I already have a NAS that does not support Plex, however I plan to map a drive to my Linux PlexServer. Computer I’m going to use has 8G ram and 2GCPU. Any Ideas? I’m new to Linux and still learning.
The desktop version of Ubuntu.
Its dependent on what you want. I run CentOS (which is based on Fedora/RHEL) minimal as I dont need a lot of stuff installed (i.e. music player, desktop, etc). I mainly use my server as a Plex/sftp/file server. One of the best things about Linux is that you can create a live version…meaning that you can have a version of Linux installed on a USB thumb drive, plug it into a PC and boot from it to try it out without installing it on your PC. Do a little research and try some out to see what works best for you 
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Ubuntu or if you like a nice UI and total package go for Linux Mint (which is based on ubuntu).
I started using LXLE 64 Bit 16.04.2 and it looked pretty good. I’m having a problem installing Plexmediaserver, can’t seem to get it working. It’s a Lite OS. I have try Ubuntu and tried to follow directions to install Plex, some of the commands work some don’t, bottom line can’t get Plex to work, so tried other OS, Deb, CentOS7, manjaro, and LXLE.
Hi, I use the desktop version of Ubuntu as well. Because that server is 24/7 and another person can use the desktop part for simple normal stuff (hooked up to the printer too). IMHO the key to a media server is how much guts you have in the rig itself (RAM, CPU big hard drives, etc).
-wbm
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PMS is supported on Ubuntu, Fedora, and Centos only
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Linux Mint was the answer I was looking for. I installed Linux Mint and was able to install Plexmediaserver after downloading it. It was a piece of cake. I found it very easy to do. I have the service running. Now all I have to do is Map my network NAS folder which has my files, (Movies,TV Shows and Stuff) I’m working on that now.
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Suggestion: Top of this Linux forum you will find Linux Tips
Sounds like Linux Mint is the best choice for nubies coming from a Windows world.
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Not necessarily true.
The best to do is try each in a VM… See what feels right for you. The kernels are all current so functionality will be the same.
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@ChuckPA said:
Not necessarily true.The best to do is try each in a VM… See what feels right for you. The kernels are all current so functionality will be the same.
The only reason I am bothering with Linux is to see if it will allow the Ceton PCIe 6 to work with Plex.
They do have Linux drivers and configuration tool. I don’t know enough about Linux to get it up and running. I tried Mint and got to a desktop… But was pretty lost.
@Cornstick said:
@ChuckPA said:
Not necessarily true.The best to do is try each in a VM… See what feels right for you. The kernels are all current so functionality will be the same.
The only reason I am bothering with Linux is to see if it will allow the Ceton PCIe 6 to work with Plex.
They do have Linux drivers and configuration tool. I don’t know enough about Linux to get it up and running. I tried Mint and got to a desktop… But was pretty lost.
What was the reason you were lost? Imho if you are lost with Mint than you will have an even harder time with other distros, but your mileage may vary of course.
I concur with Coxeroni. If you are lost with one distro, that’s a bad position to be in and you’ll likely be as, if not more, lost with another.
If you don’t know linux, learning it at this level (hardware configuration and device management) will not be easy regardless of the distro even with a vendor’s “Configuration tool”.
An analogy?
Learning to drive a standard shift car where the gear pattern isn’t marked and doesn’t match anything you’ve seen before, at night, in traffic, without lights of any kind.
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A better analogy? Learning Linux to run Plex because you want support for a specific card is like trying to assemble a car in the dark because you want the light in the glove box a certain color.
Linux is EXTREMELY powerful and flexible, but you need to know a fair amount about hardware architecture, buses, memory locations, code compiling, and other “techie” things if you’re trying to get a specific piece of hardware to work without a ton of guidance from the manufacturer. I’ve been using various linux distributions for over 20 years and am comfortable in a lot of different Linux/Unix systems. I would take on the sort of thing you’re trying to do only because I cut my teeth on Linux doing exactly that - literally building the operating system from source with a very specific configuration to suit my exact hardware.
For you, based on the basic information you’ve posted, I would recommend you stay -away- from Linux as it’s highly likely to amount to nothing more than an exercise in frustration for you.
As a point of reference: I built a Plex system for my father-in-law. He is a consumer of the service ONLY. He didn’t build it, he won’t patch it, he won’t maintain it, and he won’t even add his own media to it. He has a Smart TV with the app installed so he can watch movies whenever he wants. I built the entire thing on OpenSUSE Leap and manage it entire from my house. I wrote custom scripts that allow that server to determine its public IP and then log that information to MY server periodically so I am able to log into it remotely when I need to. Never in a million years would I have built it on Linux if he were going to have a hand in the upkeep of it.
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@ember1205 said:
A better analogy? Learning Linux to run Plex because you want support for a specific card is like trying to assemble a car in the dark because you want the light in the glove box a certain color.Linux is EXTREMELY powerful and flexible, but you need to know a fair amount about hardware architecture, buses, memory locations, code compiling, and other “techie” things if you’re trying to get a specific piece of hardware to work without a ton of guidance from the manufacturer. I’ve been using various linux distributions for over 20 years and am comfortable in a lot of different Linux/Unix systems. I would take on the sort of thing you’re trying to do only because I cut my teeth on Linux doing exactly that - literally building the operating system from source with a very specific configuration to suit my exact hardware.
For you, based on the basic information you’ve posted, I would recommend you stay -away- from Linux as it’s highly likely to amount to nothing more than an exercise in frustration for you.
As a point of reference: I built a Plex system for my father-in-law. He is a consumer of the service ONLY. He didn’t build it, he won’t patch it, he won’t maintain it, and he won’t even add his own media to it. He has a Smart TV with the app installed so he can watch movies whenever he wants. I built the entire thing on OpenSUSE Leap and manage it entire from my house. I wrote custom scripts that allow that server to determine its public IP and then log that information to MY server periodically so I am able to log into it remotely when I need to. Never in a million years would I have built it on Linux if he were going to have a hand in the upkeep of it.
Alright. I guess I’ll have to wait for someone with the knowledge AND desire to make it happen. It can be done. MythTV has support for this card. JRiver has support for this card.
It’s a Windows Media Center device. Just like every single other tuner that IS working with Plex today. So, while I don’t know for sure, my guess is it uses the same exact commands that all of the other tuner cards use.
I read through a document that the MythTV wiki has for the Ceton card. I’ll post a link here and see if it make sense to any of you.
@ember1205 I am not sure if I agree with your statement completely. It depends on which version of Linux you try.
As a first time person to Linux this month I had some of those issues with trying to load Mint 17.04 on a very old Dell with a Pentium 4 running at 2Ghz speed and 1GB of ram. It did not work because the computer was to old but I did not know that until later on. So after watching some older YouTube posts on older Linux running on older PC’s, I tried Ubuntu 14.04. The installation was very easy. The system came up just fine and I had a desktop that looked a lot like windows or Mac. The system updater recommended I update to 16.04 which worked just fine too. I then loaded Plex Media Server using Firefox on the Dell running Ubuntu. It was easy too. Then I copied three short videos from my Mac using a stick drive into the media folder on the Dell. Bingo, I had content up online with the Plexserver! This old 20 year PC was running and my friends 50 miles away could watch my vacation videos. That’s why we do this right? My test was completed and I learned how to do it on a computer I did not care about.
I do not recommend using an old a computer but I had never used Linux before and it was not that hard to do. If you are new to this technology (Linux), like I am, just watch YouTube posts from people who have done it or read up on other post like this.
I am now loading up Ubuntu desktop 18.04 on a 5 year PC with a i5 Intel processor at 3.00Ghz with 16GB of Ram and a 150GB boot drive with a 500GB drive for media. I don’t use this PC anymore because I have a great Mac Mini to work with. So this is a good place to start with Linux and media server so I can cut off Uvers and AT&T.
@N5232P said:
@ember1205 I am not sure if I agree with your statement completely. It depends on which version of Linux you try.As a first time person to Linux this month I had some of those issues with trying to load Mint 17.04 on a very old Dell with a Pentium 4 running at 2Ghz speed and 1GB of ram. It did not work because the computer was to old but I did not know that until later on. So after watching some older YouTube posts on older Linux running on older PC’s, I tried Ubuntu 14.04. The installation was very easy. The system came up just fine and I had a desktop that looked a lot like windows or Mac. The system updater recommended I update to 16.04 which worked just fine too. I then loaded Plex Media Server using Firefox on the Dell running Ubuntu. It was easy too. Then I copied three short videos from my Mac using a stick drive into the media folder on the Dell. Bingo, I had content up online with the Plexserver! This old 20 year PC was running and my friends 50 miles away could watch my vacation videos. That’s why we do this right? My test was completed and I learned how to do it on a computer I did not care about.
I do not recommend using an old a computer but I had never used Linux before and it was not that hard to do. If you are new to this technology (Linux), like I am, just watch YouTube posts from people who have done it or read up on other post like this.
I am now loading up Ubuntu desktop 18.04 on a 5 year PC with a i5 Intel processor at 3.00Ghz with 16GB of Ram and a 150GB boot drive with a 500GB drive for media. I don’t use this PC anymore because I have a great Mac Mini to work with. So this is a good place to start with Linux and media server so I can cut off Uvers and AT&T.
Be sure you’re keeping the context of my comment in mind… @Cornstick stated that he was trying different flavors of linux so that he could get support for a specific piece of hardware. My comment was that trying to make specific hardware work in linux is not a trivial undertaking, especially if you are not versed in things like coding, compiling kernels and libraries, and a variety of more advanced admin items within the linux world specifically.
I was not trying to say that linux should be avoided - I was saying that it should not been as the “cure-all” for one-off, odd hardware items that don’t work anywhere else if you’re a noob to the OS and don’t have a programming background.
For your comments about different versions and being new to linux, I wholeheartedly agree with you that there are a million and you may have to try quite a few to find one that allows you to feel comfortable with a brand new OS as straight-forward end user.
I know this is an older thread, but I use Ubuntu Server 18.04. It’s stable. I go in twice a month and patch the OS and update Plex if needed and that’s it. I never have to do much.
