• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Anyone know a good use for a Linux machine?

J

JuryDuty

Senior member
I discovered yesterday that after upgrading my own computer, I have enough components to build a complete second machine just for fun. I thought I'd install Linux, but then I thought why?

Can anyone tell me a good use for building a Linux-based machine? Keep in mind, I already have a computer that can run all my business apps, and I don't need a second. I can give it Internet access--and it will have all the other "normal" components of any computer.

Please supply links to special instructions or special programs if they're involved in your answer.

TIA! --Jury
 
I wouldn't mind installing BSD instead. I'm just looking for a good use for this computer.

I think the router/firewall is a decent idea, but I've really already got one, so it's not as useful to me in particular. But please keep the ideas coming!
 
i run:

ftp, http, samba, ssh, pop3, smtp, imap, and bitchx to hold my nick on irc. linux and the like are steadily becoming the choice of operating system for everyone, due to it's price (free), versatility, stability and open source applications. i decided i wanted to be a part of that.
 
You mean besides the fact that Linux is free and the source code to a great deal of Linux apps are available? Hmmm, well that depends on what you want to do. I run a mail, game, and file server for a small home LAN on my Debian box. It used to be a firewall/proxy server as well. Linux is also good because its a good desktop os and a great server os.
 
Pretty much anything you could be interested in. It'll do anything any other OS can and probably a bit more, due to the fact that many people have had obscure needs that required special services that would not be economicly possible on a closed source OS.

File server. Ftp (old school file sharing), Smb(microsoft-type file sharing), Nfs (traditional if a bit dated network file sharing) and lots of that among others.

Web server. Ftp again, IRC, and the various forms of Apache. Apache web server is pretty much the defacto-standard for internet web services. Superior to IIS in performance and security it has been ported many times to the W32 platform. It can do anything you want in it, you could create simple html-standard home pages for yourself or a club or whatever, or If you develope the skills you can make sophisticate active contant websites like these forums. The skys the limit. Just depends on your skill level and experiance.

Firewall. Not to hard to set up a secured router to protect your lan and share a single internet connection between and up to a lan with serveral thousand computers without having to spring for extra ip addresses or anything.

Programming hacking platform. Everything in Linux and other Unixes were writen in C and C++. With Linux you can obtain every single peice of code that goes into the operating system. If you want to learn howto program or just have something to play around on Linux is a ideal platform. THe tools and documentation needed to create new programs and scripts is integrated in every aspect of the operating system. You can Disect the linux kernel and learn about how a OS communicates with the hardware, or just take apart that kde card game and learn how it works and then hack it to make it easy to win everytime. Whatever you want.

Multimedia on a budget. With good apps like Gimp it makes it possible to create music and art that would cost thousands of dollars to create using commercail applications. Or stream mp3 music and video content over the internet. Of course the free apps are not going to be as good as ones you can get commercailly, they generally work well non the less.

Learn how the internet and computers work. The internet is unix. It was created using unix and for the forseeable future it will continue to be dominated by unix. Linux can open that world up to you. With documentation and code aviable to you for little to no cost for yourself you can delve into any aspect of computer tech you could ever possibly want.

🙂
 
Originally posted by: kursplat
Anyone know a good use for a Linux machine?
Click to expand...
makes me wonder , if someone posted this asking about windows could she\he have gotten even one straight answer?....
Click to expand...

Yep, Windows can run games........................

🙂
 
So can 'nix 😉

I run a mail, ftp, file, print, W2K domain controller (via samba), and web server from an old PIII system with RedHat on it (I almost rebuilt it as a Debian box last month, but if it ain't broke...)

Given, if I had more web traffic I would want something a bit faster, but it's basically for internal (LAN) use; kind of an intranet.

I have to say, it's nice to see a civil thread again (I just read through some of the Eric Martello "OS article" thread...that got pretty ugly) :frown:
 
I run a mail, ftp, file, print, W2K domain controller (via samba), and web server from an old PIII system with RedHat on it (I almost rebuilt it as a Debian box last month, but if it ain't broke...)
Click to expand...

Fix it 'till it is 😉
 
I know most people seem to hate it, but I enjoy using RedHat. Well enjoy isn't the right word, but I do not hate it as far as Linux goes.
 
Actually, I kind of like RedHat (probably due to the fact that it was my first 'nix). RH9 is pretty spiffy, what with XFree86 4.3 (3d support for Radeons built in--hooray!) and KDE3.1 for eye candy.

I was just going to throw a minimal Debian install on it, since it's just a server and the RedHat install was initially a desktop install (it has Gnome 1.4, etc.); but, like I said, if it ain't broke...
 
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I know most people seem to hate it, but I enjoy using RedHat. Well enjoy isn't the right word, but I do not hate it as far as Linux goes.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, well I don't really hate red hat at all, but I do like debian better 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Spyro
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I know most people seem to hate it, but I enjoy using RedHat. Well enjoy isn't the right word, but I do not hate it as far as Linux goes.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, well I don't really hate red hat at all, but I do like debian better 🙂
Click to expand...

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I don't use Linux when I don't have to though, so I'm happy.
 
Originally posted by: Flatline
Oh yeah...you're a BSD guy, aren't you?
Click to expand...

You say that like it is a bad thing.

The Unix or Unix-like OSes I use the most right now are probably Solaris, Linux, and OpenBSD. Solaris the most (work) though. I am using RedHat as one of my work stations at work, and OpenBSD is running on most of my machines at home. Although I am going to install Linux on one of them if I ever get around to getting the hack saw out so I can finish putting it together...
 
Didn't mean to make it sound like a bad thing; I wouldn't really know, since I haven't thrown together a BSD machine...yet. When I have some spare time, I wouldn't mind trying it out.

What do you think...OpenBSD or FreeBSD?
 
Originally posted by: Flatline
Didn't mean to make it sound like a bad thing; I wouldn't really know, since I haven't thrown together a BSD machine...yet. When I have some spare time, I wouldn't mind trying it out.
Click to expand...

I forgot to add a smilie along the lines of 😉 to my last post 😛

What do you think...OpenBSD or FreeBSD?
Click to expand...

Which one do you see mentioned in my last post? 😉

That's the one I prefer, but try them both. They are both free/Free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top