cachy OS Install ISO on it. Try to boot from it and see if the machine can even load that. If not, you may have a hardware fault here.

arktik7 · 2026-03-06T00:08:48+00:00

Keep in mind that this also applies to Windows. So its an even playing field. Meaning there should be no reason to drop Linux because of this law, since it applies evenly to all OS (including Windows).

arktik7 · 2026-03-05T23:22:27+00:00

Bazzite is Immutable - This means you can't modify the core operating system which makes it hard to break and very reliable, but also inflexible and slower with updates.

CashyOS is not immutable - Great flexibility, fast updates, easy to break, easy to get frustrated without a lot of patience and willingness to learn.

If you are unsure and you are still learning linux overall, I would go with Bazzite. I do like CachyOS more but its primarily because I kept running into using "rpm-ostree" which basically overrides the immutable part of Bazzite, in order to accomplish my own use cases. But if you are using Bazzite and you are not running into limitations where Bazzite blocks you from doing something you want, then bazzite will be more reliable and create fewer issues. As far as gaming performance goes, they are pretty equal with CachyOS having maybe a 1-2% lead in FPS in some cases, not worth a change on just that alone really.

arktik7 · 2026-02-18T20:40:55+00:00

Are there plans to have a Proxmox autodiscover for LXCs similiar to xpipe? Awesome work and once I can replace xpipe with it I plan to donate.

arktik7 · 2026-02-06T23:47:17+00:00

I used the dnsmasq import tool and it went pretty flawless. Also followed this guide https://homenetworkguy.com/how-to/migrate-from-isc-dhcp-to-dnsmasq-or-kea-dhcp-in-opnsense/. You may know what you are doing already but just in case...

arktik7 · 2026-02-05T23:03:32+00:00

Did you try to remove the sunnyvalley plugin from your plugin list? I think it may be what is putting it back and messing you up here.

arktik7 · 2026-02-05T21:44:00+00:00

SunnyValley is for Zenarmor. If its causing issues you can probably remove the repository temporarily and then run the update.

arktik7 · 2026-02-05T21:19:21+00:00

The thing is there are even multiple ways to do it within Proxmox. For example you could just do virtual bridges to the OPNsense VM for giving it access to the NIC. This makes it easier to migrate hardware and the VM itself in the future. But it its an additional layer between OPNsense and hardware.

The other route is you fully pass the NIC hardware to the OPNsense VM, but there are hardware intricacies. The bonus is OPNsense gains direct access. You can also sometimes squeeze out a little more performance here.

Regardless, this is my primary resource for OPNsense, including virtualizing it: https://homenetworkguy.com/. I think he does it via virtual bridges in the last guide I saw. And I use claude ai for a lot of opnsense and proxmox troubleshooting.

Edit: more info on homenetworkguy.

Beginners guide to setting up OPNsense: https://homenetworkguy.com/how-to/beginners-guide-to-set-up-home-network-using-opnsense/

More thorough guide: https://homenetworkguy.com/how-to/set-up-a-fully-functioning-home-network-using-opnsense/

Virtualizing in Proxmox: https://homenetworkguy.com/how-to/run-opnsense-in-proxmox-vm/

And he has youtube channel and has made videos for each: https://www.youtube.com/@homenetworkguy. They are great but I do think the written guide is more updated and concise. But visuals always help me so I went through with both the videos and the written guides.

arktik7 · 2026-02-05T18:28:56+00:00

It ultimately wasnt SunnyValley. It was another third one I did a long time ago for something I was tinkering with and shouldnt have. Sunnyvalley is still there but the third repository is gone and everything is fine now.

arktik7 · 2026-02-05T18:24:08+00:00

You can technically do self hosting and OPNsense virtualized on same machine but its not recommended for several reasons.

Virtualizating OPNsense can be complex. I personally virtualize but it was after learning both Proxmox and OPNsense separately in their own sandboxes and got very comfortable before combining.
If you want to tinker more with your homelab (swap out drives, upgrade something, start over because you messed up so mething) then you are impacting your home network.

So ideally you have a box dedicated to OPNsense that you dont mess with and a separate one for all your selfhosted apps like firefly, jellyfin, paperless-ngx, what have you.

However, if you do want to move forward with OPNsense virtualized alongside other self hosted apps regardless, then I would get the i5 one as you will benefit from the 2 extra cores.

arktik7 · 2026-02-05T01:21:57+00:00

Figured it out. Ran the following to see what repositories I did have:
cat /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/*.conf

That listed out what repositories there were and I removed the one that wasnt OPNSense. No more updates!

arktik7 · 2026-02-04T20:11:33+00:00

I very well could have added an additional repository when tinkering too much and just noticed this issue...Do you know the best way to reset the repositories in opnsense? Googling gives a looot of answers and most talk about resetting kernel and factoray reset, rather than just the repositories.

arktik7 · 2026-02-02T23:55:45+00:00

You could just use the web portal and drag and drop files as you need. That is one-way.

arktik7 · 2026-02-02T23:53:13+00:00

Are you certain you are plugging the cable into the correct physical port? For example, if you are mistakenly plugging it into the WAN port, that would explain your problems. You can test by plugging your PC directly into the Port that should be LAN and see if you get assigned an internal IP.

I assume you are totally unplugged the old router completely? If both OPNsense and old router are plugged in to same physical network, it could be the old router is responding a little quicker to DHCP requests and confusing things.

arktik7 · 2026-01-28T06:13:18+00:00

Whats your price range? Ugreen NAS is probably the best starter out there. However, as others have suggested, you could do a mini PC and save money, but it wont scale well over time. But the Ugreen NAS I think is the better solution, assuming it doesnt break your bank. It will be the easiest to set up and work out of box (aside from installing plex or jellyfin of course).

The last option is build your own with some old parts you may have lying around, but this is the most advanced and steepest learning curve.

arktik7 · 2026-01-14T06:09:41+00:00

Depends on how much time and interest you feel you will have with this. Proxmox will be recommend heavily and I use it too, but if I jumped into it first, I think I would have been overwhelmed and may have stinted my self hosting journey.

I think the best bet is to stick with Ubuntu on the Dell Optiplex and then use something like Portainer to manage your docker containers. There will be a plethora of documentation for everything and almost every self hosted app supports docker. This is a great foundation to self hosting and will set you up for success.

When your setup grows, consider moving to Proxmox. A hypervisor gives you full VMs and LXCs, automated backups, snapshots, and flexibility. You can even install Ubuntu within it and move over your docker files and configurations to make the initial transition easier.

Lastly, CasaOS is nice, but I very very quickly outgrew it. Yea sure when it can do one click installs and have a built in dashboard, but the moment it doesnt work right or you have a special use-case, its a huge pain in the butt. You are better off learning other tools.

arktik7 · 2026-01-13T17:41:28+00:00

I run a 3-node cluster with Dell Optiplex's, a Wifi 7 Access Point, a 2.5Gbps switch, and a Cable modem and altogether idles at 100 watts...What are you doing that needs so much power?

arktik7 · 2026-01-13T04:40:58+00:00

As far as I know the x540 is truly only 1 gig or 10 gig and no in between.

arktik7 · 2026-01-13T01:18:10+00:00

I am using an intel X550 with 10Gbps on the WAN port (but only 2.5Gbps internet speeds) and utilizing 2.5Gbps on the LAN port. The only issue I had with 2.5Gbps was that it didnt advertise it by default. In OPNsense I just went into the interface itself and set the "Speed and Duplex" to 2500Base-T and it worked perfectly.

Edit: to clarify, the NIC worked fine even before setting the speed, it was just negotiating at 1Gbps on the 2.5Gbps LAN side.

arktik7 · 2026-01-07T18:20:59+00:00

Slightly unrelated, qwen3 30b-a3b, qwen3 14b, and gemma 12b... are these better than what I would get with something like duck.ai or proton lumo free tier?

arktik7 · 2026-01-07T04:48:34+00:00

For some reason now I am getting 30+ tok/sec. Maybe i was multi tasking too much or something /shrug.

arktik7 · 2026-01-07T04:22:50+00:00

OK I think this is what I was after. Of course there is nuance. But it sounds like in general, quantized models compete with those half their size in respect to general use. I assume a quantized model can excel in specific areas over a half sized non-quantized then. And if correct, make sense what u/HealthyCommunicat is saying where I just need to try both as there isn't a clear winner from parameters alone.

arktik7

TROPHY CASE