I want to set up a home server and take advantage of everything it can offer, specialty privacy.
Raspberry PI, no matter the version, are all quite expensive here in Brazil, so that’s off the table. I’ll go for a regular desktop. But the the requirements for a server that “does it all” remains a mystery to me.
What specs do you guys recommend?
If the size and low power consumption of the Pi are what appeal to you, you can try a getting a used thin client. Lots of suggestions and specs here: http://parkytowers.me.uk/
Depends on what you want the server to do. A Minecraft server and a Pihole server have vastly different requirements. As a general rule, any old laptop or desktop will do, think on requirements for your grandma and that should cover most (except gaming servers) needs.
I use a random micro PC with Ubuntu installed. 2tb nvme, 16gb ram, not even sure what the cpu is
As everyone have said, it depends on what you want to have in your server. I started with an old lenovo I bought in mercado livre for 200 BRL. It was a DDR2 PC with 4Gb ram. I bought an ssd and installed Debian. Used for years. After that I tried to build a DDR3 PC. Made it with 800 BRL and it’s decent to run my docker containers like an arr stack, nextcloud, VPN, reverse proxy and vaultwarden.
Go wuth what you have. Old laptop? Works! Old desktop? Also works! Old android phone? Might work! (VM/terminal)
If you have a device that can run Linux, start with that. Once you get some usage you can understand if you need an upgrade, and what kind. Maybe you will findout that this old laptop that you had works perfectly and you can sace money on buying a server.
If you have an old android phone, then you can repurpose it into a Linux server.
Or an old computer. But you probably don’t need to buy anything to get started.
Link to guide to install a Linux server OS on Android device?
General Linux servers distros do not support android devices, you would need postmarketos.
You have to have an idea of what you’ll run on it first.
Old corporate desktops will do for a NAS and basic light services. Look for one that has three drive bays plus an NVMe slot.
any old laptop with at least a third gen intel or something comparable works. you do want to get some extra storage via a cheap old hdd
I run about thirty services off of an old Dell workstation that I “acquired” from my last corporate job. That includes a full Servarr stack. I’m pretty sure whatever you have will probably do the trick.
For Linux: Anything Intel 4xxx is fine, later is better obviously. 4GB RAM is OK for one family, 8GB gives enough headroom to host NextCloud for a small office. SSD for operating system makes it snappy as fuck at the terminal but aren’t mandatory, slow drives for storage are fine.
A repurposed old PC with something like yunohost, generic Debian, or some lightweight Linux will probably get you what you need.
It heavily depends on what programs you want to run.
It depends what you want to do with it. What do you want the server to do?
Right now I want to host movies, photos, automatic backups, files in general. Also use it for the smart home that I’m slowly putting together, basic stuff… for starters.
Someone mentioned that if I want to host 4k content I should go for a 7th gen Intel CPU or newer for HVAC support, something I didn’t know, but that showcases exactly the sort of restrictions that I had in mind when I submitted this post.
Sorry it took me a while to respond, didn’t expect to have this many responses.
A raspberry pi 4 or 5 and some fast USB 3 hard drives.
A CPU that can run Linux along with some networking
Why would raspberry pi’s be expensive but the hardware to build a server be any cheaper?
Second hand markets exist and Raspberry Pis are rarely sold second hand.
Sorry for my ignorance, so brasil has nothing like an Amazon where OP could buy a new pi from and have it delivered? If thats the case i feel like I could buy OP a pi and ship it to them in brasil for less cost than it would be to buy anyother option of hardware for a home server. Assuming USPS still offers flat rate boxes for international shipments.
I’m not Brazilian, but I’m guessing importing stuff is expensive. Look at PC components elsewhere in the world, it’s typically much more expensive than the US.
Right but thats kinda what im saying is that wouldn’t all hardware be expensive and not just Pis?
Except second hand. That’s my point.
