An ARM Homelab Server, or a Minisforum MS-R1 Review
5 days ago
- #Homelab
- #ARM
- #Minisforum
- The author wanted an ARM server for their homelab but found earlier options either underpowered or expensive (like Asahi on Mac hardware).
- Minisforum's MS-R1 Mini PC provided a reasonably powerful and affordable ARM solution.
- Initial setup involved installing a 1TB SSD and attempting to install Rocky Linux, but onboard NICs weren't detected.
- Switched to Fedora due to better NIC driver support, despite it not being ideal for servers.
- The homelab setup includes the MS-R1, two MS-01s, and several MikroTik devices.
- Pros: Affordable ARM power, quieter than MS-01s, works well with Fedora, and supports UEFI/ACPI for easier hardware compatibility.
- Cons: Limited M.2 slot usage (one reserved for Wi-Fi), undetected Marvell AQC107 NICs, and issues with power-on after outage.
- The author prefers non-Debian distros (like Fedora) despite Minisforum's Debian recommendation.
- The ARM ecosystem is growing but still lags behind x86 in terms of software support.
- Despite its flaws, the MS-R1 is a valuable addition to the homelab, running a secondary Samba domain controller in a FreeBSD VM.