Daniel’s blog

Saturday, I got a Bubba|Two mini server (above) from Swedish hardware maker Excito. I haven’t had the time to set it up until now, but I know that this is going to be one very interesting home Linux project!

It’s been four years since I left Mac OS X for Linux after Mail in OS X Tiger refused to send my emails in UTF-8. About a year ago I made the switch back to Mac OS for this job as an Mac consultant at Opera. I never really left the Unix world, and now I am going back in to take control of my own online data.

Primary applications for the home server

Here are my plans and justification for setting up an always-on Linux server at home.

• Private Jabber chat server, possibly even email in time
• Host a few Web apps including Fever, redbot, …
• Git revision control repository
• File drop-box between home/work
• Bridge to home network (to POOE the Mac mini)

The main use-areas are: replacing Web services with self-hosted ones. For feed reading, email, and chat. This is what Opera Unite is all about, by the way.

Of course, I wouldn’t underestimate the benefits of having another Unix system to play with!

The Bubba|Two is a power-efficient, fan-less, PowerPC-based mini server running Debian Etch. There is no graphics card or any other useless heat-generating components. You connect to it via ssh or the built-in Web interface.

At €272 EURO for the 500 GB edition, it was a better option than getting another Mac mini+OS X Server at €1233 EURO.