I think I’d be more concerned if my hands were that small

I use NixOS for all my systems now, single config covers two servers, laptop, notebook and desktop.

Containers aren’t something to be afraid of, I’ve found nix + podman to be super easy to use / configure, so much it’s a copy / paste a config from another container with some small directory changes.

If you are not someone who likes using a terminal perhaps nix isn’t for you. I’ve found forcing the terminal & configuring via nix has given me much more insight into my machines / os than ever before. If you’ve got the time to mess with Nix I’d recommend it.

If that sounds like a bunch of effort and time to get something that may be easier via another method, I’d say Proxmox is the way to go.

Running through my config I’ve just noticed that I’ve got an IP conflict that I wasn’t aware of, but makes total sense right now 😅

Yeah NUT is the package I’ve been looking at, and looks decently integrated into NixOS just, getting around to configuring it is another time sink.

My 1920R and an unused 15A Dell rackmount (h967n maybe) came with my rack, I’ve got no reason to have two UPS running nor do I want to replace the batteries in another UPS or have a 15A socket installed in the house just yet. But man it’s tempting to piggy-back it off the 1920R for shits and giggles.

Waiting on some parts to arrive from AliExpress - once they arrive I’ll be able to decommission one of my servers and have all my services running off one board.

I’ve wanted to implement something like that with my 1920R UPS for my rack but haven’t found the time to commit to antiquated hardware.

Was enough of a hassle dealing with the expired SSL certs on the management card yet getting software running on one of my machines to communicate with the UPS.

All things considered my two servers chilling chew around 60w on average, not taking into account my POE cameras or other devices. The UPS should run for over a day without getting close to draining its batteries (have a half populated ebm too).

Poor traveler thought they’d heat it up for them on arrival.

My cheapo dumb tv died a couple of years back, was a great bit of kit for $400au that gave me 10 years. I’ve got a “smart” tv at the moment which isn’t connected to the internet, and just serves as the display for my Shield TV.

I’d probably consider an LG commercial / signage display as my next device, some old work connections can get me one as a special purchase through their distribution channels it’s just waiting out the current panel dying.

Proxmox Helper Scripts are an easy way to get a homelab setup, I’ve found its as complex as you want it to be:

https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/

Easy to make a ZFS pool and share that to a container / VM. Pass-through a GPU to a VM / Container for transcoding. Plenty of tutorials online for these features.

I’m running some old hardware on my setup currently, 64gb ddr4 x99 platform with no issues and planning on moving to a more recent Intel consumer platform.

OMV can be run in a VM / Container on proxmox, but I find that’s redundant for a single node when using ZFS.

I feel the small hump in initial configuration of proxmox is worth the payoff for long-term expandability.

Saying so my views may be skewed as I migrated from w10 pro to proxmox, I’ve delt with some issues (from my lack of understanding of the platform), had some complete rebuilds of containers and am still dealing with the pains of having upgraded to the unstable channel; trying to migrate back to the stable channel.

All proxmox aside I’m planning on moving everything over to nixos after having it installed on my desktop and laptop for a few weeks now.

Id suggest Proxmox as a great starter, some amazing scripts out there, supports some GPUs passed through to containers and VMs with tweaks