I’ve always wanted an ARM server in my homelab. But earlier, I either had to use an underpowered ARM system, or use Asahi which not only requires expensive Mac hardware but also slowed down in the past few years.
Then Minisforum introduced the MS-R1 Mini PC. Two MS-01s were already incumbent in my homelab when they replaced power-hungry HPE towers, but the MS-R1 gave me what I wanted: a reasonably powerful ARM machine which doesn’t have bank-breaking Mac pricing.
Assembly
I got the MS-R1 barebones and had a 1TB SSD sitting around.
First, we have the box:
I opened the box and got this:
I installed my SSD, and attempted to install Rocky Linux.
Rocky Linux Installation
So here it is, Rocky Linux booted.
There’s one issue: the onboard NICs weren’t detected:
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