this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 86 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (19 children)

Power consumption is a massive reason to really not do that. Its cheap for a reason, its takes a shitload of power to be shit and you will pay more in energy than you save in hardware unless its only powered on for short periods of time - a server typically isn't.

This is actually something that applies to cheap products too. Was in Asda a little while ago and saw 2 LED bulbs with the same lumen rating. Cheaper one used 3w more and you only saved £1. Running it for 8 hours a day for a year would cost double that saving in electricity. For a server you are looking at almost £2 per watt each year. Does that ewaste look so good to you now?

Some things are absolutely worth getting second hand, but you really should be careful considering the power cost as well.

Quick edit: If you don't need it running 24/7, consider something like AWS too. I love selfhosting but if its not running much it might be cheaper to not bother buying hardware.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Power consumption is a massive reason to really not do that. Its cheap for a reason, its takes a shitload of power to be shit and you will pay more in energy than you save in hardware unless its only powered on for short periods of time

Ewaste computers actually tend to be on par if not better than an RPi in power consumption these days. It might feel like a RPi should be more efficient given the size and USB power connector, but modern Pis consume a solid 10-20w while in use which is more or similar to most miniPCs (they idle at single digit watts now and can "race to sleep" more effectively than a Pi) while costing about the same and the Pi is far less upgradeable

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

That depends if the mini-PC is something in the Celeron / N100 family, or the Core i5/i7 family.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Should see an old 6th gen i5 mini PC on a power monitor. It's basically nothing!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 14 hours ago

these shitty win8 laptops are surprisingly low power and efficient though.

[–] HugeNerd 13 points 20 hours ago (5 children)

Are you living on a space station? What is this shitload of power? A whole 60 watts? Are you rationing AA batteries to run your household?

What is it with the bullshit fanciful rationalizations people come up with to consume consume consume?

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago

Aren't laptops typically very energy efficient? Low consumption converts to high battery life, which is a priority for laptop hardware.

Some of them consume less than 10W.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yes actually still sounds good. Raspberry Pis actually have quite high power draw compared to the performance they give. Like sure the number might be smallish but the performance they give and functionality they have is awful compared to even a mini PC which use similar power. Mini PCs btw are actually one of the best options in performance per watt and can still be cheap, plus they have upgradable RAM and storage. A Mac mini is more expensive but will thrash everything else in efficiency and performance per watt, although non-upgradable. Even slightly older laptops will only draw tens of watts when fully charged, vs a desktop or proper server that could pull 100W even at idle in some cases. Older laptops tended to be more upgradable too.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Please be specific rather than referring to 'raspberry pis' together. Different models have way different characteristics.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

Are any of them actually that good in efficiency though? Like a Pi 5 is probably the best in performance per watt, but it also has the highest power consumption. Realistically you wouldn't self host on anything older than a Pi 4 anyway.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm not taking electronics advice from someone who uses the term lappies.

[–] HugeNerd 6 points 20 hours ago

Where I'm from those were 10$ and legal in Quebec.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 day ago

I have one of those 8.1 laptops - I LITERALLY fished it out of a dumpster.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago

I would say it can sometimes be nice to have an old Laptop for this purpose, you have to slightly over build your solar but can be nice to have a mouse and keyboard attached and monitor, ssh works. Still have an hp laptop with a core i5 2nd gen sitting out in my greenhouse, is a little more power hungry but not terrible on idle, and is nice to be able to configure changes to watering without going back inside or wrecking the zen by bringing phone.

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