I have an old ThinkPad 11e running Debian that I have repurposed into a home server. It’s only supposed to run TVheadend. I don’t need any other services for now, but later on i might add a few using docker.

Is it enough to set multiuser.target as default to disable gui and keep the system always on?

How can I disable all unnecessary services and minimize power usage?

  • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
    7·
    2 months ago

    I usually do the expert install and don’t install a graphical environment in the first place. But your solution should be fine, too. I think you can show running services with systemctl and then disable unneeded ones. For example systemctl disable gdm but there shouldn’t be that much running on a plain Debian anyways.

    For powersave I run powertop in auto-tune mode as a systemd service. A description is here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Powertop

    Unfortunately, the Debian Wiki doesn’t seem to have a lot on laptop power saving. The Arch wiki has some more (random) info: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Power_management

    I’d say do the powertop systemd service on startup, set the multiuser target or disable the login manager and that’s it.