Hi there. This is my first post on this site. Hopefully someone can help me out. Ive been using computers for years and recently ive been wanting to turn my old computer into a linux server. Its a PII - 233mhz, 2gig IDE HD, 64meg RAM. I have Slackware 10.0 and also Mandrake 9.2. Is it possible to turn my old comp into a network server that my other computer (running windows XP) can connect to, and also possibly accsess the internet from. Im only on dialup at the moment. (Im currently using the newer computer for the internet, but i figure it would be better to access it from the old comp on the network. I have a external modem for the old computer to use. I also bought a 8 port switch off ebay, but i dont know how to use it (yes im an idiot). Can anyone either point me to a tutorial, or help me do it step by step? Any help is greatly appriciated.

-Jonathan

It depends on what you're going to serve. FTP Apache.. ??? A 2G harddrive wont be able to do much serving either. If you want to use it as a server then you should get a bigger HD off of ebay as well.

I want it to work as a "dummy" online server. basically a computer that can have a email server, web, daytime, accessable through telnet (on the client computers). but only to be able to be accessed on the LAN.

Sure you can use a box like that.
Currently I have a testserver at home, it's a P200MMX 32Meg ram, 2.1GB hdd
That server is running as a mailserver, DNS server, and I'm going to install apache, php and mysql on it.

As for the OS, I'd suggest you use Slackware, but that is only because I use Slackware and I have never used Mandrake. I'd probably go for a different version than 10.0. Try 9.0 or 9.1..
I have 9.0 running on my server, and I believe that 10.0 would only make the old server work slower. On newer machines I'd definately go for 10.0

-Geir

oh ok. but once ive got slackware installed on the box how would i set it up to act as a server? (ie, will it work with the switch. how should i set up the WinXP computer so that it can see the linux box, etc?)

I would suggest you look at the chapters at this link:
http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/
In basic those are the docs I used to get started with my server. You should at first have some idea of networking in linux, and have a network connection that works.
If you use netconfig, you shoud be able to start the network on the box. Give it something like:
IP: 192.168.1.1
Subnet / Netmask: 255.255.255.0
(No nameservers are required)

On your windows box, set:
IP: 192.168.1.2
Subnet: 255.255.255.0

Then go to the command-line and type:
ping 192.168.1.1 (and hit enter)
If you get something like:
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
This means your windows box can reach the linux box.
This is only a rough start, but if you can start there, you should be able to work your way further along.

-Geir