Help setting up a server. Options

[heyo-captain-jac...]

So I've got this old PC, so old it came with Windows 2000. It currently has XP service pack 1 installed, but can barely run it. Right now it runs on my unused Mandriva Live CD, and performance is still pretty crappy on that.

So I figured, why not turn it into a server? It's got a 90gb hard drive, and a half gig of RAM. The processor is where it lacks performance. It's a single 1.3 GHZ Pentium 4.

I would like to find out:
1) What's the best light operating system to run a server on? (Be more descriptive than "Linux")
2) How could I maximize performance?


Also, is there anything else I would need to know?

Edit:

User interface makes no difference, I've used nearly all of them. As long as I'm not running on some GUIless software like MS-DOS, I'm happy.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

I'm going to bump this too.

[Maccabee]

I dont think anyone can answer this cause you know more about computers than anyone here.
Windows 2000 is faster than xp.
I have tried almost every linux distro and the lightest is DSL and puppy linux.
Puppy linux uses kde dsl uses kde or flux.
But those are so minimal its hard installing new drivers and connecting to the internet unless its a wired connecton.
If you wanted to keep it somewhat usable you could install xubuntu or xfce over ubuntu cause xfce runs much faster and lighter than gnome.
on my other desktop im running plain ubuntu on a computer with a 2.3ghz procesor and 512mb ram and a 40gb hardrive.
I havent installed any extra programs and have diabled some likebluetoot and removed any images including desktop background to speed it up.
It runs fine and would run faster if i installed xfce over it like i have b4.
You can install it in the ummm...i forgot what its called its not add remove but something else.
or you can use command line.
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
also fluxbox is faster than most window managers but i havent tested it.
sudo apt-get install fluxbox

[heyo-captain-jac...]

I think I'll go with DSL or Slackware. If I can find a download, I'll use Yggdrasil(How the f*ck is that in my spell check dictionary?).

Is there any BIOS settings I can f*ck with to get better performance?

[mipadi]

Well, what are you going to use the server for? What's your throughput going to be? Do you know that a 1.3GHz Pentium 4 will not be performant?

[Maccabee]

I know nothing bout bios.
If you have some dry ice laying around you could do a little overclocking experiment.
haha.
Or you could atleast buy a bettr fan and overclock it a little.
The computer doesnt sound that bad. 1gb of ram can run ubuntu pretty decently.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

I know nothing bout bios.
If you have some dry ice laying around you could do a little overclocking experiment.
haha.
Or you could atleast buy a bettr fan and overclock it a little.
The computer doesnt sound that bad. 1gb of ram can run ubuntu pretty decently.

A half gig of ram.

Well, what are you going to use the server for? What's your throughput going to be? Do you know that a 1.3GHz Pentium 4 will not be performant?

It's going to be a gaming server, for Team Fortress 2 or Garry's Mod. A 1.3 GHz should be sufficient for a game server.

[Daniel15]

I've got a Pentium 3 650Mhz with 512 MB RAM and 160 GB hard drive that I use for torrenting and other random stuff.
I'd recommend Debian Linux, I love it (I'm using it on a proper dedicated server in a data centre as well as my dedicated server (the P3)). Debian makes installing software easy (via its package management utilities), and upgrading is easy too (you can upgrade "in place" to a new Debian install, you don't need to burn a new CD or anything. As far as I know, CentOS and some other Linux distributions can't do this).

As long as I'm not running on some GUIless software like MS-DOS, I'm happy.

Most servers don't have a GUI running, it's all text-based. It's better to not run a GUI, and instead save the RAM for more important things like the actual server processes. If you must use a GUI, I'd suggest something light, like XFCE, and only run it when you need it (when you're not on the server, quit the GUI).

A server can be "headless" (no monitor or keyboard attached). You can admin a server via SSH, which is similar to a command prompt, except it's remote (ie. you can connect to the server from your desktop computer, via the network). Admining via SSH is quicker than using eg. VNC or something similar.

Hope this helps you :)

Edited: Rewrote without links.

Reason for edit: Please don't advertise. - Mike