What is the easiest way to turn a old laptop into a photo server?
What is the easiest way to turn a old laptop into a photo server?
Hi all, I've been browsing this sub quite a bit but since i've not been able to find an answer i'll post here my question.
I have an old laptop with 8gb ram and a i5 cpu and some TBs of drive. If the specs are decent enough I would like to turn into a photo server (running something like nextcloud memories, photoprism or Immich) so that I could move the first steps in the self hosting world.
The ideal scenario would be something that allowed each person in the house (4 people) to create his account and store his photos seperately. (One bonus is accessing the photos even outside of the house and having automatic sync from phone gallery)
Since I'm really new in this world I'm asking your opinion about a solution that you consider really easy to implement and to mantain, if it even exist. (maybe some prebuilt image wich is ready to be installed (?))
I'm willing to learn as much as possibile but I would like something easy to start with :)
Install Debian on it and start playing with docker . For file shareing you could try OMV ...
If you can add a bit more RAM id suggest to give ProxMox a go ... but with just 8 u are gonna fill this up with just a single VM
1Thanks, will look into that? Do you suggest following a yt tutorial or the one on the appropriate website?
1I'd say get comfortable with Linux first. I think it comes down to personal preference if you wanna watch a video or follow a text based tutorial. Just make sure to understand every command you type.
When comfortable with the basics of Linux I'd say look into docker and how to setup sth. like immich with it and you're basically good.
1
probably just me, but I"d say don't go with immich, for now at least. it's still under development and their github page warns that data loss is a possibility. I don't know if that refers to newly added metadat, or pictures added through the interface or what. don't get me wrong I'm excited for it to get finished.
1https://github.com/immich-app/immich
Immich looks very similar to Google Photos and is the best self hosted replacement in my opinion.
You need Docker for it, preferably on a Linux host.
Installation steps can be found here, same for steps to install Docker. https://immich.app/docs/install/requirements
1Tried Synology Photos? If so, how do you compare them?
1