Newbie question about setting up a home network

Hi,

In a week or so I'm getting a 2nd computer (an old Celeron 500mhz) and I'm kind of interested setting up a little home network (for the 1st time) so I can learn the basics about Networking.

What do people suggest I do with this 2nd computer and how should I configure the network? I'm interested only in this as an exercise and don't have any real 'needs' as far as networks go, at home.

Off the top of my head, I was thinking that I could turn the 2nd computer into a file server and run Linux on it. Also, I'd like it to be connected to the net and share it's connection with my other computer. Is this sort of thing possible? I know from my experience with Linux (about a year ago) that it's hard for fat32 or NFTS partitions to see Linux ones. Would this be a stumbling block?
I'm kind of keen to get Linux into the networking equation somewhere, but if this is going to be problematic , I could just use Windows Server 2003 , or something.

Any suggestions would be most welcome, as I really am not sure what direction to go with this little experiment.

cheers
ives

Yeah you could either turn it into a server, or get a hub and some Cat5 cable and turn it into a second workstation for your parents/housemates/whoever.

You could also create some sort of file/print/router/gateway type thing, yeah. Use Windows Server 2003 and learn the ins and outs of how Microsoft Networking works (like I plan to) or you could install Linux if you're already experienced with it.

Re. sharing internet with the other computer, that's one of the easiest parts to set up imo. Your other main computer will detect it when you try to browse the internet and then you'll have yourself a gateway :)

I'm not sure about all this FAT32/NTFS with Linux business, maybe some more Linux-savvy members could help? :p

I'd suggest if you want to learn about networking, then you do make it into a server. get as much RAM as you can into it, get some info from various places on the web, and you'll be server'ing in no time. You could then stick it in a cupboard or something so you can't even see it, and use a piece of software such as Remote Administrator (www.famatech.com) to control it :)

Sorry if that all sounded jumbled up, it's a bit early and I'm kinda mixing up all my sentences here!! :p

lol !
thanks for the tips, Howard

Okie, first of windows reading linux shares are done very easy with samba, and it works very well, also setting up linux as a firewall, gateway, fileserver, etc is very easy. you could use one of the distros designed for it, Clark Connect, is one.

c0w

thanks for the info.
I'm not aware of Clark Connect.I used RH8 before and I haven't used Linux for a year or so.
Would RH be able to be used for that sort of thing, or Debian or Suse or something?