It is very good but depend on what you want to host.

I have a second hand cheapest M2 with Asahi Linux and some container (like pihole) but not much. I like that it is small, silent and energy efficient (and it can run Xplane12 in 4k !). But I have an homemade NAS so most of the multimedia stuff and containers are on here and not on the MacMini.

The M4 seems incredible, but Asahi Linux only support M1 and 2 at the moment (it might work with M4 tho).

The problem with the mini would be disk space if you are looking for a NAS usage, although I have seen here on lemmy a dude making a Mac Mini NAS (can’t find the post anymore).

But even without Asahi, an M4 with Mac OS, docker and a VM if needed would be plenty of power for price and energy. You can also upgrade to a 10Gbe NIC if your network supports it. Plug it to some screens and you have a workstation + docker server in one place.

Hardware related on a Linux home built NAS.

My mobo has 2 nvme ports and supports 10th and 11th gen intel cpu. I have a 10th gen i5 and 2 nvme ssd for cache.

The biggest 512Gb ssd is on the front (normal) side of the mobo, under a heatsink. The smaller 128Gb is under the mobo, inaccessible once fixed onto the case.

In bios and in OS I can’t see the 512 cache drive, only the 128. Quick RTFM on the motherboard manual states: “Front nvme slot only works with 11th gen cpu”.

FFS 🤦‍♂️

The server is fully built in a hard to fit everything ITX case.

Guess who is having only 128Gb cache instead of disassembling everything ?

I feel you. This ITX build is replacing a giant supermicro dual everything beast. I just kept its HDDs and moved everything to the Unraid ITX + some docker running on a M2 MacMini that is always on anyway.

I said to myself that I’ll resell the supermicro on auctions but still haven’t started to disassemble it.

Fun fact about divorce. A cute Jonsbo N3 with big Noctua fans is way more for peace and love at home than a 20Kg Supermicro chassis.

Yeah I love it. It’s one of the only itx case with 8 hdds and a SAS backplate.

Honestly it was the hardest part to find, I waited for months before having an auction on one.

I was going to post the same link, I generally take inspiration from that forum and then adapt with what I can find on eBay etc for cheap. The prices they give are for US eBay and not always suitable to EU eBay.

I’ve just finished my new NAS using Unraid OS and some info from the forum.

• Jonsbo N3 case
• Gigabyte Z590i Vision D motherboard
• Intel i5 10400T
• 2x16Gb DDR4 2666 (basic corsair)
• LSI 9207-8i HBA in IT-Mode
• An old 128Gb M2 SSD
• 8x6Tb HGST SAS drives
• Corsair SF600 PSU

It took me more than 6 months to find all the parts at a correct price but I was not in a rush.

It’s 2.5Gbe and not 10Gb SFP but you get the idea. The cost was really low (lower than 1000) because I already had the HDDs from an older server. It should be around 1500€ max with the disks.

The real downside of doing that is the time it takes but it’s also a kind of pleasure to hunt for parts and one day assemble them all.

I mean, they wrote “learn” with quotation marks so… 🤷🏻‍♂️

I know that’s why I’m staying with that brand. I am just looking for another model, I probably don’t need all the fuss features of the top of the line model.

Well that’s true. I was looking at a Zojirushi rice cooker

One of its selling point is: ‘Advanced fuzzy logic technology with AI (Artificial Intelligence) “learns” and adjusts the cooking cycle to get perfect results’

I immediately said no thanks and looked for another model without that, and probably cheaper. It’s a rice cooker FFS!

I’ve read it was just to shit with Microsoft by announcing that computers were tools of the past for gaming AND non gaming (and earn money).

Pushing Microsoft to invest billions to develop the Xbox on Windows (which ultimately did not run on windows) to shit with Sony, and earn money…

I solved that problem by using a tiling window manager on every OS. Configure it to use your favorite shortcuts (from i3wm in this case), put super + spacebar as the whatever launcher you like and tadaaaa!

Everything feels more or less the same.

I do that since I became addicted to i3wm years ago. The worst part is just remembering the keywords to type in the launcher according to what OS you’re on.