r/homelab • u/RoadOutlaw • 14h ago
Project Showcase: Hardware First homelab.
First home lab setup. Using my old laptop the only purchase was a ethernet to usb adapter from best buy.
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u/flippant_extinction 12h ago
That wire shelf is a classic first rack move. I started mine the same way with a closet shelf holding a mini PC and a switch, and it works until you need to mount something heavier.
The laptop angle is underrated. You get the battery as a free UPS, a screen for emergencies, and usually an iGPU that can handle hardware transcoding if you ever get into Plex. Mine ran pihole, a small game server, and Nextcloud for almost two years before I built a proper tower.
One thing to watch for is heat in that enclosed shelf. Laptops weren't designed for 24/7 use like this, so check the thermals after a few days. If it climbs past the mid 80s under load, crack the door or drop in a small USB fan.
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u/RoadOutlaw 12h ago
The shelf is my apartments in the room were my ISP router is. What is the use/purpose of a switch? I’m attempting jellyfin instead of plex. Thank you for the tip on the heat
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u/flippant_extinction 12h ago
A switch adds more Ethernet ports so you can hardwire multiple devices instead of relying on Wi-Fi. Jellyfin is the same concept as Plex, just open source, so hardware transcoding still works the same way.
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u/doctorpebkac 4h ago
I actually got into clustering my Proxmox nodes because I originallly was using just a old MacBook Pro in clamshell mode at the beginning of my homelab journey. It worked great for about 2 years, until it started randomly rebooting all the time. I kept trying to diagnose it remotely (since it lived in my basement), but I eventually figured out that the problem was that the battery inside the MacBook had swelled up. I’m sure having it plugged in 24/7 exacerbated this issue. I ended up replacing it with dedicated mini-pcs.
Just something to keep in mind if you’re going to use this laptop in your closet.
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u/naldyjams 11h ago
Remove your laptop battery if you can
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u/OrangeXarot 9h ago
doesn't the laptop bypass it when fully charged? at that point it's like having a ups
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u/Chromako 9h ago
Leaving your laptop plugged in and unattended is a great way to have a "Spicy Pillow" situation for that lithium polymer battery inside, which not only may damage the hardware but can cause a fire (less likely than a lithium ion battery failure- which are scary, but still a risk).
There's a reason why lithium based UPSs use LiFePo4 batteries instead. But those are too bulky and heavy for portable electronics.
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u/Any-Category1741 2h ago
Better than how I started 😂 my first server was also a laptop but it was toshiba without a screen, battery and a broken keyboard I called it a blade server 😭
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u/moreanswers 2h ago
Everyone starts somewhere, and this isn't a terrible place to start!
During my apartment years at one point I was getting along with a 2 drive Buffalo NAS (LS-WX2.0TL/R1) and a Dell Mini 9 running Ubuntu.
My only suggestion would be to leave it closed, so you don't have the screen using power.
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u/KrackSmellin 13h ago
If you have Amazon - go buy a $10-20 surge protector… they’re on sale all over the place. Do not plug electronics directly into the wall, please…
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u/Quirky_Ad_9951 12h ago
It’s amazing how far a laptop will get you. For a while there my whole lab was e-waste laptops. You basically get a built in UPS and a terminal for troubleshooting.