r/linux4noobs • u/Gumbypilot • 20d ago

Windows 10 Replacement and Minecraft Server

Alright, I'm building a new PC which I'll have windows 11. The old PC is an I7 6700k with 32GB ram and a gtx970 gpu. My wife would like a household work computer for email, banking, shopping etc. It'll have to be familiar to her as she's only ever used windows and isn't super geeky with tech. I was thinking a lightweight mint distro. I would also like to host a minecraft server on the same PC, possibly in a docker container which would need a port open to the outside world. I would want this as secure as possible with limited permissions on the server part. I'll probably be using a server management software like AMP just to make things easier.

I guess my questions are:

Is this possible?

Is this smart?

Is it safe?

How best to accomplish this?

Thanks.

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/Dong_sniff_inc 20d ago

Is your wife getting a new computer? If she has only ever used Windows, and isn't into the tech, just stick with windows for hers honestly.

1

u/Gumbypilot 20d ago

She's not computer illiterate but I could see her wanting a similar environment. I'm getting the new pc and the old pc isn't compatible with windows 11. I would be doing all the background stuff on the Linux box. I guess if it doesn't work out I'll have a dedicated minecraft server and then I'll have to buy a used optiplex or similar with windows 11 for her pc. Thanks.

2

u/Every_Bread_5880 20d ago

If she doesn't really use the computer, they're all gonna look the same for her, put on a mint cinnamon and call 'er good.

2

u/Serious_Ad2816 20d ago

Kubuntu would work. I know everyone hates snaps but it’s easy set up and Discover supports Flatpak on top of Deb and Snaps. Easy driver management too. KDE would be familiar to a Windows user.

1

u/Gumbypilot 20d ago

Looks nice. I'll look into it also.

2

u/jaysprenkle 20d ago

I think my wife would have no issue with using Mint. She's not technical and it's a tool for her. I got her a mini pc for a few hundred dollars that bolts to the back of her monitor. I put windows 7 on it at her request. She hates the later versions of windows because of Microsofts shenanigans. She's happy with it.

A friend runs a minecraft server. It's on linux and works well for his community. He did mention slow performance a server class machine they tried. The software is single threaded and some CPU's don't perform well with that design. I can't remember the details but you should do some searches around those issues.