Old PC for development web server

dubdot · 12-10-2009, 08:07 PM

P2 500mhz 256mb RAM (found it on the side of the road put out for the garbage)

My only requirements:

- Apache, PHP, MySQL

- Save files to this box from XP machines (using Samba I guess)

- Remote desktop from XP. The old Quantum HDD is loud and I'd rather it not be near my desk or even have a monitor.

I would like to keep it Debian based since I suppose that is what I'd use if I ever learn enough to switch to unmanaged hosting.

Are any of these good choices?

wattOS or U-lite (both LXDE pre-installed)
Debian + LXDE
Debian + Openbox
Ubuntu + XFCE (Xubuntu)

I can't decide. Someone do it for me.

jhwilliams · 12-10-2009, 09:19 PM

Just use Debian without a GUI. I have a box in the corner of my apartment that has a power chord and a LAN cable going into it -- I just SSH to it or use NFS to access shared partitions. Truth be truthed, though, 256MB of RAM is going to be a tight fit for a Debian LAMP stack. With similar services to what you propose, my machine currently idles with twice as much memory used.

Code:

init─┬─apache2───10*[apache2]
     ├─cron
     ├─ddclient
     ├─exim4
     ├─fail2ban-server───6*[{fail2ban-server}]
     ├─6*[getty]
     ├─klogd
     ├─mysqld_safe─┬─logger
     │             └─mysqld───16*[{mysqld}]
     ├─named───3*[{named}]
     ├─ntpd
     ├─portmap
     ├─rpc.idmapd
     ├─rpc.mountd
     ├─rpc.statd
     ├─sshd───sshd───sshd───bash───pstree
     ├─syslogd
     └─udevd

Code:

free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3025       2977         48          0        261       2147
-/+ buffers/cache:        568       2456
Swap:         8283          0       8283