Hi everyone!

In the next year or so, my project is to rip all my blurays and put them on a 4tb external USB hard drive. I’ve already done it for all my DVDs, but I still have to buy an external bluray player in order to finish the job. My budget for the bluray player is CHF 75.- used, so around 75$. All this is done through MakeMKV.

Then, I’d want to have a small Linux PC that I’d use as a media center. My budget is under CHF 100.-, so around 100$. I’ve noticed that you can get 2014 MacMinis with i5 or i7 for that budget, but I’m open to any other brand.

What I’d want the PC to do: -Play all my movies stored on my external USB drive. I don’t think I have 4k movies, but I can’t exclude that some of my Blurays will be 4k in the future -Display my family pictures and videos stored on kDrive (a cloud by Infomaniak) through Firefox and WebDav -Play my music on my Yamaha Amplifier through Firefox and Tidal -Use the wifi for updates, browser based stuff, etc…

The PC would probably not be used for anything else for now, but it needs to be able to become a desktop PC again in the future if needed.

I’d want to operate the PC with a bluetooth mouse and only have to use a keyboard from time to time.

I’ve heard about Jellyfin, Libelec, Kodi and other stuff but I don’t really know what they are.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

  • doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml
    2·
    4 hours ago

    here’s someone who installed linux on one.. If you need WiFi make sure you understand how to add the Broadcom module into the kernel.

    The 2014 minis are all dual core haswell CPUs so don’t bother with the hotter i7 versions. You can’t upgrade the ram so buy what you need.

    If you’re in Europe often the hp elitedesk is a used pc of note. The elitedesk 800 g4 specifically may be a better option since the sff ones can already have bd drives built in, can take extensive internal storage upgrades (2x nvme, 2x 3.5, 1x 2.5) and will have a four core eighth generation intel processor 99% of the time which makes 4k within reach.

    Kodi is the media system package used by a lot of linux systems. Libreelec is a linux distribution that focuses on running kodi.

    If your stereo has hdmi you can just plug one into the other and hear movies and tv sound through the stereo, if not then you’ll will need to do some kind of input switching to listen to music using the 3.5mm jack and movies using sound over hdmi.

    E: don’t worry about power efficiency. Even the 2014 Mac you’re looking at is able to turn stuff off at the processors clock tree and idles at a low enough draw to not worry about.

    • Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.worksOP
      1·
      4 hours ago

      I read your article and it was interesting.

      I didn’t know the RAM on the 2014 MacMinis wasn’t upgradeable. Thanks for letting me know.

      Also what did you mean by don’t bother with the hotter i7 version as I saw a lot of them for quite cheap? Are they bad or just too powerful for what I’d do?

      As for the Broadcom module, I’ve done it on my 2012 upgraded MacBook Pro and it was easy in Fedora. Don’t know about other distros though…

      • djdarren@piefed.socialEnglish
        1·
        17 minutes ago

        The RAM is upgradable on the 2018 mini, though the storage isn’t. The ability to upgrade the RAM is a big part of why those ones have kept their value.

        I actually use a 2014 mini as my general purpose home server.

        The interesting thing about that model is that they were offered with a Fusion drive: so basically, some have a small SSD for installing the OS on, with a larger spinning HDD for everything else. If you do pick one up and it doesn’t have the adapter for an M.2 drive, you can buy them on eBay for less than £10.

        So mine now has a 250GB M.2 SSD and a 1TB SATA SSD. When I installed Debian, I put /root on the M.2 and /home on the SATA, which works perfectly. The OS can have as much space as it needs without eating into the space my stuff needs. And I have an external 1Tb HDD connected too.

        But yeah, as mentioned elsewhere, the wifi can be a pain on those Macs. Personally, I didn’t bother with it as it’s hooked up with Gigabit ethernet anyway.

        edit to add: Mine is an 8GB model and I honestly haven’t found myself wishing it had more (for what I use mine, that is).

        Mine runs Jellyfin, Navidrome, Mealie (a recipes app), pihole, and Booklore, and doesn’t give me any trouble.

        • datendefekt@feddit.org
          1·
          1 hour ago

          Recently read of some controversy around Booklore. Looks like the main dev is ignoring PRs and just vibe coding everything himself, planning a subscription model, and the quality is slipping.

          • djdarren@piefed.socialEnglish
            1·
            27 minutes ago

            Yeah, I saw something about that after I’d home to the trouble of getting it up and running. Might have another go at Calibre Web, though I had trouble getting it to sync with my Kobo, where Booklore was pretty straightforward.

        • Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.worksOP
          2·
          1 hour ago

          Thanks for your answer! I only realized now that since it’s gonna be near my router, an Ethernet cable can do the job in case RPM Fusion and installling the Broadcom drivers isn’t enough.

          Just put an offer on an auction site for a MacMini with 16Gb of Ram, an i7 and a 265gb SSD. We’ll see if I get it for less than 100.-🤞