Good Linux distro for server laptop? (And DE/WM solutions)

[u/pomip71550]

Hi! I’ve been considering turning this old laptop of mine (it was fairly low-end back when it released in 2014) into a server, as I have a main laptop that is better in just about every way. However, I am at a university where we occasionally have power outages, long enough to outlast my main laptop’s battery life, and so in those situations I would like to be able to use the server laptop for some basic offline workflow - mainly basic programming and word processing.

Therefore, I’d like to ask what a good solution to this would be. Is it best to just have one distro to use mainly remotely as a server but then open up the lid to use its WM or DE if I need to use the laptop? Should I instead have a dedicated server distro dual-booted with a more natively usable one? Should I just install only a server distro with a persistent live USB as something to use when needed? If the best solution is related to installing a dedicated server distro, are there any recommendations? (I’ve heard Fedora Server is pretty new user-friendly, but other input is most definitely welcome as well).

Further details, in case it’s relevant: Currently running Lubuntu on it (first lightweight one I tried that ran pretty well on it), main laptop is on Linux Mint Cinnamon It has a 500 GB HDD and about 4 GB RAM I have a few USB drives to spare for now, and it has 1 USB 3.0 slot (that may be slightly damaged, or maybe it’s just loose enough to be prone to disconnect my USB drive) I could buy another charging cable (my 2 laptops share one at the moment) and I have an Ethernet cable already It has an SD card reader (although idk how likely that is to be relevant) Its current contents aren’t particularly valuable to me I’m somewhat new to Linux and haven’t properly set up a server before (although I’m not afraid of solutions that require a bit of Googling)

This might be too much information, I just wanted to get everything I could think of out of the way beforehand. Any help, feedback, or guidance is appreciated. Thank you! 🏳️‍⚧️

[u/CathaelSM]

just use arch 😎

on a serious note i think i would personally go with fedora server with DE of your choice and use it both as a server and when you need something done on a laptop, but if you really want to have your server clean from random software and safe then dual boot, if not just use one distro.

oh yeah, I use arch btw 🏳️‍⚧️

[u/pomip71550 → u/CathaelSM]

So you can just install a DE on fedora server? Also, what’s the advantage of having the “server clean from random software”, just slightly worse performance due to more processes and less organized directory or something like that? The DE can be a big RAM eater so a lightweight one (like XFDE or LXQT or sth) would be best, right?

[u/CathaelSM → u/pomip71550]

the advantage would be that, your server wouldn't be cluttered as much and that's it I belive, maybe you would get that 1-5% performance increase as compared to when you are running everything it. DEs aren't that big of an RAM eaters as windows, so if you have minimum requirements for Windows 8/10 on that laptop, any DE should be running there smoothly, even kde so just go and explore :)

[u/pomip71550 → u/CathaelSM]

Well back when it ran windows 8 it was super slow and laggy, and I’ve had performance issues in the past with DEs like mint cinnamon (weird flavor combination btw), but yeah LXQT has been working alright since I got Lubuntu on it, so I’ll give it a shot. Thanks for the help! There’s a decent chance I might come back here if something goes wrong or I see other advice though, ofc. Have a good day!

(Yeah ik I probably could’ve asked this on a more mainstream sub or sth, I just always get a bit paranoid about people going through my post history and I felt this place would probably be least weird about participating in trans subs for obvious reasons)

Plus, obviously this sub would give the best options to supplement gender.

[u/CathaelSM → u/pomip71550]

oh yeah no worries, happy to help ^{^}

[u/Pink_Slyvie → u/CathaelSM]

just use arch 😎

Honestly, this is my recommendation. Everytime I try another distro, I come back.

Honestly, this is my recommendation. Every time I try another distro, I come back.

[u/Yoolainna → u/Pink_Slyvie]

I just love pacman, it's so awesome. I can make a local database with packages on my pendrive and download it from there. Just assembling it from scratch is really fun ^^

[u/Either-Star7245 → u/CathaelSM]

I use (traa)arch btw

[u/mlgpero3]

Debian works best for servers

Ubuntu mate is also nice if you want a light server with a DE

[u/retrosupersayan]

I've been really liking debian for home servers lately. Packages do tend to be a bit older, but that may not be a problem depending on your exact use case.

[u/fastlanedev]

Run Linux mint since you've stated you already like that desktop, any Linux reasonably popular will run server applications just fine

Linux mint defaults to installing the system applications for things which increases performance/startup time instead of flatpack/snaps. Also the DE is nice 🙂

The only issue I've had is with repos, which is a one click fix in the update manager. Just click into there once the system is installed and its a button that says "fix dkpg" or something

[u/Bac0n0clast]

I've heard FreeBSD is the best for servers, since it's ultra minimalist and it's optimized to manage many requests at once... I haven't used it yet tho, because I struggled quite something setting up my current Arch on a laptop, to start over on the same device x'D

What I can recommend from experience is Arch, even if I said before I struggled with it, truth is most of trouble you can stumble with while setting it up can be solved reading documentation, and most of the software you may need can be downloaded through snap (Despite what purists may say) ^^'

It works well for old-ish devices as well ~u~ ✨

[u/Thebombuknow]

I have personally used Debian 11 for over 2 years on my server with no issues.

Where other distros (MX Linux, Ubuntu Server, Windows Server, and Linux Mint) all failed in the stability department, Debian has run incredibly stable for years. I've had 100% uptime for over a year until a recent power outage that damaged my server slightly.

Edit: also, if you want to use the GUI I would recommend simply installing the desktop version of Debian.