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Bodge-tastic home server
After failing to get a 11 year old computer to function on anything more modern than windows 95 (98? Can't remember.) I got one of the computers the school was giving away and two things I noticed. Firstly, it was extremely small, well organized and spacious and, secondly, it was the quietest desktop I have ever had the fortune to use. I had trouble working out whether it or my laptop was making the most noise.
Having installed Xubuntu on one I am thinking on going back and getting another one to use as a combination bedroom server/router as I have no money, many old computer parts and too much time on my hands.
My plan is thus: Rig up old system with 250gb drive I currently use for storing files, three lan ports (They only have 3 PCI slots.) and install an Arch Linux server to be used to:
1) Use bridging to route traffic from the other two ports.
2) Use a samba share for backup and keeping a media library.
3) Use Torrentflux so I don't have to keep files on my somewhat squeezed laptop hard drive.
Other things I'd like to add eventually:
1) Extra 500gb hard drives as time goes along.
2) Add wireless routing (My house is still wires only.)
3) Media center to watch stuff on my 19" CRT
I thought I'd put that all up so you could pick through it and make suggestions. I have a few questions:
1) These computers are quite old (5-8 years) so would the inefficiency of the power supplies be a problem if left on 24/7?
2) Can I do this any way that is less prone to not work than setting up a linux server?
3) What do I use go get remote terminal access?
Having installed Xubuntu on one I am thinking on going back and getting another one to use as a combination bedroom server/router as I have no money, many old computer parts and too much time on my hands.
My plan is thus: Rig up old system with 250gb drive I currently use for storing files, three lan ports (They only have 3 PCI slots.) and install an Arch Linux server to be used to:
1) Use bridging to route traffic from the other two ports.
2) Use a samba share for backup and keeping a media library.
3) Use Torrentflux so I don't have to keep files on my somewhat squeezed laptop hard drive.
Other things I'd like to add eventually:
1) Extra 500gb hard drives as time goes along.
2) Add wireless routing (My house is still wires only.)
3) Media center to watch stuff on my 19" CRT
I thought I'd put that all up so you could pick through it and make suggestions. I have a few questions:
1) These computers are quite old (5-8 years) so would the inefficiency of the power supplies be a problem if left on 24/7?
2) Can I do this any way that is less prone to not work than setting up a linux server?
3) What do I use go get remote terminal access?
Comments
But, I can give some random knowledge. If you want to use one of those old computers as a media center, take into account that newer video codecs and higher resolutions require some power. My 3Ghz P4 coughs sometimes in Windows when watching 720p H.264 anime full screen with nothing else running, even with super fast codecs.
Once again, good luck.
That video was posted here in the forums.
By the by Omnutia, keep us posted and good luck.
I'm going to get the PC from school on Monday. This should be fun.
Anyways, 720i? Never heard of that, lets Wiki:The p means it's progressive. There is a 1080i though. Which uses double the fps(Hz) then it's p counterpart. That is because interlaced video (from what I can make out of the little table to the bottom of the 720p Wiki article) only refreshes half of the lines per frame.