Re: Saner Ubuntu?
> The server is now also Mint + Mate
Mint as a server?
I was going to say "that's courageous" (in the _Yes, Minister_ sense) but there's no reason why not.
TBH, about 2014, I built a home NAS and I used Xubuntu, complete with Xfce, just because it was a bit easier to manage Linux with a GUI back then.
But in lockdown in 2020, I ordered a few bits of kit to enable me to built a newer, much more capacious home NAS server from the bits in the spares box. Raspberry Pi 4, a USB 3 hub that connected 4 external drives and powered the Pi as well. No cooling, so almost silent in operation.
It worked well and was solely administered over ssh and using Webmin. Ubuntu Server, for ZFS, with no GUI, no X11, nothing. I removed snapd, multipathd, couchdb and a few other things to reduce the CPU/RAM load.
I think I would still prefer to use a distro that understands the notion of a headless server in favour of a more familiar OS.
That Pi was replaced with a 2nd hand HP Microserver after a couple of years, and TrueNAS Core imported the ZFS array no problem at all. It is still running right now, about 2m from me.