I’m looking for a specific distro to handle some tasks.

I got a second hand rig with Nvidia GTX 1050 that I want to use as a home server. I wanted to use HoloISO but it doesn’t support nvidia. If someone says “do it anyway, it’s fine” I’ll install it though.

The idea is to support a Jellyfin server and Steam Link gaming but steam is not big on Nvidia so it’s hard to narrow down “black screen” issues etc. I’m also planning to manage it via VNC and SSH.

I’m familiar with Ubuntu based systems since I develop software on Ubuntu based KDE distro but never had a graphics card.

So it boils down to:

  • Ease of setup including nvidia drivers
  • Ease of update via command line (I’m not going to download nvidia drivers from their website to update proprietary drivers)
  • Graphics performance
  • Prefer Ubuntu based

I’m up for Gnome, Xface, Cinnamon, KDE or whatever DE.

Edit: Changed title to better reflect requirements and not have misleading “headless” and “server” in it

  • CavemanOP
    2•9 months ago

    SteamOS doesn’t support Nvidia even though Arch does. It also has a lot of optimizations that are made specifically for AMD cards which could cause a slowdown.

    I originally planned on using Fedora or PopOS but I thought I would ask around to see if there’s something that’s more specialised for a local “cloud gaming” setup.

      • CavemanOP
        1•9 months ago

        I don’t know why someone downvoted you either, it was a good post and way better than the “just use Ubuntu” which contribute nothing to the conversation. Everybody in this community knows Ubuntu works and you can do pretty much anything with it. I liked your comment so you can take my upvote to offset the other one. :)

        On another note, do you use Moonlight, Sunshine, SteamLink or something along those lines? And do you use a dummy HDMI plug or have a screen connected that’s turned off or some sort of virtual display to get the GPU acceleration up and running after restarting without a monitor?

          • CavemanOP
            1•9 months ago

            Oh wow, you saved me a lot of trouble by telling me about EDID. I borked a test installation by doing hacky stuff instead of waiting for HDMI dongle. I think this is the last piece of the puzzle for me to set the system up. Wish me luck 🤞 and thanks again. :)