I use NixOS for all my systems now, single config covers two servers, laptop, notebook and desktop.

Containers aren’t something to be afraid of, I’ve found nix + podman to be super easy to use / configure, so much it’s a copy / paste a config from another container with some small directory changes.

If you are not someone who likes using a terminal perhaps nix isn’t for you. I’ve found forcing the terminal & configuring via nix has given me much more insight into my machines / os than ever before. If you’ve got the time to mess with Nix I’d recommend it.

If that sounds like a bunch of effort and time to get something that may be easier via another method, I’d say Proxmox is the way to go.

Running through my config I’ve just noticed that I’ve got an IP conflict that I wasn’t aware of, but makes total sense right now 😅

Currently trying to find a screwdriver set that went missing after boxing up a bunch of old consoles. I don’t remember putting it there, nor do I want to open and unpack everything again 😅

Ass to ass!

Oh man, brings me back to blackbox / xoblite on my old XP machine.

I remember using notepad to change the config files, no auto formatting or error checking.

Had no idea what I wanted out of it but I loved the minimal aesthetic.

My cheapo dumb tv died a couple of years back, was a great bit of kit for $400au that gave me 10 years. I’ve got a “smart” tv at the moment which isn’t connected to the internet, and just serves as the display for my Shield TV.

I’d probably consider an LG commercial / signage display as my next device, some old work connections can get me one as a special purchase through their distribution channels it’s just waiting out the current panel dying.

If you’ve got a m.2 slot in the mini PC you could add a cheap 5 sata port m.2 and connect them that way. If you don’t want to solder power you could really make it a butcher job and hack up the power from the sata to usb connectors.

Sucks to hear about your loss, I’ve recently lost my proxmox setup and migrated everything to Nixos. My install threw a wobbly, terminal was cooked, could only ssh into some containers so I wiped the install and migrated.

In my proxmox setup I found it easier to mount the drives as lvm to the host proxmox machine and pass them through to lxc via bind-mounts rather than adding another layer of shares / overheads.

Is this like nix with extra steps?

Kidding, but sounds interesting if I ever want to venture away from nix