What to do with an extra computer

Casket

So I now have in my possession an extra computer to mess around with. It's got a gig of RAM, an ATI radeon 9700, two 80 gig hard drives, and windows server 2005 installed. I don't really have any idea what to do with it, but I want to put it to some use. Can I use it as some kind of server for people to download stuff from? Can I somehow connect it to my regular computer and have them work together? Can I submerge it in a vat of vegetable oil?

Malkor

Learn Linux? Having a server can be useful sometimes if you're willing to keep it on most of the time. You could probably find something to turn it off an on remotely though.

Kyzen

I set up an extra computer running server 2003 as a file server & print server - all my printers are hooked up to it, all my MP3s and movies are on it, and I have ISOs of all my most commonly used discs on it, so I can load up an ISO from any machine on my network without having to use disks. It's somewhat handy

Centipeed

Folding@Home? Google it. It'd be awesome.

Raggaholic

You could always send it to me to aid me in my computer addiction (I currently have six). I'll even pay for shipping.

What? Not a good idea?

Food?

Web server, or you could give me one of the hard drives since I need another one.

Ruckus

U-U-U-UBUNTU!

That's what I'm doing with my spare. Start with UBUNTU desktop. I tried UBUNTU server, but even with my tiny bit of UNIX training from college the learning curve was too high for me (probably would have been better if I'd kept with Linux after I finished college four years ago).

After I get up to speed in UBUNTU desktop, I plan to switch to UBUNTU server, and from there tranistion to FreeBSD.

Eventually I want to get into using a complete PHP interface for the machine, primarily for file upload/download, maybe more, like Ethernet interface management or firewall configs.

Casket

Yea I have ubuntu burned to a disk, I'll probably install the OS. How hard will it be to create a file uploading and downloading server? I'm thinking of building a server where people can download some game files

Ruckus

Casket wrote:

Yea I have ubuntu burned to a disk, I'll probably install the OS. How hard will it be to create a file uploading and downloading server? I'm thinking of building a server where people can download some game files

Not hard if you just want to use anonymous FTP (anybody can connect and upload/download/delete files), slightly more difficult for FTP with usernames and passwords (which I have not done yet).

It's also really easy to make an http (web) server and just leave the ISO files in directories for them to download. Uploading to a webserver via php is a bit more difficult, but doable (not by me, yet).

fforde

If you have an HDTV you could hook it up to your television. I have a computer hooked to my living room TV, hidden behind the TV set. Probably my most used piece of 'home elctronics'. If you buy videos from iTunes, watch video podcasts, or download anything from BitTorrent, you will love it. I have all my CDs ripped to my computer as well, so I have my whole music library at available to play right through my stereo system without any CD swaping. You would probably want a wireless keyboard and mouse though.

Something to think about anyway if you dont think you'd get a lot of use out of a Linux box. If you are just passively interested in Linux, a whole system dedicated to it seems like kind of a waste to me though. You can always set up a dual boot system or run Linux using virtualization on your main PC. It isn't necessary to dedicate an entire PC to the endevour.

Casket

Ruckus wrote:

Casket wrote:

Yea I have ubuntu burned to a disk, I'll probably install the OS. How hard will it be to create a file uploading and downloading server? I'm thinking of building a server where people can download some game files

Not hard if you just want to use anonymous FTP (anybody can connect and upload/download/delete files), slightly more difficult for FTP with usernames and passwords (which I have not done yet).

It's also really easy to make an http (web) server and just leave the ISO files in directories for them to download. Uploading to a webserver via php is a bit more difficult, but doable (not by me, yet).

Are those http web servers those sites I sometimes see that are just a bunch of links to different folders and their contents and stuff.

Ruckus

Casket wrote:

Ruckus wrote:

Casket wrote:

Yea I have ubuntu burned to a disk, I'll probably install the OS. How hard will it be to create a file uploading and downloading server? I'm thinking of building a server where people can download some game files

Not hard if you just want to use anonymous FTP (anybody can connect and upload/download/delete files), slightly more difficult for FTP with usernames and passwords (which I have not done yet).

It's also really easy to make an http (web) server and just leave the ISO files in directories for them to download. Uploading to a webserver via php is a bit more difficult, but doable (not by me, yet).

Are those http web servers those sites I sometimes see that are just a bunch of links to different folders and their contents and stuff.

Yes, that's a default behavior for http when the server can't find a default page or isn't told to provide a page explicitally.

For instance, if a link points to
"http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/index.html"
the penny-arcade server would send the browser "index.html" from the forums directory, or a 404 File not Found error if it does not exist.

If the link simply pointed to
"http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/"
the penny-arcade server would attempt to locate a default page, usually index.html, index.htm, default.html, etc (these are programmed into the server's configuration settings). If it finds a default page in that directory, it sends it to the browser. Otherwise, it would respond with the directory listing contents of the "/forums" directory. Additionally, the server can be programmed to respond with a Forbidden error, to prevent users from browsing directories anonymously.