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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).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Best distro to turn my old laptop into a server? (self.linux)

submitted 2 years ago by Merulox to c/[email protected]

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have an old laptop that I want to turn into a server, but I want it to be as seamless as possible. I don't have any knowledge in web hosting, so I'll use whatever distribution makes it easiest.

Also willing to venture outside of Linux territory to try those NAS-like operating systems. I just want things to work.

I called it old, but the laptop in question actually has decent specs. I want to host a personal searx instance, a forum, nextcloud, and, well, I'd also like to run single-user fediverse instances but I heard that they're very hard to manage and update so I'm still not sure about that.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I would go with the regular desktop version of Ubuntu because while laptops work just fine as personal/small-scale servers, any idiosyncracies tend to be around stuff like sleeping, power management, what happens when you close the lid etc. Whether you'll encounter any of that depends in part on the laptop make and model, but Ubuntu Desktop is probably the most polished distro out there in terms of handling those things. Edit: though maybe I'm wrong and Ubuntu Server would have better defaults around those sorts of things? Never tried running it on a laptop before.