Good news selfhosted crowd! I pitched the idea of setting up a server, and she is down with the idea!
I want to run Linux and host things like Jellyfin, Audiobookshelf, Navidrome, maybe Plex (I currently host it off my Mac desktop but would move it to a dedicated server).
I know you can host Plex et al on something like a Raspberry Pi, but I want a bit more power. I want something that can push at least 2-3 4K streams.
I’m considering targeting 12th gen i5 with 16GB DDR4. Maybe 32GB if I can swing it. Is that overkill? I know you want 8th gen Intel for hardware transcoding of either x265/HEVC or AV1 (probably the former as the latter is newer).
There are other projects I’d like to run. I’d like to be able to host my own LLM/AI but I’m not trying to go performance overkill here. This would be my first server.
I am somewhat comfortable using the command line, and I would be remoting into the server via my Macs (I have a desktop and a MacBook). However, Linux can run Windows games via Proton and that’s something I’m interested in for some older titles that aren’t on Xbox (like Deus Ex, which came out in 2000 and should run on integrated graphics). I’m not inexperienced with Linux and have been using it off and on (mostly off unfortunately) for over 30 years. My go-to would be Ubuntu, but I’ve heard great things about KDE lately and I know the Internet is in love with Mint these days. Would the distro really matter all that much as long as I have the required services?
Distro matters less as your skill increases, but if you’re new, mint is the way to go.
I run jellyfin on my PC and I have a 9070xt that can handle llms.
Learn how to use docker, it makes jellyfin much easier. But you’ll have some trials setting up a domain and https certs and doing port forwarding etc FYI.
kubernetes makes it easier again, but with more trials, i spent hours figuring out DNS
I vaguely understand what docker is. I’ve tried to set it up on my Mac and had no luck getting it going. My understanding is that if you want to move your jellyfin install to another machine, it’s easy to just grab the whole container rather than hunting down jellyfin’s settings spread throughout the disk. I’ve moved a Plex installation and it’s not fun. It’s not hard but it’s not fun. So yes, it would be beneficial to be able to just move a container from machine to machine if need be.
I’m not new, but I shouldn’t consider myself any more advanced than a new/beginner level user. I remember liking Red Hat back when that was a home user distro. I didn’t much like Fedora. I have used Mint and I like it well enough. I also like Ubuntu. Heard good things about one called Cachy.