Proxmox.
/thread
Anything else you want to run, you can run in Proxmox. If it’s too much hardware for what you’re doing, all the more reason to run Proxmox. You can build an Arch VM, and NixOS VM, and whatever else you want in it!
If you go with just one of them right on the hardware, that’s all you can do with it, you’re done, you’re stuck.
When you have Proxmox on it, you can try every OS! And then some! It is a superpower for learning.
I mostly agree, and did the same with my second gen lab build - instead of shiny new NUCs like I had used round 1, I bought old off lease Dell Xeon boxes. SO MANY PROS -
The downsides can’t be denied though -
The same holds true for off-lease SFF stuff, Lenovo and the likes …
So while reuse/repurpose is absolutely of the utmost importance, no question - when it comes to technology and how quickly it advances and miniaturizes, a thorough and logical pros/cons list is often required.
I’d add another option though - if you do need what a Pi brings to the table - do you really need a shiny new Pi 5? Is it possible a used Pi 3 or Pi 4 would do the trick, and check the reuse box?
OpenBSD
ducks