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Best OS for a small file server?

K

KoolDrew

Lifer
I don't know the exact specs of the PC, but I do know it has 256MB of RAM. The CPU is not that bad either. I also put an old 4GB drive in it that I had. Right now it is just missing a NIC, but I will get one.

Now, what do you guys thing would be best for this? First of all, do you think I should go with *BSD, or should I go with some distribution of Linux (Debian, maybe?). I have no experience with *BSD at all, but it may be interesting.

Then, what exactly would you suggest? OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Slackware, Debian, Gentoo etc.?

I know not everybody will agree one one OS, but I am hoping to get a few explanations of advantages and disadvantages of each, so I can make my own decision.
 
CentOS if this is going to be for serious longterm use, or Fedora Core if this is for play.

Why? You just choose the minimal install. When it's done install Samba with yum and webmin from an rpm and you'll have your shares set up through webmin in no time. The only other thing is opening the ports on your firewall, but you can do that easy with system-config-security-tui.
 
It depends on my mood.
Saucy: DragonflyBSD
Eccentric: NetBSD
Paranoid: OpenBSD
Curious: Fedora, CentOS, or something similar

Dragonfly- These guys are doing some kick ass stuff. Everyone should be keeping an eye on them to see how it turns out. Their "Light Weight Kernel Threads" could revolutionize the way we use multiple processors, the clustering stuff they're working on is mind boggling, and the community seems to be pretty cool.
NetBSD- I don't think you can get a cleaner system. It's about as minimalist as you can get, the performance is decent and getting better all the time, and the community seems reasonable enough. I don't track development, but I pop in every once in a while, and I think these guys are making some great changes. Definitely worth another look, especially with the reported performance with Xen.
Linux- If you use "Corporate Approved Linux" at work, there is a good chance it's RedHat. Using something RedHatish (or whatever you use at work) isn't a bad thing in this situation. Plus, you can run Fedora under Xen (under NetBSD :evil: ).
OpenBSD- I like it the best. It makes the most sense to me.
 
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