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!
Scrounge an old laptop, maybe super cheap if the screen isn’t completely working. Plug in a monitor to deal with screen problems.
Yeah the best option is the old PC you already have. Unless you’re transcoding video or into LLMs it will be more than enough.
Power demand on an old laptop might actually cost you more in the long run.
How many cents per month would you estimate? Would it break the bank?
1 to 2€ a month is a fair baseline IMO.
You won’t get under that with a raspberry either without deep tinkering (tinkering you can apply to a laptop too ofc).
Around £100 a year from 50w, if you run this for several years then you tell me if that matters.
Yeah don’t get a server-laptop lol.
Yeah, that’s my fallback idea. I would sort of prefer the ease of a single board option I can just shove behind the router, but this might be easier.
Note that I have seen a lot of people make some really cool “rehousings” of their laptops to turn them into transparent boxes mounted to the wall, usually made of something like acrylic. They look awesome, but haven’t tried it myself since I just self-host using my laptop in its original chassis