What Linux distro for a server?

[Aaron]

Hi guys,

I've got an old-ish (XP2200+/512MB/Ti4600) computer that's just knocking about, not being used. I thought about selling it but I really can't be arsed to.

So, I thought I'd set it up as a server. I'd most like to use it for FTP, file storage, possibly e-mail, downloading stuff and possibly other things.

I have a few questions though...

1. What distro would you recommend? I have a little bit of Unix/Linux experience but I don't have that much spare time on my hands, so something easy to use and relatively secure out-of-the-box would be nice.
2. What FTP server software would you recommend? How about file sharing? Samba? Does it work well with Windows XP?
3. Is there any Linux equivelent of Newsbin Pro? That would be very handy.
4. Ideally, I would like to connect it to the network via an Asus 11g wifi card. Is this at all possible under Linux?

Hmmm... I think I might be better off using Windows XP after all.

[Moby-Dick]

have a play with clarkconnect- sounds like it will do most of that for you

not sure about the newsgroup stuff , but if you can find an .rpm for it , you can probably add it ( I'm thinking somethine like a BT client with a web front end ? )

[bsodmike]

Give fedora a try, it is probably got the most 'friendly' installer (correct me if I'm wrong). Best ftpd is pureftpd - it rocks...and of course you want to compile it from source (hint for a very good reason).

Good Luck!.....ohh tbh a server on wireless - heh....wouldn't 'speed & bandwidth' be a concern?

[Aaron]

Thanks for the suggestions.

It's only for a small home network, nothing too serious. I'd prefer to have the flexibility of wireless so I can bung the computer somewhere out of the way.

[bsodmike]

I understand, but if you ever decide to move big files you'll find the 802.11g a drag, when you know that 100BaseTx is twice as fast and heck GigE even faster (if your server has PCI Express)...

[njm106]

SuSE is a very good distro IMHO, well worth looking at and better / more stable than Fedora.

It is fairly easy to get a basic Samba file server setup, be prepared to edit config files manually though and do a bit of HOW-TO reading.

As for your WiFi card if it isn't one of the chipsets supported natively in Linux try something called NdisWrapper, I believe it uses Windows drivers to get WLAN cards to work in Linux.

[ikonia]

Suse is one of the only distros' I'll give the thumbs up on.

As a desktop OS its pretty impressive, and Yast2 is probably the best package manager out of all the distros have managed to come up with.

I'm not convinced with it as a server OS, in fact I'm carrying out evaluation tests on it compared to other distros as a server OS at the moment.

But as I said its one of the best.

[directhex]

Give fedora a try, it is probably got the most 'friendly' installer (correct me if I'm wrong).

Ark linux. 3 clicks, and a game of breakout to play whilst it installs.