Linux distro for a home server

[Tickletehpickle]

Hello,

 

I would like to ask what is a good Linux distro to use for a home server? Possibly that can run Plex, probably Itunes? and easy to setup network drives. I'm also a newbie at Linux and I don't have any idea on how to do this and that. thanks

[Fulgrim]

FreeNAS

 

Great supportive user base, and it's easy to find guides on such things as how to install Itunes/Plex.

[AMICLG]

FreeNAS is nice but uses a LOT of RAM so you might be better of with Ubuntu/Mint or CentOS with a Samba server.

[MrBucket101]

I use ubuntu for my server, have been for the past 6-7 years...works great, huge support community and if you ever get stuck you can always google for a guide or forum post

 

that's the main reason I use it, even though "technically" there are better server OS out there

[Wtalk2]

I use Ubuntu Server Edition on my own home server and it is great for what I use it for (Web Server, Backups, NAS Functionality etc.) I would highly suggest Ubuntu Server Edition or FreeNAS

[Tickletehpickle]

And for some additional information

 

CPU: Intel core duo 2.0Ghz

Ram: 4gb

Hdd: 300+gb

Current OS: Windows 7 Enterprise

External Drives used: 2 2TB HD

 

I have Ubuntu gnome 14.04 somewhere on my computer. Will that work?

[SMURG]

Ubuntu works fine, and even has ZFS support which is nice.

[Vitalius]

Hello,

 

I would like to ask what is a good Linux distro to use for a home server? Possibly that can run Plex, probably Itunes? and easy to setup network drives. I'm also a newbie at Linux and I don't have any idea on how to do this and that. thanks

I recommend Amahi. It's a simple user friendly OS for a home server. It's not Linux based though.

 

For Linux specifically, I agree with SMURG that Ubuntu server is preferred.

 

FreeNAS

 

Great supportive user base, and it's easy to find guides on such things as how to install Itunes/Plex.

 

That's FreeBSD. Not Linux.

I recommend Amahi over FreeNAS for weaker systems. It's just better for those. FreeNAS loses it's shine on those systems, but Amahi has more features than FreeNAS does when using UFS (such as plugins and stuff).

 

FreeNAS is nice but uses a LOT of RAM so you might be better of with Ubuntu/Mint or CentOS with a Samba server.

Only if you use ZFS, but that's most of the reason to want FreeNAS. Otherwise Amahi is a much better choice.

[rockking1379]

If you are afraid of command line DO NOT use ubuntu server. That said, ram usage is lower when using only command line. GUI takes up resources. Anyway, I personally run a virtualizer and have one pfsense vm, one 08R2 vm and ten the other four vms are ubuntu server or Debian. I think one is Debian but oh well. I am pretty comfortable with command line though at this point. My laptop runs linux mint and I find that very nice as well. Cinnamon isn't terrible on resources. I mean my laptop only has 2GB of ram and with Firefox running ten or fifteen tabs I use <1GB that said plex can use up some ram but I find is also very CPU intensive. My vms run virtual router, xen web manager, web server, plex, databases, space engineers is on windows, minecraft although those may be getting shutdown with Microsoft looking to buy mojang. 4GB of ram may cut it close with plex. My plex vm has 4GB and was stuttering a bit today while my daughter watched a movie.