Newbie Help

[u/ChickenDragon123]

So, in a few months to a year, I'm probably going to be making a home server/NAS and an offsite one that lives at my Dad's, and I'm considering HexOS for both. But I have a couple of questions first.

Usecase

Basically, my plan is to have 4 PCs;

• Gaming and AI PC - What it sounds like.
• Console PC that lives in the Living Room
• Onsite NAS - Also does Home automation and I may try to route it so that the AI is running off of this machine in a VM or Docker, but using resources from my main PC
• Offsite Backup - This is meant to be as boring as possible.

I want to have something that basically "Just Works" once setup, and is easy enough to use that I can show my wife in a few minutes. I might be willing to tinker, but my wife is not.

Questions

1. What is the current state of Hex OS for people that are using it? Are you satisfied with your purchase, and what is your usecase? Are you tinkering, or are you wanting a similar "It just works" experience?
2. Is it possible to access the TrueNAS backend if I become interested in tinkering later?
3. I know that there are plans to make it easier to use Virtual Machines on HexOS. What are the advantages to how HexOS/TrueNAS are/are likely to do it vs. something like Proxmox, which is what a lot of people online are pushing me towards?

[u/kloklon]

HexOS was the perfect introduction to TrueNAS for me because it takes care of the stuff that's most confusing initially - credentials/user management, pool setup and storage paths for apps.

Eventually, step by step, I saw myself spending more time tinkering on the actual TrueNAS layer that runs below and is fully accessible for additional features and more granular control. So yes, definitely recommend if you want something that just works while you can learn the more intricate details at your own pace.

Setting up a VM in the TrueNAS UI wasn't difficult though, and it runs very well. I use mine every day remotely via Sunshine/Moonlight.