Where to buy a home server?
Sep 3, 2021, 11:35 am
#61
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,225
Sep 3, 2021, 2:31 pm
#62
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 1,127
(The 1st iPod from 2000 had a 1.8” 5GB HDD!)
Thanks for pointing that out, fixed.
Maximum capacity available specifically as a 2.5” internal drive is this 5TB one (but needs 15cm height clearance, whereas most laptops w/ HDDs would use 7mm or 9.5mm height drives):
https://www.adorama.com/sest5000lm00.html
External options have the same maximum capacity, have 4 WDs of those.
Last edited by crackjack; Sep 4, 2021 at 2:17 am
Sep 3, 2021, 5:53 pm
#63
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
Sep 5, 2021, 12:15 pm
#64
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,225
Server built! It probably took me about 2 hours because I was going very slowly and had to figure out how some things went together, or had to take things apart and redo them when I realized I'd done them in the wrong order. But it booted on the first try and it is crazy fast with the M2 SSD boot drive. mdadm reports it is resyncing the RAID array.
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone.
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone.
Sep 5, 2021, 1:41 pm
#65
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 2,912
Server built! It probably took me about 2 hours because I was going very slowly and had to figure out how some things went together, or had to take things apart and redo them when I realized I'd done them in the wrong order. But it booted on the first try and it is crazy fast with the M2 SSD boot drive. mdadm reports it is resyncing the RAID array.
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone.
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone.
Sep 5, 2021, 5:55 pm
#66
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,225
Now I just have to figure out why VNC shows a blank, black desktop. It's a headless server now and I remember it took some doing to get vnc working on my last one...but don't remember what. I downloaded a dummy video driver and put in a dummy monitor in xorg.conf but not sure what else to do.
Sep 5, 2021, 6:29 pm
#67
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 2,912
Now I just have to figure out why VNC shows a blank, black desktop. It's a headless server now and I remember it took some doing to get vnc working on my last one...but don't remember what. I downloaded a dummy video driver and put in a dummy monitor in xorg.conf but not sure what else to do.
Sep 5, 2021, 7:28 pm
#68
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,225
It’s a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04. I installed the Vino VNC server, which Ubuntu uses for its built in screen sharing, and set it to allow VNC connections without prompting the desktop user. I also have the machine set to auto log me in at startup.
When I connect, my VNC client connects just fine (and warns me the connection isn’t encrypted) but the window is black. Ordinarily I see my full desktop (including the background).
When I connect, my VNC client connects just fine (and warns me the connection isn’t encrypted) but the window is black. Ordinarily I see my full desktop (including the background).
Sep 5, 2021, 7:56 pm
#69
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 2,912
It’s a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04. I installed the Vino VNC server, which Ubuntu uses for its built in screen sharing, and set it to allow VNC connections without prompting the desktop user. I also have the machine set to auto log me in at startup.
When I connect, my VNC client connects just fine (and warns me the connection isn’t encrypted) but the window is black. Ordinarily I see my full desktop (including the background).
When I connect, my VNC client connects just fine (and warns me the connection isn’t encrypted) but the window is black. Ordinarily I see my full desktop (including the background).
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1152...r-black-screen
It's for an older version of Ubuntu, but I think 20.04 is still gnome 3 and not the newer version (gnome 40?)
Sep 5, 2021, 8:57 pm
#70
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
Which VNC implementation are you using? Does it work with Wayland? Pretty sure 20.04 and newer are all fully on wayland vs. traditional X11.
[Edit: it's 21.04 which is fully on Wayland, not the 20.04 LTS ]
[Edit: it's 21.04 which is fully on Wayland, not the 20.04 LTS ]
Last edited by nkedel; Sep 6, 2021 at 10:34 pm
Sep 6, 2021, 9:48 am
#71
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,225
I'm using Vino, which isn't installed by default but is the VNC server that, when you install it, causes the "Screen Sharing" option to appear in the control panel. It used to be installed by default. In any case, I recreated the xorg.conf file per the link (thanks for finding that!) and still get the blank screen. I'll try plugging the monitor in to it. If that works I'll just buy a dummy VGA adapter...though this SHOULD work without the adapter since I think it basically tells the GPU the same thing as the dummy physical adapter.
Much more fun to use SSH and the CLI. 
Sep 6, 2021, 8:05 pm
#73
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,225
I use ssh for most things but sometimes you just need the GUI.
Vnc works after plugging in a monitor. I gave in and bought a dummy vga plug to fool it into thinking a monitor is attached.
Vnc works after plugging in a monitor. I gave in and bought a dummy vga plug to fool it into thinking a monitor is attached.
Sep 6, 2021, 8:40 pm
#74
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 2,912
That is so odd. There has to be a reason for it. I should install Ubuntu and see if I can replicate it. I've got an older box lying around that I could repurpose for it. Just need to find space on a desk somewhere. You've got me curious now...
Sep 6, 2021, 10:33 pm
#75
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
I've not actually used VNC for remote desktop in years - was on nxserver, then x2go-server, and now xrdp which at least on a fast local network is a truly superb way of remote controlling a Linux machine (x2goserver was better for higher-latency remote access, but that's a pretty rare use case for me these days)
All of those, however, are unshared remote desktops - vnc lets you share one session with local use, although since gfunkdave seems to be using this headless, not running a bare-metal X server at all and just running one of those might be preferable.
