this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2023
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Hey yall, I want to get into self-hosting. I want to start from hosting on a raspberry pi, and I am just wondering if yall have any recommendations (I've never hosted anything before, but have experience in linux and programming). Sorry if it's bit of a stupid question.

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[–] cupricreki 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

For the cost of a rpi, just get actually capable hardware. Once you actually get anything running you'll wish you had real hardware.

[–] achensherd 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been leaning this way lately. From a cost/capability standpoint, RPis were easy to justify when they were ~$30, but not as much at their current inflated prices unless you have specific power consumption and form factor requirements. Used/refurbished Dell thin clients and MFF PCs can be had for $40-100, ranging from fanless systems with low-power Atoms and Celerons to full-fledged desktops with Core i-series CPUs, all with memory and storage included more often than not. I personally just picked up a Dell OptiPlex MFF with an i5-9500T, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD for $100.

[–] Heastes 1 points 1 year ago

Refurbished thinclients really are fantastic if you don't specifically need a pi for the formfactor. I got a bunch of Fujitsu S920 with 4GB RAM for roughly €35 a piece and I've been pretty happy with them so far.

[–] pi11 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

What kind of hardware, with a similar price point to the rpi, do you think of?

[–] Heastes 3 points 1 year ago

Refurbished thinclients can be had for about €35. I got a few Fujitsu S920 with 4GB RAM and 8GB MSATA for around that price per piece.

Datasheet: https://content.etilize.com/Manufacturer-Brochure/1036232289.pdf

[–] stankmut 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This reminds me of the old "build a gaming pc for less than a console" thing was popular for a while.

So let's assume a $90 raspberry pi (someone really splurged here)

  • $90: case
  • $0: cpu, get used from a friend
  • $0: motherboard, get used from a friend
  • $0: ram, get used from a friend
  • $0: power supply, steal from work

You can drop the case and just use a cardboard box, which would allow you to afford storage. I'm just going to assume you boot from a usb and keep everything in memory.

[–] pi11 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What do you think about refurbished micro-pc's? Like this Lenovo ThinkCentre M910q Tiny (i5-6500t; 8GB RAM) for 130 euro's?

[–] stankmut 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have a refurbished dell that I got for ~$150-$200, the cpu is an i5-8500t. I think those are great deals, would absolutely recommend them for a home server. As your needs grow, you can even replace the RAM inside later.

[–] green_dragon 1 points 1 year ago

Agreed. I picked up the M910q for $100 including shipping from a corporate sell out on Ebay. It does everything I need; and has the ability to do so much more.