proxmox-boot-tool 🔗
A few days ago, I foolishly upgraded Proxmox on my home server at 10PM. After the upgrade, the server failed to boot. By connecting it to a monitor, I can see that Proxmox is stuck loading the kernel. Since I didn’t feel like debugging why that is the case late at night, I instead looked into reverting the kernel upgrade. Going through the boot process again, I could see that there is an option to choose which version of the Linux kernel to use. Choosing the previous version indeed fixed the problem. However, I run this server as a headless node, that is, it is not usually connected to a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Hence, I don’t want to have to choose the kernel version every time I restart the node.
Several of the guides that I found involved editing the grub configuration file, which, to my understanding, changes the default selection in the boot process, for e.g., by setting
GRUB_DEFAULT="Advanced options for Proxmox VE GNU/Linux>Proxmox VE GNU/Linux, with Linux 5.15.30-1-pve"
This feels a little iffy to me – what if the text labels in the menu change?
With further investigation, I found this documentation which says to do this:
proxmox-boot-tool kernel pin 5.15.30-1-pve
That works perfectly for me, until I decide to upgrade the Linux kernel properly in the future.
Diderot effect 🔗
I heard about the Diderot effect for the first time this week. The Diderot effect essentially says that buying a new item might lead to a desire to buy even more things. I can definitely see this in several of my hobbies.
Consider this likely scenario:
- Let’s say we are into photography. Usually we start with the entry-level camera. After doing extensive research, we made our purchase for the camera that is generally considered to be the best bang for our buck.
- After a while, we also bought some accessories such as a bigger SD card, a tripod, or a new lens.
- Then we realized that the entry-level camera that we now have just isn’t good enough. We really want to take those gorgeous shots that we see on the internet. Hence, we saved up and upgraded to the Ultra Extreme edition.
- The Ultra Extreme edition is amazing! But now our laptop is too underpowered to work with the photos that it took. Time to get a new laptop too.
- But the Ultra Extreme edition is too precious and bulky to be carried around. Let’s save it for the truly important moments and get the Sports edition for everyday use.
- Oooh the Sports edition has a water-proof housing, so now we can take underwater photos. We must get it, otherwise we can’t unlock the full potential of the Sports edition.
- Hold up. The 25th Anniversary edition just dropped. It is the same as the Ultra Extreme edition, but with a limited edition white color and etched with the company founder’s autograph. Since we love this brand of camera so much, we have to get in on this. We have to be part of the history.
Not all purchases are bad. Some of them can really enhance our experience and quality of life. However, I think modern marketing has been too effective at inducing demands and encouraging unnecessary purchases. Sometimes I feel that people are more into collecting stuff (e.g., cameras in the example above) than the actual hobby (e.g., take photos).
Instead of chasing the newest and the greatest, perhaps we should challenge ourselves to squeeze the most out of what we already have.