An excuse to resurrect

I love using Terminal because I usually find it more intuitive than GUIs. They are simple and plain. Would you like to know what else I find pleasing to use? Using the SSH command of OpenSSL to control another computer. I’ve been making excuses to use SSH to upgrade my laptop’s packages while using my desktop at home. Then I realized it was a stupid way to use it! My eyes fell on a stack of old laptops on the shelf.

Why wouldn’t I use one of these as a home server? They’re old, but I resurrected them with Arch Linux weeks ago. I also know that they are mostly suitable for terminal usage because the old NVIDIA GPU drivers are no longer maintained. X11 runs well enough for rasterization, but surely I don’t want to use them like that.

Okay, I’ll use one as a home server!

What am I going to use it for?

I’ve decided to use it as a home server, but I don’t know what I’ll use it for. Why would you turn a personal computer into a home server anyway? I had no idea, so I browsed some websites and found my answer. It’s a media server. I was complaining about streaming services, so why not use a local one? It looks like you can stream your media from your local network if you know what you’re doing. There are services that can save you from having to build your own media server from scratch. I jumped into Plex without considering other options. Does Pacman have its package? How do I install it? What does it require?

Old but not dead tech (yet)

I have a 2006 MSI laptop and a 2012 Samsung laptop. A reasonable person would have chosen the Samsung for this project. I chose the MSI. I tried to update the Pacman packages, but Pacman complained about the signatures. Yes, the MSI can still operate and connect to the internet with no problems. I searched for help online and found a post with a solution to my problem. You need to install the archlinux-keyring package and run the command “Syu.” That worked for me.

Okay, now it’s time to install Plex and try streaming some movies. The AUR has the Plex Media Server package. I couldn’t use Pacman to install it, so I decided to use the YAY binary. After configuring yay, I installed the package and enabled/started the Plex Media Server. Of course, you also need to go to “server-inet4:plex-port/web” and configure it.

Change of plan

While trying to use Plex with some movies, I encountered a crash. I wasn’t sure about the exact cause, but in retrospect, I think it may have been due to the old CPU’s inability to handle file transcoding. At the time, I didn’t know about video file formats, so I tried to stream x265 files. That would overwhelm the CPU with 2 GiB of RAM.

I picked a 2012 Samsung laptop on which to install Plex and try using it. There was no crash, but the CPU was working hard to transcode. I learned that if I pick x264-format files, the server would use fewer resources and be more compatible with a wider range of devices. I removed all the files except the x264 ones.

Plex requires you to create an account on their server in order to sign in and configure your service. They want you to pay for additional features, such as “hardware video acceleration.” This is a core issue for me because I was trying to use an old NVIDIA GPU, but I failed. I’ve removed Plex and installed Jellyfin. Jellyfin gives you much more control, and you can manage the accounts yourself! It has a nicer dashboard, too.

Conclusion

Configuring your own home media server is a nice experience. You control everything, own the service, and populate it with whatever you want. If you have relatively new and better hardware, that’s a big plus! If you have experience with terminals, then you can easily control your server on a local network. Download whatever you want, arrange them in an order, and use the media service dashboard to reflect the changes.