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_posts/2024-04-02-HpLaptop.md

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+---
+title: The beginning.
+date: 2024-04-02 01:35:00 +0100
+categories: [Tech, Homelab]
+tags: []     # TAG names should always be lowercase
+---
+
+I have always wanted a homelab to experiment and play around with, and until recently I had to get a bit creative.
+
+# My first *server*
+
+My first "server" was an HP 250 G6 laptop, powered by the almighty Intel N4000. Needless to say, it couldn't do much. The abmissal CPU was just one of its limitations: it only had a 250GB m.2 SATA SSD and no other expansion slot.
+
+I decided to put Ubuntu Server 22.04 and CasaOS on it. After a looong install and an equally long reboot, the dashboard loaded! Success!
+
+CPU usage skyrocketed from the start: just ssh'ing into the machine felt sluggish and slow, but then again, it worked!
+
+One merit of this machine was certainly its power consumption. Granted, it didn't have much to power, but with a TDP of 6W, it was basically background noise in the overall energy consumption of the house.
+
+[[[placeholder for a picture of the damn thing]]]
+
+## The "services" I ran on it.
+
+I tried to install Jellyfin to stream movies from it and, as you might expect, it went horribly.
+
+In retrospect, it was rather naive to think that it could somehow run properly, but as we all know, handsight is 20/20.
+
+While it *could* stream (mind you, stream, **not** transcode) files directly to supported clients, doing so would destroy the machine's performance, resulting in several tens of seconds of waiting to log into the web interface.
+
+I've always wanted to break away from greedy Google and switch to a (possibly EU-based) Nextcloud provider, but it was never financially viable. However, now that I have a machine on which I can host it myself, it started to look a lot more feasible.
+
+Given the hardware at hand, it wasn't. NC *sort of* runs. Sometimes. Other times it would just crash the whole thing. I always wondered why, or even how, it managed to reboot the whole system, but I guess we'll just have to live with the doubt.
+
+After a while, my mum needed a PC to do some work. So I decided to install Chrome Os Flex on what had been my server and call it a day. It was a fun experiment.
+
+Chrome OS Flex actually run decently on it, much to my surprise. The more you know. 
+
+Fastforward about a year and we’re installing solar panels: that means free power! And free power means my mom is very likely to accept my beggings for a decent server.
+
+Click here for the story of my first powerful machine that I can run prod services on. 

postTemplate.md

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+---
+title: TITLE
+date: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS +/-TTTT
+categories: [TOP_CATEGORIE, SUB_CATEGORIE]
+tags: [TAG]     # TAG names should always be lowercase
+---