Which OS to chose for my "Desktop-Server" machine reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- frickos · 2023-11-12 10:01 The purpose of a machine is some selfhosted stuff I have in mind, plus occasionally some working on it, as its attached to my home-office shelf, and close to my keyboards and displays. So I have an old dell optiplex 3050 mini PC, which I am trying to upgrade dropping off the original HDD, and putting in some high capacity SSD as a storage, with the NVME disk as a OS drive. I want to use it as a personal server to serve some selfhosted tools such as nextcloud, some web pages etc. Yet I want to use it as a desktop from time to time, since its anyways attached to a monitor, so sometimes I will maybe be using as a normal work. What worries me is if I install PopOS desktop, will it be maybe overload - does decreases the hardware usage in some idle time, which I presume server or raspberry PI OS is doing. I am cheering for PopOS as I am already using it with my laptops and have zero issues with hardware or updates. Should I maybe use some other desktop instead, maybe some lightweight WM? Thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tech2but1 · 2023-11-12 10:15 Server *or* desktop, using a desktop PC as both is liable to cause issues at some point. I mean, you *could* do it, but I wouldn't. I'd run it as a hypervisor and then just remote into whatever desktop OS you prefer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- frickos · 2023-11-12 10:19 thanks for the reply. You're probably right, this is not the best use-case, but for so low loaded machine this is waste of very good hardware to use it in the idle server mode all the time, since sometimes I might need its power for a different reasons. So my initial question was will the gnome desktop (PopOS) lower down the CPU while not used, like it does in laptops, or do I need to chose something made for this, such as Pi OS? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- daYMAN007 · 2023-11-12 10:24 Your DE won't use that much cpu no matter which you use. As long as you want to run out of ram you should be fine. But imo it's a bad idea to mix a server os with a normal desktop use. How about using proxmox and having a vm just for desktop use, like this you could also just pause all the resources easily when you're not using your desktop computer. Personally i would have a debian stable and a proxomx vm and just enable the proxmox vm whenever I need it. If your not scared of scripting you could also unsuspend the vm via a keyboard listener. (for example trigger unsuspend when key f3 is pressed. This would be doable with evtest and qm resume ) Or if you don't want to use a vm you could also disable the autostart of the DE and start it via shell when you really need it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Perpetual_Nuisance · 2023-11-12 10:47 I don't understand what you mean with "does decreases the hardware usage in some idle time"? I also don't understand what "overloading" Pop means. Light virtualization and a few services - and sometimes also your desktop, when needed - shouldn't be a problem, but it also depends on *which* services and how many. In general, containerization is easier than virtualization, and has less overhead. If you want to stick with Pop, then you can install `docker`, `docker-compose` and `portainer`. Portainer provides a pretty decent web interface to create and manage containers. You can make VMs possible by adding `cockpit` and `cockpit-machines`, so that you can create and manage VMs (I'm guessing that cockpit is available for Pop). Otherwise `Proxmox` is a free hypervisor, based on Debian and pretty easy to learn, and then you could have one VM for your self-hosted stuff, and one VM, with Pop on it, to use as your desktop. Turn off when it's not needed, turn on when it is. From there, you can build out your homelab in a somewhat modular fashion, which will also mean that modifications will be less likely to break something, and easier to undo or fix. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Z8DSc8in9neCnK4Vr · 2023-11-12 10:51 I kinda do this, but not really, my "server" has a desktop environment, old monitor keyboard and mouse, sometimes its nice to do something in a GUI and no not have to do everything from an ssh terminal. Its technically does take some resources but in reality its a drop in the bucket really of no concern from a performance perspective. I have an over abundance of processing power, RAM and disk space. It could be argued that having a GUI desktop is a slightly larger risk from a security perspective and that argument gets somewhat more traction with me, with more installed the system has more potential for vulnerabilities. the added risk is real but still small, I do not do personal type actives on it, no web browsing, no E-mail, no document edditing I run Debian 12 XFCE, I wanted that rock solid stablility of Debian, since this was my first home server project and I did not know all I would get into I also wanted its universal nature. it can do basically anything. as opposed to something like trunas which is more specialized. I have stripped it down quite a bit, removed the office suite, mail, web browsers etc, basically just file browser, terminal and a select few utilities, I run exclusively packages from Debians repositories. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- frickos · 2023-11-12 10:59 Decreases, such a lowering CPU clock when no load is present. Overloaded, such a shitty software that comes with it with potential security risks, which some of them start with the system load and use resources. Yes I planned using docker for each of the tools that supports it from docker hub Thanksmfor the reply ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tech2but1 · 2023-11-12 11:28 Sounds like you've already made your mind up that you're doing this so not sure what the point of this post is? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MrBiscotte · 2023-11-12 11:42 If he uses docker for the self-hosting part that shouldn't be too problematic ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MrBiscotte · 2023-11-12 11:45 The gnome desktops do not lower down the CPU while not uses. If you refer to Dynamic throtling of CPU it is Independent from your windows manager. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bnberg · 2023-11-12 12:52 I would actually install a classic server linux without GUI. But you might install cockpit for having a nice webui to manage your server. Thats much more resourceefficient ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tobotti1 · 2023-11-12 13:20 I run proxmox on my optiplex with a 3rd gen i5 (dont remember actual name) and 16gb of ddr3. I have truenas, HA, docker and pihole on it, but i dont run it heavily as its just for playing around. Its run smoothly tho. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- maximus459 · 2023-11-12 13:25 I have an old laptop I use in a similar capacity.. Initially used KDE Neon, but on the recommendations from a post I made I'll be switching to Debian with KDE plasma ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cylian91460 · 2023-11-12 13:30 I personally use arch ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lontip · 2023-11-12 15:23 Debian ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scaredy14 · 2023-11-12 15:38 Have you heard of UnRaid? I run two daily driver / gaming VMs simultaneously on one CPU and motherboard with two GPUs. Then I have services running on UnRaid's built-in Docker (Plex, Home Assistant, file/photo "cloud," etc). Though I'm reconfiguring my setup to be more services based and less dedicated to VMs. For example, I have Blender running as a service (Docker container) that I can access via web browser on any device (including my smart tv, just because I could). You can choose to either "pin" (exclusively dedicate) resources to some things or let them be dynamically shared. There's caveats with that when it comes to passing hardware through to VMs (mainly GPUs). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- frickos · 2023-11-12 16:19 I dont want to waste too much time for this as I have so little free time and I am using my sick days to accomplish this long term todo, while I am at home anyway :D And the OS such as debian seems to me that I need to do so many installations afterwards, yet the mentioned OS comes ready to go which is a winner move for my case. My hardware is not too old, its a 7th gen i3 with 8GB of ram. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- frickos · 2023-11-12 16:21 >proxmox to be completely honest, I have never heard of this one. I will check it out - many thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- frickos · 2023-11-12 16:23 Arch is great - but I don't want the rolling updates to ruin my home project - since I don't have free time to fix it once it breaks :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- frickos · 2023-11-12 16:24 thanks for the reply, will check the UnRaid ... Of topic, which file/photo cloud are you using? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scaredy14 · 2023-11-12 16:56 I'm using Immich for photos. Has a phone app to connect to your server and sync. I'm going to set up Nextcloud for general files since that seems pretty popular with the UnRaid community. I also have Trilium Notes, which I used to make my own self hosted version of a physical storage organization app. Story about that app and what I did. Feel free to skip this if you're not interested. I don't remember the name of the physical storage app, but you can buy barcodes with 4 alphanumeric characters at the bottom. You put the barcode on a box in your garage/attic/storage unit, then you write in the app what objects are in the box and include pictures if you want. Later, you scan the barcode with the app and it tells you what's in the box. Or you search in the app and it tells you the alphanumeric code of the box so you can find it. Sounds awesome! But the user agreement/terms of service says that the company who made the app has access to all info you put in the app and sells it to advertisers. So, using Trilium Notes on my server, each note already has a unique URL. So I found a QR code generator online, create a note label "Large Grey Tote 1," and paste the URL into the QR code generator. I print the QR code with the words "Large Grey Tote 1" and tape it to the first of my large Grey totes. Now I can scan the QR code just with my phone camera and it opens the note in my browser for that Tote! I keep all the notes on a "Storage" folder, so I can search for "camping" or "light bulb" and it will show me all the Notes in the folder with those words. I look at the title of the note and see light bulbs are in little Grey Tote 4 and Christmas lights are in Large Red Tote 2. All free, all self hosted, no selling my info to advertisers! I also have login set up on Trilium and it's only on my local network. So someone has to be on my network and have my login to be able to see what's in the note or physically open the box to see what's inside. But cyber security is no replacement for physical security 😜 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- igderkoman · 2023-11-12 17:21 Install server OSes on VMware ESXi. Don’t use desktop OS as a server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- _mitchejj_ · 2023-11-12 17:53 For me Fedora. Well a derived Fedora Atomic image (think Silverblue), where I stripped out everything I don't need, add bits for Tailsccale and the like. I have an updated image day, downloads and is ready to go with all updates if/when I cycle the power. I just keep an eye out for security updates. If something goes wrong, I just rollback the OS to a known good image/state. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- KrazyKirby99999 · 2023-11-12 18:59 PopOS is not made for server use. I recommend using AlmaLinux or Debian for your server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dogzdangliz · 2023-11-12 21:08 Unriad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- frickos · 2023-11-12 22:32 This is amazing man ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scaredy14 · 2023-11-12 22:39 Thanks! I felt rather clever getting Trilium set up to act like a self hosted app. I should mention that if you want to see some more of what UnRaid is capable of, check out SpaceInvaderOne and Ibracorp on YouTube. Those two channels are the best for tutorials. I look through their videos on UnRaid to see what is available/ possible /already has a tutorial. Then I watch and learn and see if I want to set up whatever I just watched. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ZAFJB · 2023-11-13 11:33 Install a hypervisor. Install best desktop OS in one VM. Install best Server OS in another. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ZAFJB · 2023-11-13 11:33 No, it won't if you use VMs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tech2but1 · 2023-11-13 18:10 Using VMs on a desktop alongside desktop tasks makes everything perform terribly IME. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ZAFJB · 2023-11-13 18:15 It does not. Unless you have totally unrealistic expectations of limited hardware. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AnonymusChief · 2023-11-14 23:19 Linux with a GUI, will always use more resources than one without. Also, the version with a GUI has a larger footprint, meaning that when you run updates, you’re also, in part, updating the GUI. If you want to use the least amount of services, and have a smaller OS footprint, 👣 install any Linux distribution as a server, that is, without the GUI.