NAS / Media / HTPC server stuff for Linux

PaulCa · 29 May 2018 at 11:39

So yesterday I cleared the boot drive of my old gaming rig and installed a bare bones Gentoo server.

I have NFS, Samba and MiniDLNA running currently. This means I get nice fast access from Linux via NFS, user session based access via Samba/CIFs for Windows etc and I can browse through stuff on the smart TV or Mobile phone via DLNA. I do still need to install a DLNA client in windows though.

I'm left feeling this is all a bit raw and dull.

Are the any useful applications/servers that I can install to make it more convenient? I realise that some of these might be client side, such as pointing Kodi at the DLNA server and letting it index, categorize etc.

I see a lot of focus in the NAS/Media server space is around "appliance" based solutions like FreeNAS etc. Also a lot of focus on media centre rather than media server, so a local display is expected.

Just looking for ideas. One thing that might crop up, is remote access, I assume that won't be DLNA but more likely a streaming style web application to stream audio and video over HTML5 or Flash.

pete910 · 29 May 2018 at 17:24

Plex is good for this tbh. plex then streams whatever media you have on it.

Kodi can also be used and point to the NFS/SMB share and stream it directly from the server.

Router/Acces point(if you have a wifi card in it)

Proxy server with content filtering is another use.

You could do some VM's is it's up to it.

I use ClearOS as I do all the above but the VM's.

PaulCa · 29 May 2018 at 20:10

I might try Plex, but it's payware and I'm not sure I like how they operate. I would be suspicious about it farming me for data by phoning home all the time.

Kodi on the client is something I'll try now I have a new PI3 memory card.

Not entirely sure how VMs would help. I have no need to run multiple different services, unless I wanted to try FreeNAS and running a virtual array on a non-RAID disc would be a bit pointless, except to experiment.

The server is: AMD FX9590 - 16Gb DDR3 1866 - NVidia 710, so it will handle 4-8 VMs if I had a need.

Bluecube · 30 May 2018 at 18:57

Plex is well worth it. It will cut out a lot of hassle and aggravation from your project and will let you enjoy watching and listening to your media.

rn123 · 10 Jun 2018 at 18:34

arfoll said:
I do something similar with Kodi. I use a NUC to run kodi (which is a bit overpowered), and would highly recommend the new Gemini Lake atom NUCs (June Canyon) that do h265 & 4k 60fps (it's nice to have GUI running fast).

I'm currently running a gigabyte Brixton with n3150 but it's feeling a bit long in the tooth. Is the gemini lake a big step up?

rn123 · 11 Jun 2018 at 09:29

arfoll said:
Tbh not really unless you care about hevc decoding and hdmi2.0. Performance wise it's not going to be very different and it's not miles ahead in thermal efficiency either. I upgraded from an i3 broadwell simply for hdmi2, hevc and built-in spdif (yup I'm still old school :/)

Thanks, so I can save some cash for now then!

Buffalo2102 · 11 Jun 2018 at 12:08

I used to use Plex but it got too much for my simple needs and I changed to Serviio some time ago. Tried Emby for a while too but didn't like it. I have fond memories of using Minidlna though. Used it for a number of years before moving onto a gui-based solution.

The free version of Serviio is all I need but if you want all the Pro features (access outside network, apps, etc.) you can try them out for 30 days and then purchase ($25) if you want them.