I’m considering taking the leap to NUC. I’m on a RPi3b+ running Hassio nearly seven months now and beginning to feel the SD card failure demon lurking in the equipment closet. I’d feel better on a more robust platform. I’ve assembled the following in my shopping cart:
NUC8i3BEH1
2x4 GB SO-DIMMs
500GB SSD
250GB M.2 2280 SSD
I’d like to run more than HA on the box. The Ubuntu/Docker/Hassio scenario seems best for me as I currently take advantage of several add-ons and see more opportunities to use add-ons in the future. A faster, larger-scale database, perhaps node-red, and new management tools as I find them.
Investigating Ubuntu has me confused. Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Core, Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS, and others. I’ve read through Hassio on NUC guides, people’s recommendations, and any threads I could find. My goal is to clarify what’s best for my requirements and how best to get things up and running. I welcome all opinions on what’s best. Thank you.
I have a similar setup, except I’m using a BOXNUC8I3BEH3 and only 1x8 Gb RAM, so that I can expand to 16 Gb at a later date. Also, I don’t need an SSD just yet.
I had a similar dilemma as to which flavour of Ubuntu to use as well. Ubuntu server which you have not mentioned is accessed via another computer via a browser via web interface. I excluded that as I wanted to be able to interact the OS directly from the NUC. Ubuntu Core is a light weight (stripped) version of Ubuntu Desktop and does not come with a lot of things, such as media player and other things. I excluded this as well, as I wanted a full OS that I could do things with if I should choose to at a later date. However, this is meant for IoT devices as I think security is at the top of the list for requirement for Core. Now to the desktop versions, there is 18.04.2 LTS, which Ubuntu will support for 5 years (from release) with updates - this is up until April 2023. LTS stands for Long Term Support (I think). Then there is also 18.10, that has some more updates to the GUI (and other stuff) and has support until July 2019. I personally used Desktop 18.04.2 LTS, as I wanted long term support with software and security updates and also a fully functional OS to do whatever I wanted in addition to running Hassio in docker. To give you an idea, I also installed Virtual Box and had a play around with Hassio in a virtual environment. I’ll also be able to run other programs on the OS and on docker itself. If you use docker, install Portainer as well as it allows you to maintain the volumes and containers through a web interface.
I’m now going to throw a spanner into the works. Can you wait till about 18th April? If yes, then this is when they plan to release Ubuntu 19.04 LTS. I’m going to try and upgrade to this and hope it doesn’t mess up my system.
I’m very happy with my setup and it’s been working great, so I can recommend Ubuntu Desktop, although I haven’t really stressed the system by running other stuff. If you’ve seen the stats in reviews for the NUC8i3BEH, you’ll see it’s not far behind the i7 in the previous generation, so I have a feeling it will be able to handle a lot more than what I am currently using it for. I also purchased a wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse, so that I can sit on the sofa and use the NUC, which is currently attached to my TV.
Nice configuration.
Probably you’d better choose 1x8g ram and check if it’s OK, so that if needed you can have more room to grow.
Now I have an Intel Nuc i3 with 1x8gb ram and 250ssd.
I’m running Proxmox as virtualizer OS and then I have a VM with Ubuntu server 18.10 with Hassio and a VM with same Ubuntu with Nodered, Pihole and Motioneye.
All docker containers are managed by Portainer.
I think I will try to move to 19.04LTS to have support for more time, as mentioned before
I was just reading on Ubuntu site that LTS version are released every two years, so it should be on April 2020, not 2019. Do you have different source?
Yes, I wanted a desktop to work off. I find it easier to copy snapshots from the file manager and back it up on my server. I just prefer having a desktop environment and in te event of a network problem, I can just access the NUC directly.
EDIT: I stand corrected, 19.04 is not LTS. I had assumed that as it was x.04 that it was an LTS. Based on that, I won’t upgrade and will stay on 18.04.2 LTS.
I am well aware of the Ubuntu schedule. I have been using Ubuntu since 2004. What we are telling you is that THIS release, 19.04 is NOT a Long Term Support release.
From one of your links:
Like all the non-LTS releases, Ubuntu 19.04 will follow a 26-week schedule and will be released on 18 April, 2019.
Hey, that’s OK. I won’t wait till 2020.Thank you for your feedback. I’ll move to a single 8GB SO-DIMM and go ahead and load 18.04.2 LTS desktop after I update the NUC firmware.
By the way, remember to change the port forwarding on your router for your Duck DNS to your NUC IP - I spent 5 days trying to solve why I did not have remote access until I realised I hadn’t changed the port forwarding on the router to the NUC’s IP.
Thank you. The links will be a great help. I haven’t been near a UNIX box since SunOS waaaaay back when. My ISP gave me a static IP, but I’ll reserve an ip address for the NUC. It’ll do DHCP by default?
Getting the Ubuntu image on the NUC requires an adapter to upload the image file to the SSD, or is a USB stick sufficient?