MentalEdge

That would be my assumption.

You don’t see much redundancy in motherboards, so OP is off in that regard.

Rather, a lot of parts are non-critical because not every single one is needed to begin with. Unless you actually populate every single connector and port on a motherboard, a lot of it is doing nothing.

Looks like maybe the copper pad came off for one of the contacts.

In that case a resolder might be a pain, and require some extra work to expose more of the trace.

A laptop is a great place to start.

I like using desktop components as I’ve been able to incrementally upgrade the ram, CPU, and drives as the years go by. A lot of people also really like using single board computers.

The only thing I’d recommend against are pre-built NASes. Theyre proprietary AF and so overpriced for what you get if you don’t need the handholding of the consumer NAS software.

One thing I recommend doing, is keeping step by step notes on everything you set up, and keep a list of files and folders you’d need to keep to easily run whatever you’re running on a new system.

That way, moving to a new system, changing your config, or reinstalling the OS is so much easier. A couple years down the line you’ll be thanking yourself for writing down how the hell you configured that one thing years back.

Almost every problem I’ve had was due to me not accounting for some quirk of my config that I’d forgotten about.

And that would apply with a VPS, too, if you end up going that route.

Yes. Yes they can.

Good companies will have measures to ensure customer privacy, all the way up to ridiculous level stuff like keeping servers inside electrically touch-sensing cages with biometrically locked entrances that can only be entered with a customer representative present.

So generally there shouldn’t be a cause for concern with any respectable provider.

Then again, running a server at home isn’t that bad. My dad did it, he still does it, and now I do, too. We are each others’ off-site backup.

The main issue is usually whether you have access to a suitable internet connection. If you want to access your stuff out-of-home, that is.

The hardware can be almost anything. Depending on what you want to run, you usually don’t have to be picky. My machine was built, and gets upgraded, using dirt-cheap parts off the used market, always a couple generations behind the latest hardware.

The only thing I buy new are the hard-drives.

Hobbes truly is the perfect being.

He sure is

My cat gets his claws stuck in things.

No, they’re not overgrown. Hes able to fully retract them out of the way. He just. Doesn’t.

Not once, ever, have I seen him relax his leg and calmly lift the paw off to unstick the claws. Instead he only ever pulls harder and more violently, which makes retraction impossible due to how the force pulls on the claws. He will struggle more and more fervently until whatever thread, carpet or rope he is stuck in, is the thing that gives.

If he’s really stuck, I sometimes help him by pulling on the stuck limb to give the claws enough slack to come unstuck. This has not led him get the hint.

Two I know have all but commited to switching after seeing me be able to join them in basically everything we might want to play together.

They’re just using their w10 installs until they inevitably need an OS reinstall, at which point they’ve said they’ll have me over to set them up with whatever I’ve figured out works best at that point.

You shouldn’t be touching any handles upon exiting a bathroom.

The door should be push to exit, so you can open it by pushing with your elbow.