Hi all,
I want to spin up a small home server. Nothing crazy, maybe 4 or 8GB ram at most. 1 Docker instance running a few privacy frontends (Invidious, Redlib, Xcancel, SearxNG, etc.) and split tunneling VPN connections for each one.
Obviously, a Raspberry Pi 4 or higher is the internet’s favorite choice, but I don’t need wireless connectivity, I just need a single HDMI and 2 USB ports to get everything set up, one ethernet port, and a dream in my heart.
Has anyone use alternatives like Le Potato or Orange Pi? I’m curious what their community support is like, and if there’s a FOSS-friendly standard.
Thanks!
Thanks for this, this sounds like where I’m headed. I just hadn’t even considered thin clients/mini PCs, and it sounds like a lot of people are using Lenovos for this exact thing. I’m not at the point yet of doing something big, just small home lab, but I would like to get to the point of hosting immich for the family, and maybe having an LLM or SD in there at some point. But by then I’m hoping the RAMpocalypse is easing up. For now, it’s just privacy front ends until I know what I’m doing.
Go for it! The m73 is cheap enough (and powerful enough) to run all that and ddr3 is still not insane (say, 2x8gb 1600mhz sodimm if want / need). $100 or so, all up, if you shop around / your local market pending.
Raspberry pi is more elegant / more constrained / more “fuck you, figure it out” but unless you need the challenge, Lenovo is simpler and all around easier first step :). You can’t stick a gpu in it (I think the m920 is the oldest one that has pcie - dunno what they go for. The usual combo is something like a 920 and a Quadro P1000 4GB GPU. Maybe ~$300 all up if we’re guessing. At which point, there are better, non shoe box options)