Just a note to all who contribute:
Thanks so very much.
I did a web search on Ubuntu server as desktop and ended up in this forum and read read read.
Saw enough to try things and as I type on this pc, the other pc is finishing the huge graphical d/l.
My questions is ,now that I have a server, how do I make it serve anything to my other 2 ubuntu boxes?
What do I do on the non server box to connect to the server and get "served" anything?
What do I want to be served? Well why can't the server own a program, but my desktop box use it? like say..thunderbird mail getter...?

There are many different ways to access the server, depending on what you want to access. With X forwarding set up, you can run nearly any program that exists on the server remotely from the client. For example, the computer I'm currently sitting at is very old and very weak. It can barely run Thunderbird, much less a decent web browser. For that reason, I actually just use this machine to open up multiple command line terminals, SSH into various other computers in the office, and run my "demanding" processes there. My email, which is always open, is actually running using X forwarding through SSH on one of the servers in another office. My web browser, which is always open, is actually running using X forwarding through SSH on a different server, and so on.

If you're interested in accessing data rather than programs, you can also set up NFS sharing. This allows the clients to mount a directory on the server and then access it as if it was local. This is perfect for huge media archives, for example. The data only has to exist on the server, and it can be accessed remotely from any other machine as if it was local.

The possibilities are almost endless. You just need to come up with something that you want to do, and then we can help you find the best way to do it.

A modern server is as stated, how you use it. To share files or to run a database or to run a web server are some common tasks.

To serve applications is also a task but not exactly common as it was.

Some of the common ways to serve programs are to use a thing called X. It was one of the first to be able to have programs on a server and anyone who could connect could run them. An oddity is that the server and client seem to be reversed in the usage.

Another is to run remote desktops. You basically see what you would have see if you were to sit in front of the server. Things like 2X or Freenx or NX or VNC or such may suit your needs.

2X also has some ways to act more like a Windows Terminal Server where by an application is served to the client.

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thanks eggroll and jefro...I am leaving the gui aspect of servers now, and using ubuntu 12.04 as ssh only so far. learning a lot!!!!
so far, I can admin the 12 in the big old box from my laptop..wireless..amazing. next to add programs to the server, and use them on the laptop. I will test with Freemind..a teriffic program..
peace..