Hey everyone!
I’ve been rocking Proxmox for a little over a year on an old Mac Mini with a failing NIC (I probably damaged it when I installed the SSD). So I decided it was time to get some new used cheap hardware and I have just received a HP Elitedesk 800 G3 SFF, going to throw 32GB of RAM, a 1TB M2 NVMe boot drive and a 4TB SATA drive for media in it (this will replace my external 4TB drive).
Right now in Proxmox I’m running a Docker VM with Debian (Transmission-VPN container, ByteStash, FreshRSS, KaraKeep), another Debian VM for Visual Studio Code so I can remote into VS Code on my Mac and iPad and couple of LXC containers (Plex, Open WebUI and Pi Hole).
Honestly Proxmox feels like overkill for what I’m doing, half of what I’m doing is either individual LXC containers or I find myself SSH’ing into the Docker VM. The Proxmox helper scripts are great, but I feel like I’m not learning much and I don’t know how much I can trust random GitHub URLs.
I’d like to start learning and becoming more self-sufficient with Linux. I was pretty excited by the idea of learning NixOS, get comfortable learning the code and then creating distinct configurations for different systems, including my Mac devices with Darwin… then I was reminded of all the recent bullshit happening in the community… I don’t want to get deep into the discussion in this thread, but I don’t really want to use/support a distro that Palmer Luckey and Anduril are trying to influence and control.
So I’m trying to decide if I should stick with Proxmox, try something like Arch or keep an eye on what’s going down with Nix and have a good backup strategy if the situation worsens.
I’d probably switch from Docker to Podman, use Wayland with Niri and learn NeoVIM and use SSH instead of VS Code remote tunnels.
Based on my current setup and my goals, what would you suggest I do?
I use NixOS, but it is not for learning how Linux works; realistically it’s for when you already know how Linux typically works, so you can understand when it breaks some of those norms.
If you want to learn how containers etc work, use straight-up Debian.
I really don’t recommend arch for a server. On a desktop absolutely but what I want for a server is to be able to let it sit for 6 months, then update it and not have everything break; arch works best with frequent update hygiene.
Proxmox.
/thread
Anything else you want to run, you can run in Proxmox. If it’s too much hardware for what you’re doing, all the more reason to run Proxmox. You can build an Arch VM, and NixOS VM, and whatever else you want in it!
If you go with just one of them right on the hardware, that’s all you can do with it, you’re done, you’re stuck.
When you have Proxmox on it, you can try every OS! And then some! It is a superpower for learning.
This is what my friend and I do now.
Proxmox on bare metal.
Currently messing around with Talos Linux in a VM.
Currently messing around with Talos Linux in a VM.
Yes!! Now LOVE Talos, after, drumroll, trying it out in my lab on my Proxmox boxes!! Figured it out ‘good enough’, and then rolled a live cluster with it - also on the same Proxmox hardware!! Labs, production services, loaner ‘lab boxes’ for people doing certs - with hardware to spare! LOVE Proxmox so much!!!
I think having a solid/stable virtualization layer is very helpful. Whether that’s Proxmox, Incus, or something else, it’s a matter of taste.
You can then put NixOS, Guix, Debian, Arch, whatever on top.
As someone currently deep into Nix (even contributed to nixpkgs), I’m currently in the process of migrating away and am planning on just running good old Debian stable with docker compose for my home server. I wouldn’t waste your time learning Nix, it isn’t a transferable skill and totally locks you into the ecosystem.
You’re more of an expert in home-server stuff than me, but here’s what I do and my reasons why, maybe they can help you find an answer yourself.
I’ve chosen Arch for my homeserver (contrary to most people prefering Debian) since:
- I’ve been using it for years and know a lot about it, so maintenance isn’t an issue at all.
- Newest software = latest bug and security fixes, features etc.
- the Wiki makes installing anything a breeze and many questions and issues are already answered in the arch forums
I don’t use a docker image and I don’t see its necessacity (again, you know better then me). I’ve seen however servers that use NixOS because they can have the whole infrastructure/system in a git repo, which makes moving to a new server easy and without issues, which is not your case since you’ll be running it on the same machine.
I’ve never used proxmox but if it’s specifically built for what you’re looking (ie. home server) then go for it even if it’s overkill. For me personally, Arch works great as a server.
fwiw, I’ve got fedora and ubuntu on the server, I don’t interact much with the underlying os, everything is in a container. The user (me) facing differences are that I’ve got podman on fedora, docker on ubuntu. Selinux on fedora vs apparmor. Cockpit on fedora vs no cockpit preinstalled on ubuntu.
I could also use arch as a base, to me, the user, it wouldn’t make much difference other than that I would have to manually install and setup all the tools that are already setup on fedora. It’s all linux.
Here’s my journey from arch to proxmox back to arch: https://bower.sh/homelab
I was in your shoes and decided to simplify my system. It’s really hard to beat arch and I missed having full control over the system. Proxmox is awesome but it felt overkill for my use cases. If I want to experiment with new distros I would probably just run distrobox or qemu directly. Proxmox does a lot but it ended up just being a gui on top of qemu with some built in backup systems. But if you end up using zfs anyway … what’s the benefit?
Proxmox is approaching enterprise class. I would go that direction without much thought.
I’m on Proxmox because I don’t have time to learn my way around my entire homelab, so I need tutorials and Proxmox has the biggest community. I use Coolify for easy deployments and testing software.
Same thing with Docker, I don’t like it, but I can’t afford using an alternative yet.
But I wish I could get away with using Ublue core + cockpit + podman quadlets + QEMU/KVM. But man, the Fedora & Cockpit docs are so newbie unfriendly, and the Cockpit community is pretty much non-existant compared to Proxmox. There’s no one doing tutorials for it on youtube, while you can find a new PVE tutorial every single day.
My advice is go towards where your own priorities are. If you don’t want to support a certain mindset, just don’t. If you want to do it the manual way and learn everything you can, then go with Arch, they’ve got the greatest Linux wiki that has ever been written. If you want easy to follow tutorials stay with PVE. If you want an unbreakable system go with Ublue core or Ubuntu core (I’m personally not liking Canonical though).
Follow your thirst for knowledge, In a few years you’ll be a pro.
Another option is OpenMediaVault. It’s based on Debian. Very stable. Has a good community supporting it.
Debian and then maybe Guix on top of that. Rootless Podman for services.
There is no good reason to choose Arch in 2025. If you want to feel special, NixOS or Guix System is the way to go.
I think Guix is way more coherent than Nix. It also has better documentation and a more friendly community. And you use Scheme instead of Nix lang.
Proxmox. Then an Arch VM to fuck around with and break.