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[EpF]

I've just been given an old Win98 PC, and my first thought was to check out Linux, as I've never even seen it!    So I'm doing that at the moment, but it occured to me that some of the more experienced contributors to this forum might have some suggestions.

It's a 500 Mhz PIII with 128MB of RAM, and I have 2 other machines - a 1.7Ghz P4 and an AMD 64bit box. Before people suggest setting up a home media server (if that would be even possible), I live in a rented house and my house-mates might not be prepared to support that move, and I can't start laying cables all over the place even if they would (wouldn't be worth the effort anyway, as I may only be here for another year). That said, we do have a wireless network on a Linksys WRT54G, and my house-mates might be into it, even if it required some cabling and expense.

However, I'd also be interested in suggestions that weren't MC -related, so please let me know if you have made or know of good uses of aging, superfluous PCs...

[KingSparta]

What would you do with a Win98 PC?

put it in the trash, give it to goodwill, pawn shop, trade for a 6 pack, trade for a pack of bubble gum.

not much you can do with 500 mhz now days

ps. door stop

[EpF]

ps. door stop

Heh - no need; as well as the PIII, I got a P1 with a 2GB hard drive and no RAM!

[johnnyboy]

That spec machine is perfect for a Linux box.
You could use it as a firewall for your network and load it with something like IPCop (www.ipcop.org) or you could attach an external HD to it and use it as a file server or just leave it as a linux box on your network to play with and get some experience with.

Other than that, that sort of spec is perfect for your average base level server for just leaving downloading, serving files etc.

[LonWar]

That spec machine is perfect for a Linux box.
You could use it as a firewall for your network and load it with something like IPCop (www.ipcop.org) or you could attach an external HD to it and use it as a file server or just leave it as a linux box on your network to play with and get some experience with.

Other than that, that sort of spec is perfect for your average base level server for just leaving downloading, serving files etc.

Local day care..... It's still good to print things and internet....

[hit_ny]

Get a controller card (promise), fill it up with large drives and use it as a backup for your media.

[Wildcat]

I put my old machine to good use as a music server.
348 Mhz PII 192MB ram
Running XP Pro slimmed and trimmed with only the necessities. Works like a charm.
Ahh, but I'm using Slimserver with a SqueezeBox, sorry. Not a resource hog! 

As far as wires? You bet, losts of them!   

[EpF]

Thanks for the suggestions! I didn't have much luck with Linux - I downloaded a copy of ubuntu.iso, complete with md5 checksum, burned it 3 times with Nero at lowest speed the disc would take, and verified each disc - no install. They all failed at some point, 1 even failing to boot.

I don't have time at the moment to do any more on that front, but I'm sure I'll get it sorted out at some point... Thanks again.