This is one of the things that has me so hesitant towards upgrading my "server". I've been using an old Thinkpad for a while now and it has served me well, but lately I've been using it for more intensive things (like JetBrains remote development and a Jellyfin server). It's become a regular occurrence that, while I'm trying to sleep, its fans spin up and sound like it's trying to take off because someone downstairs is watching a movie from it. I don't begrudge them for it since I set it up for that exact purpose, but it can make it difficult to sleep soundly.

The most obvious solution would be make a small PC: more powerful and bigger fans means less noise. I've been considering something like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr5MjhgPz_c)... but then how am I supposed to use it? Yes, I can ssh into it, but what if it fails to start? Just last month my Thinkpad server failed to restart properly. This was a trivial fix but it being a laptop whose lid I can just open and use immediately made it an extremely easy fix, which would not be true for a PC.

Thing is, I know that dumb terminals exist, ie, a screen, keyboard, and trackpad that takes the form-factor of a laptop but has no actual internals, it's just a convenient interface when plugged into a server. I've seen them. I've tried searching for them but there doesn't seem to be an agreed-upon search category, and the ones I manage to find are more expensive than the PC itself and are usually designed as a server-rack drawer.

Genuinely, what do people do here? Do they just have their server setup somewhere like a desktop? Or are people keeping spare monitors, keyboards, and mice around that they then need to unpack, plug in, and use awkwardly before putting it all away again?

I have a tiny HDMI screen which I can power from a USB port which I can plug into a computer if for some reason it is unreachable over the network. (this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B1L935ZT ), and a tiny keyboard with built-in track pad (something like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B9996LA ).

They're stored together in a small box with all needed cables, so they're easy to take with me to whichever computer is having issues. In practice I only use them a few times per year.

> The most obvious solution would be make a small PC: more powerful and bigger fans means less noise

In the performance window of "old Thinkpad", why not go fanless? Those lovely little Intel N150 mini-pc boxes are mostly fanless and completely silent - I have on my desk running Jellyfin/web server/etc, and it's inaudible under load.

> but what if it fails to start?

In ~15 years of running headless linux boxes, I've never had one crippled to the point it wouldn't boot as far as ssh.

> but what if it fails to start?

Since you're mentioning opening laptop's lid I assume you mean literally failing to start, as after power cycling. For that, wouldn't simple hitting the power button be enough? It certainly doesn't require keyboard. If you plan to place it somewhere not easily accessible, there is Wake on LAN, which most modern PC motherboards are going to support.

If some maintenance task cannot be done with ssh/tmux, you can always use remote desktop software, in local network even RDP will do. And if something went wrong enough for you to not be able to connect to the server remotely then there is indeed no way around bringing and connecting a spare keyboard and monitor, but events like that should be quite rare normally.

I just keep a cheap screen and a cheap keyboard near my servers. No need for a mouse. For my garage and basement servers, the KV stays in place always, and the MIL's condo, the KV goes away when not in use... and the keyboard got moved at some point, so I have to remember to bring it over when it needs adjusting.

Around me, most days I can stop at goodwill and get a monitor and keyboard for $30 or less.

SSH most of the time of course, and a management interface (iDRAC, iLO, etc) if you have an enterprise server; otherwise an old monitor and spare keyboard. Sometimes they'll support serial out that you can use over a cable to another computer instead of the whole monitor+keyboard combo. Or nowadays you can use a network KVM like a PiKVM, NanoKVM, or JetKVM

I have a keyboard and monitor somewhere in a closet. That's also what we do at work with our "real" servers.

I'd say it's needed about once a year at most though. Servers don't just fail to start, normally.

My server sits next to my existing desktop, and I just move the keyboard cable from one to the other when I need to get at a local interface on the server. One of my monitors has two inputs, and so is always plugged into both, I can just change the input selected. Not the "cleanest" solution, but it works when I need to get at it, and the space it's in wasn't being used by anything else.

PiKVM

or really any cheap IP based KVM is what you’re looking for

Have it boot with serial out, get a cheap usb to serial dongle, and use the laptop you have to serial in. Or do you specifically want a gui?