Well I figured out I want to setup my 800mhz AMD duron machine to be a small server in my room for music and videos and such. It has 100mb ram, 32mb graphics card, and a 20gb HD...not a very fast computer, what linux should I run to have it as a server and still be easy to use because i've never touched linux. Thanks guys.

I dual boot in my PC with Windows 2000 Pro and Ubuntu 6.10. I'm also new to Linux and this version seems prety good and easy enough (althoug I don't really find anything "easy" in Linux but it is certainly learnable)...Only issues is getting the videos and music to work the way I wanted but there is tons of help out there...good luck!

Linky...
Welcome - Ubuntu: Linux for human beings

Ubuntu isn't the ideal server linux, BSD, open BSD preferrablly, would do the trick, might want to learn a few thingsabout linux, but ubuntu makes life easy, but sometimes hides what you really need to learn about linux to use it well.

I'm sure the linux Apexers will have a bit more info about whats the best, i suggest BSD, or fedora server, only because of stability, and solaris is just way too big for a 20GB.

If you're just going to use it as a server, then you could use practically any distro, as long as you install Samba Server. For ease of installation, I'd recommend package-based distros, like Fedora, Suse, Ubuntu, or even Knoppix. Other distros that are good (but lack graphical installers) would be Debian and BSD (which isn't really Linux, it's real Unix).

I'd recommend starting with a Live-CD based distro that you can run straight off the CD. No setup required, just pop the CD in and boot it, use it for a bit, get used to it. Suse, Ubuntu, Knoppix and a few others have Live CDs. Then once you get a feel for how it works, you can choose to install it to the HD. This is by far the best way to learn Linux and see if you have any hardware issues.

Once you get the OS under your belt a little, you can use it for so much more than file serving... web servers, FTP, email, chat, TeamSpeak, DHCP servers, DNS, firewalls, routing, print servers, etc. can all be done (for free) with almost any distro of Linux. All it takes is time, patience, and Google.

cool thanks, i tried knoppix live cd but it keeps saying insert a system disk, I burned it correctly because the 2nd time i tried it booted to a knoppix screen but didnt budge...after that its been the error, not sure whats wrong.

well, tried ubuntu...its installing now but im guessing its not a GUI interface? I found out what was wrong with the knoppix cd so i'll try that after, ubuntu doesnt like my cd-rom

Nope... Ubuntu uses GNOME, sounds like something's wrong

it seems ubuntu and knoppix dont like my machine, they both spit back errors, and its weird because its usually different errors each time I try to install....possibly they were burned incorrectly?

I tried installing Fedora a while back, everything was a breeze UNTIL I had to install the drivers for my Ati card. But again, everything up until that point was easier than windows

ubuntu needs 196mb of ram to run from the live cd.

You need a lighter weight distro. Preferably without a GUI if its goiong to run as a server. Try debian as its wahts ubuntu is based on and so has the same package manager etc.

I've never tried it, but Xubuntu is geared more towards the less capable machine, but still as easy as linux

I dont understand whats wrong with the machine, now windows 2k wont install because it dumps the physical memory when installing COM+ and network applications. The ubuntu isnt live, it can install OEM and text mode but both fail, im guessing because of the memory as well. I'll take a look at the xbuntu later on after work tonight, i just want an OS that will run this as a server for my room decently.

you might be intrested in Damn Small Linux. it's quite small. I think, around fifty megabytes.
yeah, and you need about, only sixteen megabytes of memory, to run it. it's based off Debian, at least, Im quite sure it is. well, it says it can install, as Debian.
you can also run it, inside another OS. I tried it, that way, at school, and it worked.

DSL information

so, yeah, you might be intrested in it.

edit:
I forgot to mention, if you're intrested in Linux, you might be intrested in Gentoo. it's kind of trickie, at first, but you learn quite a bit about Linux, from installing it. also, you can prettie much put, what ever you choose, on it, so you don't need an x server. usually, for servers, you don't need an x server.

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d Ubuntu isn't the ideal server linux, BSD, open BSD preferrablly, would do the trick, might want to learn a few thingsabout linux, but ubuntu makes life easy, but sometimes hides what you really need to learn about linux to use it well. I'm sure the linux Apexers will have a bit more info about whats the best, i suggest BSD, or fedora server, only because of stability, and solaris is just way too big for a 20GB.

Since when did BSD become Linux? I won't get into the differences, but they are completely different animals.

Solaris will easily run on a 20GB drive, I've ran Solaris 10 on a 450Mhz with 256Mb of ram and a 8GB hard drive, the install was about 1.5GB if I remember correctly.

If I were going for a home server, on a bit older hardware like that, I'd go with Debian "Sarge". It's a tried and true distribution commonly used on servers, many professional hosting companies, such as Dreamhost and GoDaddy use Debian on their servers. It's lightweight depending on the packages you install, and has a load of apps. For a server not a whole lot is required, my server doesn't even a run a GUI. Vsftpd or Proftpd for ftp services is the general route most people go, Samba of course for sharing out to Windows boxes, and of course Apache for http.

Now if I were to setup a large scale server, or something that needs high security, I'd go with OpenBSD, because it comes very hardened by default, and all it's packages are highly tested for any security vulnerabilities. I'd also recommend Solaris because it is proven to be an more stable kernel than GNU/Linux.

Quote: Originally Posted by EvilClown Since when did BSD become Linux? I won't get into the differences, but they are completely different animals. Solaris will easily run on a 20GB drive, I've ran Solaris 10 on a 450Mhz with 256Mb of ram and a 8GB hard drive, the install was about 1.5GB if I remember correctly. If I were going for a home server, on a bit older hardware like that, I'd go with Debian "Sarge". It's a tried and true distribution commonly used on servers, many professional hosting companies, such as Dreamhost and GoDaddy use Debian on their servers. It's lightweight depending on the packages you install, and has a load of apps. For a server not a whole lot is required, my server doesn't even a run a GUI. Vsftpd or Proftpd for ftp services is the general route most people go, Samba of course for sharing out to Windows boxes, and of course Apache for http. Now if I were to setup a large scale server, or something that needs high security, I'd go with OpenBSD, because it comes very hardened by default, and all it's packages are highly tested for any security vulnerabilities. I'd also recommend Solaris because it is proven to be an more stable kernel than GNU/Linux.

Yes BSD is not linux, but its an alternative to windblows, that most first timers aren't going to see the difference in, compared to a linux distro. i suggest it for anyones server, only because compared to solaris, its some of the best, IMO.

Solaris is capable of being many different sizes, fully loaded it took up 15GB on my drive, and yea i ran it on a dual 500MHz P3 board with 256MB of ram, it will run more effeciently than any type of windows (so to speak)

Also DSL linux is based on knoppix, and is around 50MB's, works well and runs F@H nicely *if you embed it right, itll run off the CD and use the ram as a solid state disk. Makes borging a little easier, and simple, throw a CDrom in there (or a usb drive, even network) and add at least 128MB of ram (for F@H queue files and such) and bam you have a borg, for my server until i get my "spanned" disk recovered im stuck in windblows server 2k3, funny, im loosing about 86% of my 100MBps network speed from windblows, compared to my short used solaris, it was just so much faster.

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d Yes BSD is not linux, but its an alternative to windblows, that most first timers aren't going to see the difference in, compared to a linux distro. i suggest it for anyones server, only because compared to solaris, its some of the best, IMO. Solaris is capable of being many different sizes, fully loaded it took up 15GB on my drive, and yea i ran it on a dual 500MHz P3 board with 256MB of ram, it will run more effeciently than any type of windows (so to speak) Also DSL linux is based on knoppix, and is around 50MB's, works well and runs F@H nicely *if you embed it right, itll run off the CD and use the ram as a solid state disk. Makes borging a little easier, and simple, throw a CDrom in there (or a usb drive, even network) and add at least 128MB of ram (for F@H queue files and such) and bam you have a borg, for my server until i get my "spanned" disk recovered im stuck in windblows server 2k3, funny, im loosing about 86% of my 100MBps network speed from windblows, compared to my short used solaris, it was just so much faster.

Knoppix is based on Debian, DSL is pretty much Debian with a minimal base package set.

Quote: Originally Posted by EvilClown Knoppix is based on Debian, DSL is pretty much Debian with a minimal base package set.

interesting, i've never used debian personally, was plaing around with it on oneof my techers laptops once. Knoppix seems to be a good live distro, theres many varaties, and morphix was fun to play with, and my buddy help make whoppix, i'm stuck in fedora, ubuntu, and SUSE, thats about all i run besides windows, and DSL on my borgs.

Thanks guys, I got ubuntu to work by getting another stick of memory. This is definetely difficult to setup but it will work. I might just sell this machine and get an older server, found one around my house its a dual p3 850mhz, 1gb ram, and 30 gigs of 15k harddrives Hopefully get that and throw win2k server on it..or dual boot with linux to learn it better then possibly switch fully over to linux. i'll keep you updated.

Quote: Originally Posted by ex421 Thanks guys, I got ubuntu to work by getting another stick of memory. This is definetely difficult to setup but it will work. I might just sell this machine and get an older server, found one around my house its a dual p3 850mhz, 1gb ram, and 30 gigs of 15k harddrives Hopefully get that and throw win2k server on it..or dual boot with linux to learn it better then possibly switch fully over to linux. i'll keep you updated.

If you setup and allowed ssh, I could set it up for you. (FTP,Samba,Apache,etc)