I am making the jump. I never used linux but I am moving my plex server off of my qnap nas to an hp s01-pf1013w (g5900) running ubuntu desktop. I have never used linux before. Do i install ubuntu 20.04.3 lts or ubuntu 21.10? Will I notice a difference? I will only be using this as a plex box.
regards
The main difference is how long you’ll be getting updates and security fixes.
The LTS (long-term-support) version gets those updates over a longer period of time.
Personally I would go with 20.04.3 and consider upgrading to 22.04 after it has stabilized (22.04 LTS has been announced for April; I suppose it’ll be worth waiting until summer/fall to upgrade to let them iron out whatever painpoints the 1st release will have).
Edit:
Here’s a link explaining Ubuntu’s release and support cycles.
what happens when your support period ends? Are you no longer eligible for updates?
Oh, Ill just read your link. Thanks!
For reference… the current version of Plex Media Server will run on PMS 16.04 or newer. My guess is you might need to update to a newer version due to some dependencies of Plex before Ubuntu ends their support of the platform 
If you’re new to Linux I can highly recommend the Linux tips from the Tips & Tricks section. Those will be particularly helpful when it comes to correctly mounting a drive / assigning permissions for Plex to pick-up your media.
To add to Tom,
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Ubuntu 16.04 will be dropped when Ubuntu drops their LTS support in April (5 year LTS support)
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Ubuntu 21.x support will also end in April as is normal for all Odd-numbered releases.
Recommend 20.04.4 LTS as this gives you the most time to be stable and later upgrade, if you wish, to 22.04 LTS
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If this is going to be a dedicated machine just for Plex, I would suggest the Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS server install, as opposed to a desktop version, unless you need desktop apps to run on the machine as well. The HWE version of this is currently supported till April, 2025.
X (the foundation for GUI interfaces on Linux/Unix systems) consumes a lot of system resources that you don’t need, and like anything else, can present security risks. You don’t need it for Plex, so why install it?
My own setup is Ubuntu Server installed into an 8-ish year old machine that I built for the purpose. It’s got a 500G hard drive for the OS and software, and a couple of 12? TB drives in a RAID configuration for storage of media. This machine lives in the basement, where the ambient temp. is rather cool, ideal for a computer so heat is never a problem. I control it using ssh, a way to log into the machine via the in-house network.
Also, if you’re just learning Linux, I would suggest experimenting with virtual machines as a learning tool. https://www.virtualbox.org/ offers a free VM package you can install into Windows, and then set up a Linux machine in that to play. If you screw up, who cares? It’s not a “real” computer, so you lose nothing. Delete it and make a new one. Or, if you’re trying something new, you can clone the VM first, and try it on the clone.
Ive never used linux, no terminal or ssh experience. From what I have read having a gui will make my first experience less painful? I was also under the impression that I could remove the gui at some point?
all my media is on my qnap nas. can you point me somewhere to learn how to make these folders available to my plex server?
Please forgive my candor. I speak to your best interests.
Do not use Linux as a Plex server until you have SOME mastery of Linux.
The desktop GUI will not help you.
You need to use the command line for all system-level tasks.
Stay with Windows or MacOS.
Learn in a VM.
Switch AFTER you have mastered the required skills.
Some of the required skills are shown here:
QNAP:
You export SHARED FOLDERS which contain the media.
“Multimedia” shared folder will be a disaster . (advance warning)
Don’t worry Chuck! I still have my server on my tvs-871t. I was planning on using this hp box to learn and get things set up slowly, eventually switching things over to my Linux server when I felt comfortable.
I do appreciate your suggestion though.
Hey Chuck - I’ve been running PMS on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for quite some time and was just about to upgrade to 20.04… thought I’d check in first and see if there are any gotchas for PMS or if the upgrade generally goes without issue. Mine is a pretty vanilla installation and I don’t run PMS in containers if that makes any difference.
20.04.3 is running stable
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To add to Tom,
- 20.04.4 LTS is where it’s at and what I run here for production.
- 21.x is about to be dropped (as 22.04 releases)
- Recommendation is to let 22.04 have a few weeks worth of updates before using it. Further recommend waiting until 22.04.1-ish until using on production.
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Thanks guys - I’ll do a 2-step and go to 20.04 now and then put a reminder in my calendar to check in on 22.04 in a month or two.
I would (and use myself) recommend the LTS version. The short term releases don’t get security updates for very long, whereas Ubuntu will support the LTS releases for 5 years, I think it is.
LTS releases are 5 years
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