Small server, good/bad idea??

Ello peeps.
Have been thinking of building or buying a PC to act as a small server for some time. Basically would be on 24/7 and handle my 2 printers, data backup from my 2 main rigs and have a blue-tooth dongle to allow access to my network from my PDA and laptop. It would have to be small as I haven't any room for another rig, I would like to control it using realvnc so wouldn't have a keyboard or monitor plugged in.

After looking around I have found a couple of systems with the following spec
- Pentium 3 733Mhz.
- 10GB HDD
- 128MB RAM
- CD-ROM drive
- Floppy drive

The system above is a compaq deskpro EN, so smallish but takes standard IDE drives, costs £70 delivered. I would get a 160gig HD for my current rig and put my old drive in the above to increase storage. OS wise will it run XP pro? Or would another os be better? I would like to stick with MS due to its role as handling blue-tooth with my PDA.

So basically what you think good/bad idea, what os, need more ram etc.
Cheers
Flibb

Yup, it'd run XP fine - I'm sure someone will tell it should be running some varient of linux, but If you know XP and want hassle free, go with what you know.

The only concern I'd have is drive sizes; You may find it won't recognise newer larger drives, and if it's going to be a backup solution, this could be a stumbling block.

Then again, A PCI IDE controller card would be a cheapish solution to the above problem.

EDIT: Bluetooth access to your network? So long as it's not file transfers you should be ok!
And if we are going to be suggesting Linux alternatives as OS, take a peek at clarkeconnect - Could fit the bill nicely. :)

More RAM - the min I'd run XP on is 256 - but pref 512MB.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by skattrd

More RAM - the min I'd run XP on is 256 - but pref 512MB.

---

But it's not really going to be doing anything - For a workstation yes, but it's going to be next to nothing most of the time.

Where you buying it from ?

Various people on ebay have them but one company called incolour advertise on ebay and have a shop. 30day rtb warranty. Annoying this ins we are getting rid of about 200 of them at work, but employee's cant buy them :(

The deskpro en was my top option as it takes standard size cdrom and HD, I could probably get around max hd size. I used some 3rd party software on my old laptop to get a 30gig drive in it, think the same software would work with a desktop. ALso think it has 2 or 3 pc slots on a riser card.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Flibb

Ello peeps.
Have been thinking of building or buying a PC to act as a small server for some time. Basically would be on 24/7 and handle my 2 printers, data backup from my 2 main rigs and have a blue-tooth dongle to allow access to my network from my PDA and laptop. It would have to be small as I haven't any room for another rig, I would like to control it using realvnc so wouldn't have a keyboard or monitor plugged in.

After looking around I have found a couple of systems with the following spec
- Pentium 3 733Mhz.
- 10GB HDD
- 128MB RAM
- CD-ROM drive
- Floppy drive

The system above is a compaq deskpro EN, so smallish but takes standard IDE drives, costs £70 delivered. I would get a 160gig HD for my current rig and put my old drive in the above to increase storage. OS wise will it run XP pro? Or would another os be better? I would like to stick with MS due to its role as handling blue-tooth with my PDA.

So basically what you think good/bad idea, what os, need more ram etc.
Cheers
Flibb

---

NT4 flies on these m8, so does smoothwall, ipcop.

The machine does not pick up larger hdd btw not even with the new bios.

They can be picky with ram, they tend to like only crucial.

o yeah had over 50 of these in different specs over the last 6 months :)

ps i can control my pc from my phone over bluetooth thanks to a bit of sw from

http://fma.sourceforge.net/index2.htm

http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...group_id=71167 :)

If I had probs with the HD I could shove in a PCI-IDE card in as suggested. That would probably be a good solution, would take out the cdrom and have a 2nd HD in there just for bulk storage.

I have a machine I 'aquired' recently. Specs:

P3 450Mhz
256 MB Ram (Upgraded myself from 64MB)
20GB 7200 RPM HD

It runs XP fine and is my 24/7 machine for SETI, P2P/Web downloading, Print Server, File Server.

The machine you have there will be fine for all your tasks, however just upgrade the ram to 256MB at least. As per above posts, chances are your bios will only recognise upto 132GB, if your planning to use a 160GB - either use the dodgy software or buy a ide/raid card. A compaq EN would be cool, I have a 166Mhz at home which is destined for the bin. If it had a bit more mhz I'd be keeping it (Ive stripped out all the ram/HD/CPU etc for other machines).

There was something in recent posts about a current slowdown in new pc sales. People are realising that they dont need a 4000mhz pc to browse/word process, print photos etc. A so called 'old' machine is perfect for a server.

Cheers for the info, my current HD is 120gig so could shove that in the new pc and buy a new drive for my main rig. Might be bale to get some extra ram from the IT blokes at work, if its free will put 512 in it.

also dude i could bung you a "raid pci controller card" as new for a very cheap amount if youd like as i havbe it gathering dust here

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rabs

People are realising that they dont need a 4000mhz pc to browse/word process, print photos etc. A so called 'old' machine is perfect for a server.

---

Just built a 750Mhz old slot A athlon pc for my auntie which included 512mb Ram and 10g hd out of an old machine plus £45 worth of case, floppy, cd-rom from e-buyer for her to surf and word process.

XP pro runs very well on it. Should have kept it for a server really but hey my auntie says she'll buy me something "nice" for the new house in payment!! :D

Add as much ram as you can - people usually have a load of sd-ram kicking about.

Am gonna think about it this week, would really like something with 256 in as standard, so will have a hunt and phone around. Thanks for the offer mr_anderson will see what I end up getting.
CHeers
Flibb