Hi, I'd like to create a really low-consumption bare bones machine, for downloading purposes, 24/7. I'm thinking the machine should only have a hard disk (around 100GB) and a network card.
I'd like to run bit torrent on it on console, and ssh to it from other machines. My main question, for the moment, is how can I install linux on such a machine? Would I have to do a dd on the hard disk from another computer, then boot from the hard disk? If the network card is capable of booting from the network, can it be done? I'd just like general guidelines or resources I can take a look at on the 'net. Thank you

Bootdisk. Get a distribution of the net. Or put the HD into another machine, install Linux on it, and then put it back in the barebone.

when you say bootdisk, is it a linux distribution or are you talking about a normal floppy bootdisk?

i thought that many of the computers won't even go into bios without a video card... it'll just give system errors... i'd suggest that you just get a A/V/L mobo for dirt cheat... in USA $100 for 2GHz AMD Athlon XP Processor and AVL MOBO.... and if it's a case where you don't want people to see what's on the screen then use a DVI screen and just take the DVI2VGA adapter with you =)~

No, the computer will be in my room. What really concerns me is very low power consumption and noiseless function. As for the price tag, I'd say around 100-200 $ (or euros, which is a bit less)

I think you'r right about not booting if a vga card is not present. Although removing Halt on all errors in the bios may be a workaround.