I am thinking of buying a BeeLink N150 to run a Plex server on a headless Linux distro. I have no plans to connect to Plex remotely, or sharing my film library.
Is it possible to locally access the Plex server from my Windows laptop through the Plex client running on the laptop, or will I need to run some version of a remote desktop application on both machines (more than likely I am asking a stupid question)?
Thanks in advance
Once you have Plexamp headless installed, claimed, and running, it can be controlled in a few ways:
http://ip_address:32500, where ip_address is the IP of the Plexamp headless host system.Configuring Plexamp headless requires using the web UI. You can also use the web UI to control playback. Once you have it configured to your preferences, you would normally just use another Plexamp client (on your phone, for example) to control the headless client.
Apologies. I must have had Plexamp on the brain last night when I read the original post and replied to a question which wasn’t asked. Derp.
Once it’s set up and running, you can do pretty much all administrative tasks using the web app or the dedicated Plex Desktop app from any computer.
You still need an internet connection for both clients and server. User authentication, licensing, metadata acquisition etc. is all dependent on it.
If you are planning on running Linux, you will need at least a terminal app to do the occasional operation on the headless machine.
You will very much need it at the beginning when you are installing and setting up the server.
You can certainly also set up a remote control app which allows you to use a graphical user interface on the Linux server.
A word of warning: if you are ready for a steep learning curve and really want to dive into Linux, then go ahead.
If you however only want a type of “appliance” that runs your server, stay away from Linux and particularly from a headless device.
@f3ish … there’s some nice options to manage your headless machine (talking of the host / Linux). You can e.g. install the app Cockpit which gives you a web admin interface to manage updates, mounted storage etc.
I agree with Otto. Linux can be hard if you’ve never dealt with it. But there’s excessive guides on most topics. Specifically when it comes to „properly mounting drives“ and handling permissions when dealing with your PMS.
Thanks to all for the invaluable comments. I have had some experience with Ubuntu, so I do understand some of the differences. I’m not looking for more work, it just seems from comments that Linux is more stable than Windows.
Your great answers have generated more stupid questions, so here goes:
I have been running Plex on my laptop for a couple of years and have been content to leave well enough alone. But I’m getting ambitious as recently with no changes to Plex setting videos have started to stutter (especially when I’m watching a film and working on the computer) so I thought I would separate these activities using the BeeLink.
I installed the Plex Client as an experiment, and this works as it should.
I had also in the past been able to control Plex in a web browser from the laptop where the Plex Server is installed using 127.0.0.1:32400 address. More recently, this only opens the Plex splash screen. I can log in to Plex using the Private IP address shown in Plex Settings > Remote Access > Private. So really no problem here, just odd why things changed.
From the comments, it is now apparent to me that I should be able to control Plex from ANY computer on the network; so I tried using my wife’s laptop, I entered 127.0.0.1:32400, and nothing, I entered the other IP address and still nothing. Clearly I am missing some detail but can’t see what it is.
In case anyone wants to ask, yes I do have a VPN but turning it off and rebooting made no difference.
You are missing the subfolder where the local /web app is located. https://support.plex.tv/articles/200288666-opening-plex-web-app/
The pure address + port number will only give you a XML response which is meant for client apps.
Doh!
Thanks 10^6
Anyone have thoughts on the relative merits (stability, etc.) of running Plex on Linux vs a debloated Win 11?
Linux won’t auto download updates, auto install them, and then auto reboot your system.
No wasted resources because the OS isn’t being “Zen” 
I feel better now, thanks 
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I figure I will give Linux a go, it may take me a bit longer to get it setup, but in the end I think it will just be better.
Again thanks
f
Linux does have a big learning curve.
Google search is extremely helpful.
The “Ask Ubuntu” and “Stack Exchange” sites are very helpful
Here are how-to’s for PMS on Linux
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