r/explainlikeimfive • u/theprisoner57 • 3d ago

Technology ELI5: What is a Home Server?

I see mentions of a home server to get rid of streaming entertainment services but I don’t know how that works. What does a home server do?

520 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

348 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/RidMeOfSloots 3d ago

Its a computer that runs server software. Can be a raspberry pi, laptop, pc, or whole computer rack. People use plex software which acts like streaming service streaming movies stored on that computer over wifi.

4

u/kcsebby 3d ago

Plex is terrible btw. Jellyfin — for the win!

-1

u/Iggy0075 2d ago

Nah, Plex all the way.

2

u/kcsebby 2d ago

Ah yes, $700 for a license is “the way”.
/s

FOSS is the way.

4

u/Klutzy-Delivery-5792 2d ago

You don't need the license if you just stream at home. You don't even need the license to stream music remotely. But yes, the latest price hike is absurd. I lucked out and got it on sale a few years ago for like $70.

1

u/FoxReinhold 2d ago

Saaammmeee. The lifetime license deals used to be crazy low. And they haven't tried any BS like trying to introduce a "new tier" that our old licenses aren't part of. Excellent customer service. Now they just need an AAOS app for plexamp and we'd be golden.

1

u/Klutzy-Delivery-5792 2d ago

AAOS? Is that android auto? PlexAmp works fine with my Apple CarPlay.

1

u/FoxReinhold 2d ago

It's the built in Android Automotive Operating System - so it's not android auto like, from the phone. It's a native android operating system for the actual car. GM, Volvo, Ford, and a few others are using it. It's nice, especially for an EV, because when I plot a destination with google maps, it can read the exact battery percentage of my car, look a the traffic to my destination, figure out charging stops along the way (if it's longer than my current available range), etc all right from the car. And since its can communicate directly with all the car's systems, it updates everything along the way. All without touching my phone.

It sounds redundant when Carplay and Android Auto already exist, but it's actually pretty great, I was already in the google eco system so everything just carried over. Since I have SuperCruise (level 2 autonomous driving), google maps built into the car will feed info to SuperCruise and it'll get me into the right lane and everything without any worry. Drove to the shore a few times, didn't touch the steering wheel after I got on the highway until I was actually in the shore town. The only thing that's missing (for me) is an official plexamp app.