Via a Dlink Router I have a small home network .... mostly windows boxes ...and my red hat workstation ....

That being said I'm replacing one of the 4 PC's on the network with a newer one .... what I'm wondering is if I can leave the old one I'm replacing up on the network (off the hub in a closet somewhere) - convert it to redhat - can I leave it as a storage device and access it from my current red hat box to adminster it... IE no Monitor or mouse etc. just the case/keyboard (if needed to not get a bios error) - can I set it up some how to boot all the way in with no log on or a remote logon?

If so can somebody send me the instructs so I don't f it up too badly...

Thanks.

I have a closet full of running servers with no monitor or keyboards. ssh will be your best friend. I also have an old HP palmtop which I can connect to the serial port and use it as a console for emergencies (like when I pull a dummy move like 'ifconfig eth0 down'). I haven't had to use that for a while now.

With any luck you can tell your BIOS to ignore boot errors.

So I need to 'convert' and set up this box for linux and figure out ssh ... hey I have an really old laptop can I set that up on off a serial port as well?

ssh is actually very simple. think of it as a secret agent telnet on steroids.

the laptop would need to have some form of OS on it and terminal emulator with something like a vt100 emulator. prolly look to one of the smaller (as in size) distros like peanut. you can do a search over at linux.org