Newbie want to set up server for IP cams and back up on old P4 box
 

What I am trying to do is use some old hardware I have lying around to run a home security system and some local and over the internet backup in case my or my dads drive fails I currently have about 500 GB that I need to back up

Computer
Abit KT-7 (NON RAID) mobo
AMD 600
512MB Ram
CD CDR-CDRW
1.44 Floppy (yes that old)
PCI video
PCI Network
Currently no hard drive
No OS at all on it

I don't currently have any IP cams I need advice on which 6 or more to buy. Current needs are 4 outside and 2 inside I am spanning 350 feet with 2 of the outdoor cams so I am thinking wireless. I want to be able to read the car tag and see the face of the A**hole who has been breaking in to my shop.

I have some old hard drives laying around, but would probably Go with 3 1TB in a raid I assume raid would be the way to go since I need the data not to go bye bye.
I want to be able to access from an android device and a computer.

My current network
cox cable internet
linksys WRT54G running Tomato
2 DX 8 1081 Asus 10 port swiches
3 xpp pc's 1 intel laptop 1 AMD laptop 1 intel desktop
1 intel based core 2 duo runing xpp and vista multi boot
(the AMD based computer above)
Epson workforce 310 network printer
IP Phone
Tivo Box
Sling Box
Directtv HD box
PS3
kindle fire
android droid 4
Palm Life drive

So here is my question
Can a linux distribution help me to do all of this on the cheap?

What do you mean by:
.. are you talking about displaying live vidoe feeds from the 6 cameras or just backing up their data ?

If you are looking for Linux software to use to set up a small business/home surveillance system, look at zoneminder. It has numerous features and is accessed through a web browser. It is a little more complicated to set up than software such as "motion" but you may get lucky. Check out the site below. There are also specific sites dealing with setting it up on different distributions such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Motion is command line only, no gui.

http://www.zoneminder.com/

The link below is to Linux supported webcams. I didn't see a date on it so don't know how current the info is:

http://www.ideasonboard.org/uvc/

If you check into zoneminder, I expect you would have problems with only 512M RAM.