One Server for everything.

[BotDamian]

Hello there,

No idea where to ask this question but I think this is the best place to ask, server section.

 

So I have currently 4 computers in my house.

1. Laptop Razer Blade 5900HX + RTX3070 (Win11)

2. Retro PC for good ol' games E8500 + HD4890 (Win7, less bugs than WinXP)

3. TV PC, AsRock A300 + Noctua Cooler + 3200G (ArchLinux)

4. Raspberry PI for my 3D Printer. (MainsailOS Debian/Ubuntu)

 

I was wondering if I could combine all of this into one server that would be in my cellar with one GPU (for gaming) and then stream the stuff on a laptop or other devices.

Let's say I sell all my computers, and buy one better computer "I will refer to it as server". I heard about Proxmox, never used it tho and I wonder if I could get a cheaper ThinkPad laptop and use it as some sort of "Receiver" for the server. So the real OS will run on the server and the Laptop will just connect to it.

Lets say I would choose to get a 5700G and a RTX3070, I could use the built APU GPU for my TV "pc" and the GPU with my ThinkPad laptop.

 

It's just a thought, I haven't figured it out how to then stream the video to my TV, I assume I would sill need a PC to output video right? So the idea is NOT to save money, it's just to have a power efficient laptop and tons of power without having 20 computers standing in the Livingroom.

Server -> TV (to watch movies)
Server -> Laptop (web development, browsing, gaming and stuff)

Server -> 3D Printers (Maybe a printer farm in the future)

Server -> Laptop (Play retro games, probably would be just connecting to another Instance on the server that runs Win7 and supports older games like NFS Carbon, old MostWanted etc)

 

Now it's
Mini PC -> TV (to watch movies)

Laptop -> Laptop (web development, browsing, gaming and stuff)

RPI4 -> 3D Printer

RetroPC -> Retro PC (Monitor etc all plugged in)

 

So I have now 3 Keyboards, 3 Mice, 3 mousepads, 2 Monitors, 1TV in my room... I actually like minimalistic design 

[Shimejii]

Do you have access to tubing/inner wall connections, or do you have to teardown walls to get the HDMI/DP and other connections around the house?

 

 

One server for all uses in the house IMHO  is really impractical and its going to be a massive headache. The way linus does it is just really  impractical, and it requires you to tear down walls and flooring to do it properly and even then it can be a buggy mess. Also remember laptops often cannot just connect to it like that, they have outputs not inputs unless you connect via Browser (and thats a security issue) so i wouldnt really rely on that. 

 

Also remember that since you have one computer, unless you specifically get it to work independently for each scenario, its not going to be easy to make sure that every spot works without doing some Virtual machines. 

 

If you just use the server as a Storage unit connected to via router, it shouldnt be as bad of a headache. As such you can do mass storage on it and just connect to them via the devices and that should be easier rather then make it the main computer for all areas in the home

 

[Sjaakie]

Indeed you can run optical HDMI / ethernet USB extenders if you're up for it, from server to tv and 3d-printer for instance.

 

For streaming to laptop you'd need some software solution to remote into the server / VM. I've used a couple but never got it working well enough to replace a native pc. Parsec worked best, but authentication runs through their servers. Some direct solution like NoMachine would be better security wise.

[BotDamian]

3 hours ago, Shimejii said:

Do you have access to tubing/inner wall connections, or do you have to teardown walls to get the HDMI/DP and other connections around the house?

 

 

One server for all uses in the house IMHO  is really impractical and its going to be a massive headache. The way linus does it is just really  impractical, and it requires you to tear down walls and flooring to do it properly and even then it can be a buggy mess. Also remember laptops often cannot just connect to it like that, they have outputs not inputs unless you connect via Browser (and thats a security issue) so i wouldnt really rely on that. 

 

Also remember that since you have one computer, unless you specifically get it to work independently for each scenario, its not going to be easy to make sure that every spot works without doing some Virtual machines. 

 

If you just use the server as a Storage unit connected to via router, it shouldnt be as bad of a headache. As such you can do mass storage on it and just connect to them via the devices and that should be easier rather then make it the main computer for all areas in the home

 

I have connections and LAN cables in each room.

 

My idea was to have separate VMs running on that server and then just connect to the instance via Laptops or something. The other issue is that when I have a TV I also need to have a Keyboard or something otherwise I can't use it. So yeah, this is what's bothering me, I would probably need a RPI for each "palce" i want to access the Server, like the TV