cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40805695
I have two machines:
- 2014 Mac Mini
- HP Pavilion g7
Mac Mini 2014:
Very slow, probably can no longer be updated, nor can it run worthwhile programs.
HP Pavilion g7
Extremely bulky, chunky, and doesn’t even turn on unless it’s plugged in. It’s basically a desktop since the battery doesn’t hold a charge.
I put Linux on it (Mint I think) a few months ago as a weekend experiment.
Question:
What should I do with them? Are they worth salvaging? Should I simply donate or recycle them?
I was thinking I could use at least one of them as a home media server or something so that I can disconnect my Smart TV from the internet, but I’m not sure if they will hold or how I would even control them from my phone (Android) if I’m sitting on the couch.
Open to all ideas. I’m somewhat technical (perhaps far less than the Lemmy community), but I don’t know much about Linux or the command line unless I’m given step by step instructions on how to do something.
you should indeed use one as your home media server. but you may not need to figure out how to control them. if you have a smart TV or a Roku, then you can always just set up a Jellyfin on the server and stream to your TV, which would allow you to use your normal remote.
for the other one, you can turn it into a NAS for backup purposes or something. there’s honestly a ton of different things you can do fairly easily.
then you can always just set up a Jellyfin on the server and stream to your TV, which would allow you to use your normal remote.
Or simply hook the laptop to the TV via the HDMI output and run it directly.
Any recommendation on which one would be better suited for each proposed scenario?
Well, I’ve read about people using Mac Minis as home servers, so I’m assuming that one is more powerful than the HP laptop. You’ll probably want to make it the media server. With a Jellyfin server, Jellyseer for media discovery, and a full Servarr stack for fetching TV shows and movies, you’ll be set with a almost fully automated system for watching whatever you want. All you gotta do is tell it what shows you’re interested in.
The HP laptop doesn’t need to be all powerful in order to function as a NAS, so that’s a good job for something with such weak specs. I would remove the battery though. If you keep it plugged in all the time you won’t need it, and batteries that stay charged all the time will end up being ruined anyway. Better to just recycle that than to risk ending up with a spicy pillow.
You can sell the Mac mini for $800 on Facebook marketplace since that’s what everyone else does.
Um what? I don’t think it was even worth that much when it released lol.
The big question is if anybody is buying them.
Well, my C2D Mini that I’ve been using as a backup server for the last decade just died. I’d be happy to receive a replacement :D
A 2014 Mini should work great running El Cap Server. Stick a slow external 8TB HDD on it and you’ve got a capable NAS or backup device.
Do note that if you have other Apple devices, Apple will be dropping support for AFS with macOS 27, so you’ll need to enable Windows filesharing to let the Mini talk to other devices.
The pavillion? Install Linux Mint and it would make a decent entry level workstation for web browsing. Or install Ubuntu Server and make it into a media server running NextCloud and Jellyfin.
I’d like to try Nextcloud just for fun! And I like the idea of a NAS. I would need to learn how to do that though. I used to have a Synology NAS, but I’m not sure how I would do it on the Mac.
It’s essentially built-in, although the server package helps with administrative tools if you want network-based accounts as well, or quotas etc.
Can you run Linux on the Mac mini? Pretty decent hardware there for a NAS / media server / machine for docker experiments.
I think it would require a partition but I’m pretty sure, yes.
I’ve been itching for a reason to grab a Mac mini for a little project PC for a while. I’d throw Linux on it and have a little machine for homelab type stuff. NAS, Plex/Jellyfin, Pi Hole, self hosted Bitwarden, etc.
Recycling is an option.
