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Re: Home Server for family pix & vids

Quoting Jason Marks (jymarks@sbcglobal.net):

>  TYVM for the concise reply.

YW.  ;->

> 2 wrongs don't ... Missing that the first NIC was PCI and then getting a non-Linux working PCIe NIC...   

That must have been vexing.

>    - Granted the cheapest ( but I spent $15 !!! *face-palm* /humor ) doesn't always win
>    - I vaguely rem dial-up modems that were "Windows only". Same concept?

Kind of.  These $12 PCIe cards aren't quite that pathetic, but, e.g.,
skimp on buffer memory size and on just about everything else.  And
they're by reputation just a bit flaky.  I expect flaky when I hear
Realtek; sometimes it's OK, and sometimes you pay a hassle tax.

>    - I did try to compile Ethernet drivers -- very new territory for
>    me -- for the on mobo built in NIC.

If you find yourself needing to compile ethernet drivers for your NIC,
one or more of these things is the case, in my experience:

1.  You're following questionable advice from somewhere like
Ubuntuforums that may not be even correct, let alone necessary.

2.  You're an advanced Linux user who made a deliberate choice to buy 
spanking-new hardware and don't mind the extreme hassle of crafting your
own drivers because you're devoted to The Shiny.

3.  The hardware's actually defective or misconfigured.

4.  There's a missing firmware file, prerequisite to the NIC being
anything beyond a doorstop.

>    - Not to disparage the co, but it's not their NICs, but rather that
>    they don't support Linux w/ drivers, right?

It's best not to expect drivers for Linux from a hardware manufacturer, 
and, if the manufacturer offers one, use it only as a last resort.  It
is greatly preferable to use maintained drivers from the open source
community.  When developed, they are in general less brittle, are not
proprietary, and pose far fewer problems for you to maintain going
forward.


> As for the box itself, I'm a budget constrained noob.

Fine, but what's your time and frustration worth?  You decide.

A suitably selected piece of used hardware that's -better- suited for
server roles would actually probably be cheaper or at least competitive.


> In the other extreme, I recently discovered a "homelab" community on
> reddit. For now, I'll just say that what they do is mind boggling, and
> ... how do they pay their electric bill?

The electric bill is a definite concern (as is noise), and is one reason
I mentioned things like HTPC-class hardware.

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