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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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Making the jump, looking for some opinions (self.linux)

submitted 8 months ago by Squizzy to c/[email protected]

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I just got an i7 8500 I was hoping to use to run my network and server (which I haven't built yet) and I was wondering if it could also be used to run some retro game on and if that would be advisable?

Is it advisable to use dedicated machines for both activities?

If I can use the one machine for both, what distros would you advise?

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[–] stuner 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think Linux Mint is a great starting point in the Linux world. It aims to make things approachable without holding you back.

The emulators you mention should be available on Flathub (e.g., RetroArch, PCSX2, yuzu, ...). This means that you can easily install them on almost any distribution. In Linux Mint you can just use the built-in 'Software Manager' to install them.

Personally, I'd probably aim to have two separate machines for a server and a gaming box. For a NAS/home server you typically want a really low power consumption because they run 24/7. A gaming machine, on the other hand, will typically draw a lot of power (probably less so in your case), but that's ok because it doesn't run all the time. If the machine runs important stuff (e.g. your network, backups, email, ...), I'd also be a bit more hesitant to play around with it. That said, I think it should also be ok to run both on the same computer. You can always separate them later if you change your mind.

[–] Squizzy 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.

Would you have an example of low power figures? I bought a PC with enough power to transcode on Plex so I fear the low power may be gone out the window.

I'll buy an old Lenovo PC for the game so.

[–] stuner 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You're welcome :)

I think the metric that matters most for a home server is the idle power draw, because the system will be doing very little most of the time. A good idle power might be 5W to 20W for an x86 system. 20W is 175kWh per year, or about 50$ per year around here. A gaming PC might idle around 50W to 100W. Wolfgang's Channel has some good content regarding this.

If you're buying a used OEM PC, then you probably don't need to worry about that too much, though. They have to meet energy efficiency regulation and are generally already quite good. I would just avoid adding a high-end GPU and tons of RGB ;-)

[–] Squizzy 1 points 8 months ago

I am operating without the built in GPU and absolutely no extravagant peripherals. Wired keyboard and mouse most likely.