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While you might think I’d jump on the Server version, I want to make this as simple an exercise as possible. I have a choice of Ubuntu Desktop or Ubuntu Server.

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I’m most interested in a version that runs on “desktop” hardware like our Mac mini. One of the most popular is Ubuntu Linux by Canonical, which comes in many different subtypes. You can choose openSUSE, CentOS, Debian, RedHat, or one of the other hundreds of distros. OK, I’m exaggerating, but there are a lot of different possibilities. There are about as many Linux distros as there are stars in the sky. EFI came along with the advent of Intel processors in Macs in 2006, and any Intel-based Mac should support the dual-boot setup we’ll use in this article. One thing that’s important for this experiment is to have a Mac that supports EFI - Extensible Firmware Interface. EFI lets users select between multiple operating systems at boot time by holding down the Option key on the keyboard. The Hardware for our Linux Serverįor this article, I’m using the same 2014 Mac mini that took the starring role in the Plex Media Server article. That may change in the future when Apple Silicon rules the world of Mac, but since Linux runs on ARM processors (the heart of Apple Silicon), it should run on future Macs.

Most important for our experiment is that Linux distributions (“distros”) easily run on Intel-based Macs. Linux was estimated to run 67% of all web servers in 2016, and that number has probably grown since that time. All Apple operating systems are UNIX-based, and Linux is a form of UNIX. By early 2018, Apple removed most of the useful features of macOS Server and rendered it essentially useless.įor an Apple-centric shop, buying into the Microsoft Windows Server world is a costly and counterintuitive move.

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The Rocket Yard featured a series of articles on Mastering macOS Server in 2017. Why a Linux Server and not macOS Server?Īre you wondering why I’m talking about using the Open Source Linux operating system and not macOS? Apple used to sell and support a Server version of macOS. Linux is a family of open-source UNIX-like operating systems and is used on many servers. Running your own server also provides more flexibility in customizing services.

For the security of your data, nothing beats having a server on-site in a locked server room. Many companies find it is more cost-effective to use cloud services instead of their own server. Visiting a website? Your computer is connecting to a web server. When you set up an email account on your Apple device, you’re connecting to a mail server. File server (shared and private directories).What’s a Linux Server?įor businesses, a server is a computer that provides services for a group of users. Today, I continue the theme of recycling and reusing older Mac minis by turning one into a Linux server.

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It's an incredibly intuitive tool and it uses metadata from different open source libraries to complete the information about files that don't have it.I recently showed you how to use a used Mac mini as a media server for your home.

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You'll need to download Plex Media Server in order to use this streaming service for your own files.

If you want to manage everything the best way possible, you'll have to create an account and use it on your devices to synchronize your library wherever you want to use it. It's a must-have app for using all the possibilities Plex has to offer. Through this app, you can manage all the multimedia files you have, as well as organize the different folders where they're stored. Once you've installed Plex Media Server, the program runs in the background on your Mac so you can enjoy all its features. It's an incredibly useful program that makes your files accessible from other devices, whether it be another Mac, PC, smartphone, tablet, console, Chromecast. Plex Media Server is an app that lets you create and manage a multimedia server from your own Mac.