cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40805695
I have two machines:
- 2014 Mac Mini
- HP Pavilion g7
Mac Mini 2014:
Very slow, probably can no longer be updated, nor can it run worthwhile programs.
HP Pavilion g7
Extremely bulky, chunky, and doesn’t even turn on unless it’s plugged in. It’s basically a desktop since the battery doesn’t hold a charge.
I put Linux on it (Mint I think) a few months ago as a weekend experiment.
Question:
What should I do with them? Are they worth salvaging? Should I simply donate or recycle them?
I was thinking I could use at least one of them as a home media server or something so that I can disconnect my Smart TV from the internet, but I’m not sure if they will hold or how I would even control them from my phone (Android) if I’m sitting on the couch.
Open to all ideas. I’m somewhat technical (perhaps far less than the Lemmy community), but I don’t know much about Linux or the command line unless I’m given step by step instructions on how to do something.
Any recommendation on which one would be better suited for each proposed scenario?
Well, I’ve read about people using Mac Minis as home servers, so I’m assuming that one is more powerful than the HP laptop. You’ll probably want to make it the media server. With a Jellyfin server, Jellyseer for media discovery, and a full Servarr stack for fetching TV shows and movies, you’ll be set with a almost fully automated system for watching whatever you want. All you gotta do is tell it what shows you’re interested in.
The HP laptop doesn’t need to be all powerful in order to function as a NAS, so that’s a good job for something with such weak specs. I would remove the battery though. If you keep it plugged in all the time you won’t need it, and batteries that stay charged all the time will end up being ruined anyway. Better to just recycle that than to risk ending up with a spicy pillow.