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Want to set my computer up as a server...

1786 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  wmorri
I have wanted to do this for a while...

But I access the Internet from a variety of locations, including at libraries and at school... and if I am at a friend's house and I want to show them something, or I need a file, I would want to be able to access my computer.

So what I desire is to be able to set up my computer as a server when I am gone. It only should be handling one request at a time, so it doesn't need to be very high-end... and mine is anything but high-end.

So here is what I have.

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ @2.2GHz
200GB Barracuda 7200RPM HD
Partitions:
Windows XP Home SP3 (140GB)
Compaq Recovery Partition (50GB)
Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty AMDx86_64 (10GB) (Desktop Edition)

I can resize the Recovery Partition down to about 20GB if need be, and I have about 25GB free on XP Home right now.

I don't mind getting a server edition and reloading Ubuntu in that mode... 32 bit or otherwise. I'm actually not liking 64-bit very much.

The basic features I want are:
Remote file access and browsing
VNC-like operation (remote access)
Utilization of internet resources w/o VNC use (proxy) with basic configuration on other computers... or used with a flash drive.

Those are the three things that are most important to me. I would appreciate any input on this. I know it is a big issue to tackle but I have a lot of confidence in these forums.

Thank you.
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Hi,

Let me see what I can do for you. I can help you out with all of this, I think. Remote file sharing and VNC will handled by the VNC server connection. The third one I am guessing you want to use your broswer and not one that is set up on the local computer?

The next thing that I need to know is if this is going to be a linux machine you want to VNC to or is it a windowx box? Let me know about those things and we can go from there.

Cheers!
Thank you. The third is only something I would like to do - but yes you're right.

The computer I am VNC'ing to (my box that I have mentioned) - I'll refer to that as the host.

It has dual boot Windows XP and Ubuntu... but I don't really care which one... I just think that Linux would be a better option for security, especially when I leave it on - I connect with a wireless PCI card.

What I really do need is being able to access the host from Windows clients.

Thank you!
I'm rather confused about that third option, but this is what I use.
I run ubuntu server on a dedicated box, much less power full than yours. This is console only, so you had better be comfortable with it. or just learn it as you go, like i did : ) (you could install gnome-desktop, and use vnc if you really wanted to)

I have ftp, which works for accessing and rearanging files from anywhere.
I also have these files accessable via http. This is easy as a symlink with appache

For remote access, ssh works perfectly. just basically command line intereaction. Vnc is a good option to be able to access it form any server.

My server is a web/file/media-streaming server. i have a raid, on which i store a myriad of stuff, that I can acces, or stream(using subsonic) anytime i want, including to my Nokia N810.

Also, you won't need more than 10GB of space for the OS. getting exesive with any addition files will mean you need more.

Unless you plan to take your server down and run xp, i don't see any reason to leave xp on there.

Just some thoughts, and what i run.
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enansi,

Sorry that I didn't get to your post yesterday, long day. I need to know if you want to use a linux or windows box to set up the VNC server. It doesn't matter to me which on it is because it is the same each way. The other thing is that if you have a VNC server on the linux OS but have the windows OS booted up you won't be able to do it, and visa versa.

I hope that this is making sense for you. Once I know that information then the installing part will go really quick and you should be up and running.

@Clockwork:

I know that ssh works great for many people. But in the beginning learning how to just use linux is hard enough, let along having to learn all these command to just do what I want, when I can click on a couple of things and I have it in front of me. Later on adding an ssh server is really easy.

Cheers!
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