Intel NUC

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Quattro Pete

Quattro Pete

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Got this stuff as an early birthday gift from my wife. While I agree that it’s somewhat overpriced for its performance (still a lot faster than my old honky media center PC), I just like the form factor and low power draw, and those were the primary reasons for getting it. In summary: it’s cute.

I installed RAM and SSD in it last night, and then loaded up Ubuntu. It’ll be used as a file server, plus Plex and Logitech Media Server, among other things.

Since I am fairly new to Linux, I’m still figuring out how to make things like external USB drive resources accessible to Plex Server and to Logitech Media Server, as well as to Windows users. I’ll learn eventually.

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Quote:

Since I am fairly new to Linux, I’m still figuring out how to make things like external USB drive resources accessible to Plex Server and to Logitech Media Server,


I don't know what those products(plex etc) are, but since you loaded the desktop version of Ubuntu, the external devices will be under hotplug USB control, something you DON'T want.

The external USB needs to be mounted @ boot time, not login time, so 'hot plug' needs to be turned off and the /etc/fstab file edited to mount @ boot.

If you hotplug the device it will show up under the /media mountpoint. If you mount it @ boot, you can mount it 'anywhere'

This is one of the fundamental drawbacks of desktop linux (other than a 25 yo bash vulnerability); a server OS with the idea of 24x7 uptime has to be shoehorned into a framework of a single user (who wants to do administrative type things) using the machine.

Moe to Curly; I like it, NUC NUC NUC.
 
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Nice!

I went a little different way and picked up Asus Chromebox ...for my parents ...
They love Chrome OS - ultra fast, secure.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Quote:

Since I am fairly new to Linux, I’m still figuring out how to make things like external USB drive resources accessible to Plex Server and to Logitech Media Server,


I don't know what those products(plex etc) are, but since you loaded the desktop version of Ubuntu, the external devices will be under hotplug USB control, something you DON'T want.

The external USB needs to be mounted @ boot time, not login time, so 'hot plug' needs to be turned off and the /etc/fstab file edited to mount @ boot.

If you hotplug the device it will show up under the /media mountpoint. If you mount it @ boot, you can mount it 'anywhere'

This is one of the fundamental drawbacks of desktop linux (other than a 25 yo bash vulnerability); a server OS with the idea of 24x7 uptime has to be shoehorned into a framework of a single user (who wants to do administrative type things) using the machine.

Moe to Curly; I like it, NUC NUC NUC.


Plex is one of the best pieces of software ever made. Basically, you run the media server on whatever box you have all your movies/tv shows on. It then allows you to set up a library, and using a free app on a roku, iOS device, or android, or via web player, it allows you to stream real-time from your server, anywhere. It does real-time transcoding too, it's great. I made a thread about it a while back, lemme see if I can find it
 
I haven't much kept up with computers in the last 5 or so years, that's really cool. Looks like an ideal HTPC!

I have an old Epia with a 800 mhz VIA processor in it somewhere...
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts

The external USB needs to be mounted @ boot time, not login time, so 'hot plug' needs to be turned off and the /etc/fstab file edited to mount @ boot.

If you hotplug the device it will show up under the /media mountpoint. If you mount it @ boot, you can mount it 'anywhere'


Mounting aside, it still won't change the fact that I'll have to edit access rights so that Plex, Logitech, and Windows users have access to it. For Windows users, I was able to set this external USB as a Samba share, but Plex and Logitech still don't see it. For Plex, and Logitech, since they're installed under its own users, I'll have to figure out something else. I might try Smb4k.

It may just be that I don't understand the whole concept. Certainly have some learning to do here.
 
You need to 'not use the hotplug usb' Samba can use it because it runs as root; those other services running as 'other users' can't because the permissions are closed. You need to address the mounting part first since all the other issues will be permissions related. You will be creating a hacked solution if you mount the device with hotplug as a user and then create a solution with permissions based on that. "Mounting aside" is the road no ones travels, (with apologies to Robert Frost)

edit: it appears in ubuntu it might be called automount usb; hot plug appears to be related to only the mouse/keyboard etc.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount/USB
 
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Thanks. I understand now, and was able to set it up so that it mounts at boot. Logitech Media Server now sees this location. I'll try Plex later.
 
Those kits also run windows very well. I installed a few hackintoshes on them, Debian, as well as FreeBSD with mdp music server.
 
Those are great but I could never pay a premium for one.. Perfect gift idea though. Plenty of power for plex.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
So it comes sans HD and one needs an SSD to put in ?

Yes, you need to get an SSD, RAM, and a wifi card, if you need it.
 
Congratulations on the NUC, Quattro Pete!

Just a heads up, a known problem: After a hard shutdown or a crash the power button just flashes, won't respond to being pushed or to wake from keyboard. After disconnecting power supply still the same, but just the faint green glow, no flashing blue. When this happens the NUC can only be booted with a remote IR control [which I don't have]. To fix there are apparently some jumpers on the exposed side of the motherboard or you can remove & reinstall the CMOS battery [motherboard must be removed from case to do this].

My NUC is identical to yours, but with an i3-4010U processor instead of the i5-4250U. I have had zero problems until today with daily office use since August. I figured it out on my own to remove the CMOS battery before finding out by googling that it is a known problem and there are jumpers that are easier to get to.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Are you running the latest bios on yours, released in September?


I am, I updated to 30 on Wednesday morning from 26 which I updated to before OS installation in July. I wonder if the update has something to do with it. On Wednesday afternoon it didn't want to wake with the power button, but it woke with the space bar.
 
NUC in itself is great. I had to adjust the fan speed a little as it was a bit audible even at idle with OEM BIOS settings.

Ubuntu on the other hand, I'm still tinkering with. Not sure what I did recently, but now all of a sudden the OS doesn't boot automatically. It stops on some pre-boot screen asking me to hit enter to boot Ubuntu, and then it complains that some drives aren't connected. Possibly I messed up something in that fstab file that simple_gifts was talking about above. This is a problem as I normally don't have a keyboard nor monitor attached to the NUC. So if I need to reboot, it won't just automatically boot now.
frown.gif
 
Mine has the mSATA connection, too, but also has the standard SATA connection - larger selection of drives and cheaper, too.
 
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