Spare computer

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

Soldato
Joined
22 Oct 2005
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Moving...
Hey all.

First off, sorry if this is in the wrong section. It covers a few different aspects so I plonked it in here, feel free to move.

My brother has given me his old PC as he doesn't need it anymore. Don't know the exact specs yet but its an old AMD 4000+ with 2 gb ram and 250gb hard drive.

I have a couple of ideas/goals in mind. Overall objectives:
- Learn more about linux
- Learn more about networking

And I have a couple of specific goals I want to achieve:
- Make a public drive so all computers in the house can access it
- I don't have linux installed on any other machine, so I will want to some how 'login' to this linux machine through my current desktop (running XP) so I can play with linux. Like a remote connection essentially so I can work on that machine, but using my keyboard/screen etc from in my room)

Sorry if this is a bit vague, I don't really know what I'm asking here :o. Basically just want to know if this is feasible, and any software/guides/sites I should take a look at that might help me along.

Thanks all!
 
Some form of browser based software like 'logmein' would work I guess, although I'm not sure whether Linux is 'officially' supported.
 
how comfortable are you with a command line? if you don't mind forgoing a GUI, you could use PuTTy to log in from a windows machine (in which case, i recommend Arch Linux, which has no default GUI).

If you need a GUI, you will need to install an Xserver on your windows machine. I don't pretend to know much about it, but this came up in a google search:
http://ajopaul.com/2007/11/23/remote-login-to-linux-from-windows-non-vnc/
 
Public drive for accessing anywhere in the house ... Samba, allows you to share space on the Linux server out using the same protocols as normal Windows shares so you can mount them as such on other machines.

Remote access ... SSH in to the Linux box. Yes you will have no GUI but you will be able to understand a lot more if you look at what you are doing instead of hiding it behind a GUI. A very good, free SSH client is Putty. If you need some GUI for configuration then Webmin via a web browser and/or the SWAT web GUI for Samba.
 
If you are going to learn linux then learn the CLI, using a GUI isnt going to teach you a whole lot but I guess it comes down to how l33t you want to be! :p

Samba is the best way to make a shared drive.

Here's a thought though, if you want to learn a bit more about networking...you could try installing ESXi on then run the linux server(s) virtually. This will allow you to run multiple instances of any OS on the server plus means you'll learn something extra. Not a must, just a thought really.
 
Thanks for all the help guys.

I would like to do most of the stuff via CLI as like already mentioned I'll learn more. I'm going to go with something with a GUI just in case though. I've got a copy of Fedora 11 laying about so think I'll stick that on.

I'll also get hold of samba and putty and get cracking :D

Thanks for the link as well, will look into it shortly :)
 
I'd say Mint 9, it's a great OS for Linux beginners and still lets you do all the CLI stuff if you want. Only gripe i have with it is that the login screen isn't customizable yet, but they're more to do with the latest versions of Gnome.
 
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