Need a bit of advice
 

I have just finished my secondary box which i want to use for ftp server and mp3 storage the reason i want ftp on there is so i can easily add and remove songs from the box once it is all set-up. My main question here is what distro would u recommend as i have never used linux before and have no idea where to start, i will be pulling the tunes from this machine and listening to them on my windows box, i will also need to be able to VNC into the box as it has no monitor.

Richman

Suse, Mandrake or Fedora are good starter distros.
Personally I recommend Suse

Cheers mate, suse what does this come with is there anything build in, where can i find some guides about setting up my network and running a ftp server and apache? Is suse GUI based or command line?

Richman

Hi richman789, and welcome to the forums :)

Just a suggestion, make a FAT partition on your Linux box to store your mp3's on, then use Samba [1] and mount the share on your Windows box (Assuming Windows is your primary OS). It will be much easier then using FTP to put/get your music.

Any distro will do what you want. My suggestion to you is Fedora [2]. For me, its the most 'Windows' like operating system for Linux. The fact being that you will feel more at home with the GUI and the OS is less of a learning curve.

Good Luck, and post back with your progress.

Kristijan

[1] - http://www.samba.org
[2] - http://fedora.redhat.com/

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux-Distributions and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

are tehse teh right files?

FC2-i386-SRPMS-disc1.iso 13-May-2004 05:48 498M
FC2-i386-SRPMS-disc2.iso 13-May-2004 05:49 498M
FC2-i386-SRPMS-disc3.iso 13-May-2004 05:51 498M
FC2-i386-SRPMS-disc4.iso 13-May-2004 05:52 498M

Iam currently downloading fedora like you said, you kinda lost me tho i know what you mean by making another parition on the linux box for teh mp3 files but what do you mean by "mount the share on your Windows box (Assuming Windows is your primary OS)."

I have windows on another machine and wont be on the same hdd or box.

Richman

First, these are wrong CDs you're downloading - SRPMs are sources and you probably want compiled binaries ready to install!
Second, my advice would be to forget about Samba and use ftp server, at first anyway. The reason for that is, sure - Samba might be easier to use from Windows desktop; but it is harder to set up than ftp server. If you're new to all this, you might prefer to start with the easiest things and work your way up!
Third, if you're going to run this box without a monitor, make sure you install openssh package - this is what will allow you to login into your box and administer it remotely.

I dont really know how to use OPENSSH as i dont know command line, and what is ftp server is that a operating system like linux and where can i get it :)

Richman

Huh? What do you mean, "what is ftp server"? It was you who said "I want a system to run ftp server", wasn't it? ftp server is just another program. You'll install it when you're installing your Linux system, it's included on one of these 4 disks you're downloading...
if you don't know command line, don't worry - you'll learn :) The thing is, running a small ftp server is a very simple job for Linux - that is exactly the sort of thing it was designed for. A couple of commands will get that up and running. But once you start adding GUI, VNC, Samba.... it starts to look pretty, but it becomes much more difficult to set up! So my advice: do a bit of learning, just enough to get by with command line. Especially if you're going to run this thing without a monitor - it makes using GUI more difficult. BTW, you'll definitely need monitor and keyboard connected for installation, at least. You'll have your GUI for installation and initial setting up, but then once you disconnect monitor you'll be able to run it with just simple command line, no problem.

Hmm I might have jumped the gun a bit in asking a newbie to set up Samba. Personal opinion though, I would find it rather fustrating moving mp3's between machines just to listen to them.

Here's another idea, why not keep all your mp3's on your Linux box, and just play them through that machine. Everything can be controled by running SSHD and a command line mp3 player. Just use putty on your Windows box to ssh into your Linux box and your as good as gold.

The above option really comes down to where you have your machine, if you have a sound card in the machine, and if you can find speaker cables long enough so you can position your speakers where you want them.

Most distrobutions come out with FTP servers already installed, and usually configured with ample settings to get you up and running without even touching the config file. It's just a matter of starting it.

Dont be too daunted with using the command line interface (CLI). It's rather simple, and after some time, you find yourself using it more then the actuall GUI. My suggestion is to install Fedora, with the GUI, and just have a play for a few weeks before diving into setting up a FTP server and a remote mp3 box.

Kristijan