I have been running Linux distros on my computers for many years, I’m setting up a new box that I want to run a btc node on, probably also a nostr relay and thought maybe spinning up with start9.
But I would also want to use this suped-up box to run other local servers including a kanboard, calibre, password-store, and also an NFS server. I would also like to install a desktop like xfce4, and add some daily driver apps.
Is this doable? What distro does start9 build from, Debian/Ubu, RHEL, or Arch? Any issues adding multiple user accts?
StartOS is built on a Debian base, but isn’t a general-purpose Debian/Ubuntu/RHEL/Arch-style distro you customize by hand — it’s a Linux distribution purpose-built for running a personal server, and administering remotely through a graphical user interface. Services run in isolated containers, not as system packages. Every service on StartOS runs inside its own isolated LXC container, providing process isolation, filesystem isolation, and network namespacing. Bitcoin Core and a Nostr relay are both officially supported packages, so those are a great fit. StartOS is designed around installing services as packages through a Marketplace/registry system, not general apt install-style software management.
For Bitcoin Core, a Nostr relay, and/or any services found in the official registry such as, Nextcloud/File Browser/Vaultwarden etc, StartOS is a great turnkey fit. Beyond that, you can hack, hack away if you like, but treating StartOS as a general-purpose Linux workstation/server with a desktop, extra user accounts, NFS, and arbitrary self-compiled apps alongside, goes against how StartOS is designed. I think you’ll find it an exercise in frustration. For that mixed use case, you’d likely be better served by a standard Debian/Ubuntu install where you run services as regular Docker containers or native packages, or by dedicating a separate box/VM to StartOS for the Bitcoin, or Nostr side and keeping your daily-driver desktop and misc. servers on a normal distro.