Good inexpencive idea?
 

Hello all those inux users that are way smarter than i with this linux stuff,

I have a whole bunch of old computer parts and by an odd chance i have two pIII slot one processers, which i could fit in to a new dual slot 1 motherboard for about 50 bucks if i wanted to buy one.

AND....Ive been wanting to build a linux server to practice with linux networking and i figured that the above set up would work good/if it would work at all on linux redhat.

Basically i was wandering if this setup would work under linux redhat, if redhat supports the dual processers.

any tips and knowledge on this topic would be apreciated. the more feedback the better..... if i need to change distros if pretty much for it as long as i can learn it as easy as redhat or easier :)

Any distro supports SMP, but you might need to install a different (SMP-capable) kernel, or compile your own.

Even without an SMP kernel, the system should still boot - you just wouldn't make use of the second processor until you added the missing support.

if you have never used linux or know very little about it then I would not install redhat because it is now unsupported due to fedora project. So If I were you I would go ahead and get fedora core 2 to learn on or mandrake.

dual cpu
 

RedHat 8 on up will see the two cpus and you will be up an running with them.

Some other distributions require that you recompile the kernel to get multiple cpus to work.

So, if you just want to see what the deal is, I would go with RedHat even if there are newer distros out there.

time to add a question:

what do all you other linux guys think should i run redhat like guzzi thinks or should i go with the fedora core 2 like worm 5252 thinks?

is there still a better option?

Hey man for startin out to see if it works man go with redhat 8, I am not even sure if FC2 will support dual processors. It should since Fedora is basically Redhat. I mean redhat 9 came out then the next thing that came out of redhat was fedora project and redhat enterprise. If redhat 8 works go with it.

The operating system doesn't need anything special to support SMP - it's a kernel thing. Either the kernel supports it or it doesn't, but in that case it can be built with it - so FC2 or older RH will support SMP, as will slackware, gentoo, LFS, debian, etc etc etc.

If you want to try a very nice system, I recommend Debian - apt-get makes RPM look like a train wreck ;) (OK, it's not THAT bad...)

Okay, that's just plain wrong. FC2 WILL support SMP because Linux ( recall that Linux is merely the kernel, and everything else is just GNU ) itself supports SMP. Maybe what worm5252 was trying to say is that the default FC2 kernel doesn't have SMP enabled. I don't know. Kernel compiles are not difficult at all, so don't worry too much about that.

Basically what I've just said is a reiteration of CroMagnon's post.

That depends. You say you want to learn Linux networking? I'm going to guess that means you'll want basically run a server type box: http, nfs, ssh, ftp, irc, and so on. That means you'll need to actually learn Linux ( the computing environment, not the kernel; sometimes called GNU/Linux but that's too much to type ) and not a GUI. GUIs are nice, but you end up learning the GUI rather than the computing environment itself. That's a bad thing, especially since the GUI environment on Linux isn't standardized ( which, incidentally, I consider to be a Good Thing ). You'll learn how to do something in KDE and then be completely screwed in Gnome, not to mention command line.

So, in my opinion, you'll not want something RedHat based as they're meant to be primarily desktop environments. The ease of use reputation stems from the I-don't-have-to-think/learn-when-there's-a-button way of doing things. In the same way you'll also not want Mandrake, Linspire, or any of the other "easy" distros.

Now, what do I recommend?

I should be candid and admit that I am biased toward Slackware. No frills, no dependance on GUIs, no crap. I believe the saying is "You learn RedHat and you've learned RedHat. You learn Slackware and you've learned Linux."

What do I recommend? Slackware, Debian, or Gentoo. These are all mainstream distros aimed toward "power users". The communities are large and very helpful. Being aimed at "power users" doesn't mean that they're terrifically difficult to use, only that you have to learn faster. It's worth it. Not only do you actually know what your computer will be doing, but you won't be bugged by user friendliness.

I recommend Slackware because it's main design philospophy is to be stable and follow the principle of K.I.S.S. You won't have to worry about odd kernel modules, binaries in non-standard places, or anything like that. Slackware is vanilla Linux. That's not to say it's dull or barely usable, quite the contrary. It only means that Slack doesn't get in your way to help you. It's a great server distro and also a great desktop distro. I use it as both. I also recommend it for it's community. In fact the Slack forum here is the most active on Linux Questions.

I recommend Debian for both it's community and it's package management. Debian uses Apt to download and install binaries all the while making sure the dependancies for the programs exist on system. This is something that Slackware lacks, as part of K.I.S.S. Really it's your preference as to whether or not automated installs bug you.

I recommend Gentoo for the exact same reasons as Debian, except with a little twist. Gentoo uses a thing called emerge to snag the sources for the program you want and the dependencies it needs. Then they begin to compile on your system. This means that every program you use will have been compiled for your system. In some areas it offers performance boosts ( glib or X ) but in most it's just sort of a hassle, in my opinon. This sort of thing can be done for all Linux systems, but Gentoo is unique in that it's automated.

So, what should you use? All of them. Try them out. See what you like and what you don't. I prefer Slack, but I only learned that after going through Suse, RedHat, Mandrake, and Debian. It just fits my personality, and maybe it won't fit yours or your needs. Maybe Gentoo will, or Debian. Or Linspire even!

Linux is all about the freedom to explore and learn. Sometimes it's frustrating, but most of the time it's fun. Just remember don't be afraid to read everything you can before you ask questions, but never be afraid to ask.

thanx for the huge complete explination i will report back with any updates

ps ive installed slackware and i think its pretty smooth but rough (different) install mainly with partitioning

goofyheadedpunk, excellent post :D I like Slack, I just like Debian better :cool: With both you learn about your system.

Take a look at the links posted here
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=243652

Why thank you darthtux.

Good luck Forced2Morph.

Well if you want to setup a server from an old box you could start by installing ClarkConnect home edition. It's free and does exactly what you want. If you want to build it by hand you can always do that after you have ' explored' Clark. A lot of configs can be used later on your own build.

ClarkConnect