These old servers were good n cheap its days. My previous employer used plenty of them for our projects, and they just last. That was back sometime around 2012 or before. Installing an OS over USB was not that common.
Fast-forward to now. CD/ DVD installations are so passe; I wonder if Windows Servers are still installed this way. Aaaaanyways I maintain my steadfast loyalty to FreeBSD (don't go Debian!) for x86 servers.
The link below provided enough directions to install. Some extra notes:
- 'Burn' the image designed to be booted off USB. I used FreeBSD-11.2-RELEASE-amd64-mini-memstick.img
- Use the right imaging tool for the job. I used Rufus (free) to burn on Windows 10.
- Remember to enable boot from hard disk (C:) in BIOS, especially when USB is also configured to be recognized as a hard disk.
Hmm, seems my server is laid upside-down...