I just bought another PC so I'm looking to turn my old P3-550MHz , 256MB SD-133 RAM PC into a Linux server box. I'm not sure where to begin really.

I think for a distro I'm going to go with Slack , it seems to have the most features for a server config.

Beyond that I dunno where to go. I guess I should say what I want it to do ... well ... I want it to act as a firewall for one , I'll be connecting it between my ADSL modem and my switch , a file server between the PC's on my network , an Apache web server and have FTP. I know by using Apache and FTP I leave at least 2 ports open which hurts the firewall's effectiveness but I don't think I'm the target of too many people on those specific ports.

If possible I'd also like to be able to remotely control the server thru the other PC's on the network.

I also want each PC behind the server to have its own IP , I don't want connection sharing.

Thanks for any help , its much appreciated

Anything would be useful ..

You've got quite a list there and you are going to need to do a ton of reading. The good news is Slack is definitely up to the task!

For how to configure it as a firewall/router you need to investigate iptables.

For sharing files, samba works well with Windows machines

For remotely connecting to the Slack box, check out ssh and running VNC through an ssh tunnel if you want a secure graphical interface. DON'T use telnet as it is not secure. Of course if you are only accessing the Slack box from your internal network, security isn't as much of an issue. Then again, a little paranoia is a good thing. And while you are checking out ssh, also check out sftp (secure ftp) which runs through the ssh port. It is more secure than plain old ftp.

That is a bad assumption to make. There are bad people out there looking for the unsuspecting.

Try webmin to configure your server.