Could an old (OLD) machine become a PHP/file server?

daedal

Gawd
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May 10, 2005
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So I've got a machine collecting dust. I think it's an old 500mhz [EDIT - It's actually 700mhz] P3 (or P2) with a gig of RAM.

I've dropped in a couple of hard drives and am thinking of installing Xubuntu and running a PHP server and a forum off of it for me and a few friends. Very low traffic. I'd also like to share a couple of files.

What I'm wondering is: can this machine actually handle a PHP server, or am I dreaming in color?
 
should be no problem.

but since you have low traffic, why not just get a web host for cheap and then you don't need to kill your own bandwidth?
 
should be no problem.

but since you have low traffic, why not just get a web host for cheap and then you don't need to kill your own bandwidth?

To be blunt, simply because I want to. :D
 
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What OS? I ran a web server with multiple sites, a database, and two networking monitoring programs (CACTI and BigBrother) on a single cpu PPro200 with 64mb of ram (under Linux, of course).

Your box could easily handle that (and 100x more).
 
Sometimes I think this forum could win a reward for people that don't read what they respond to :rolleyes:

am thinking of installing Xubuntu









But anyway, OP... You can buy web hosting VERY cheap. You're probably going to spend more money on electricity than on the $36/year for hosting: http://www.littleoak.net/services/

LittleOak is good, was recommended to me here, I've got our company site running on the highest package. No phone support, they're a smaller operation, but it also means that when you send an email to support someone with actual knowledge emails you back...
 
Well the point is that I want to run my own! :)

While I appreciate the links and suggestions, I'm looking forward to having my own box and take it as a learning experience. There's also the advantage of being able to quickly place files for download.

If you have a better suggestion for an OS with a GUI (I'm not very Linux/command-line savvy), I'm open to suggestions! I figured Xubuntu would run well enough on an older machine.
 
Because you have a gig of ram, I don't think you'll have any trouble finding a linux distro that works on your box.
 
Xubuntu would be a good choice, but if your goal is to learn, I'd go with Debian or maybe Ubuntu Server instead. All the server configuration stuff is going to be command-line based anyway, so you may as well get used to it. And really I don't think it's difficult to grasp if your reading comprehension is any good ;). Unless of course you want to use the machine for desktop tasks as well, in which case I'd say Xubuntu is a good choice, though I personally prefer plain old Debian to *buntu.
 
Xubuntu would be a good choice, but if your goal is to learn, I'd go with Debian or maybe Ubuntu Server instead. All the server configuration stuff is going to be command-line based anyway, so you may as well get used to it. And really I don't think it's difficult to grasp if your reading comprehension is any good ;). Unless of course you want to use the machine for desktop tasks as well, in which case I'd say Xubuntu is a good choice, though I personally prefer plain old Debian to *buntu.

So far, the *buntu line-up has been treating me fairly nicely with no major flaws minus a few painful Xorg configurations (ugh), but I'll look into Debian and maybe Ubuntu server -- didn't know there was a server distro. Thanks!
[EDIT] Seriously, this thread has made my day, knowing that I'll have a cool project to geek out on for the next little while! Thank you, guys.
 
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I'd second the Ubuntu Server... It's by far one of the most user friendly *nix distros.
 
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