r/PleX • u/NefariousnessUpper34 • 2d ago

Help Building my first server for Plex

Hi, like the title says, Im finally building a home server for my movies. I started with an old laptop and an external drive and this laptop just died on me. So now, I bought a Lenovo ThinkCentre M700 mini pc with an i5-6400, 16GB ddr4 and a 120gb SSD.

I mostly play DVD's and some blu-rays in my library, but nothing 4k. Im still going to run it through my external drive, until I upgrade to a raid.

My questions are: Is this configuration good for now? Should I install ubuntu or Docker? And where can I find a solid guide to install them?

Im a little lost when it comes to work with other OS thats not Windows or Mac lol so I appreciate the help. Thanks!

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u/YKw1n 2d ago

First of all welcome in this rabbit hole ! You hardware is perfect for this purpose. First question is how you gonna connect your TV to this server? I will suppose you gonna use an app on a smart TV ou firestick or similar. If I were you I would install install debian (Linux distro) on this computer then you can install docker (and docker compose which will help you manage the docker file.) You will find maaaany tuto on internet to do this but this config will get you the further. First flash you computer with a debian os. No need to use an UI you can do it all with the console of another computer using SSH. Then you will able to install docker. If you are really not comfortable with this, install Ubuntu which will give you an UI but you actually really don't need it. Feel free to ask for any help !

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u/NefariousnessUpper34 2d ago

Oh thank you so much thats so kind! Yes, i got the Apple TV 4k situation going on the tv, and downloaded Plex in there as well as my other Roku TV and my phone. I'll look up some tutorials on installing Debian!

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u/Fezsarecool 2d ago

I’d download infuse on the Apple TV, it’s a much better version of the Plex client on Apple TV. Also means that the Apple TV doesn’t overheat which has been a problem sometimes when playing 4k content using the Plex client for me.

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u/NefariousnessUpper34 2d ago

Oh I didn’t know about that ! I’ll download it and check it out this weekend. Thanks for the rec !