TrueNAS Scale, Unraid, and OpenMediaVault stand at the apex of the Network-Attached Storage OS landscape, with each distribution featuring its own perks and quirks. However, they’re far from the only options at your disposal. Even without harnessing the power of virtualization, you can turn Proxmox into a reliable file-sharing server once you arm it with the right set of packages – and the same holds for Debian, Fedora, and other general-purpose distributions.

But on the other side of the popularity spectrum, you’ve got obscure distributions that are seldom discussed by tinkerers, data hoarders, and home labbers. In my search for wacky projects and cool DIY ideas, I recently stumbled upon XigmaNAS, a FreeBSD-powered distribution designed for storage servers and NAS solutions. Having played around with it over the weekend, I’ll admit that XigmaNAS deserves far more credit than it currently receives.