I need help building a NetBSD system with $150 US

[helppls]

hi, i have roughly $150 to spend on a bsd server. i'm learning towards netbsd, but i'm still open to the other bsds as well. anyway, this system needs a motherboard, hard drive, cpu, ram, network card. i'm open to any architectures. the system will be an ssh and htttp server. i'm inexperienced in building unix servers, so any advice in the area would be greatly appreciated.

thanks!

 

[skyking]

It will run on most any hardware from 486-586-686, sparqstations, etc. Check hardware compatability lists for individual components, such as Network cards, SCSI adapters, etc. Those lists can be found at the website for the OS itself.

 

[jhu]

i would suggest openbsd just because the default install is more secure. just get some cheap hardware and you should be fine.

 

[manly]

Buy a used Pentium3 or Athlon (probably Thunderbird) system. The bigger the on-die L2 cache, the better but 256 kB is going to be the standard for these desktop CPUs (so avoid Celerons). Try to get a 7200 RPM hard drive with low access times. SCSI would be ideal, but unlikely at $150. How much RAM you (should) get will be dictated largely by budget and intended use. In fact, the overall specs really should be tailored for the expected usage patterns, although there isn't that much variation possible under $150.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

i would suggest openbsd just because the default install is more secure.

That's a pretty awful argument for an operating system.

I would say, get the best $150 machine you can find. It's pretty tough to find a machine that NetBSD won't run on.

 

[Soybomb]

$150 isn't much, but remember if you're doing encrypted file transfers using ssh it can really tax slower cpus. I have a dual p2-300 and when it runs rsync at night and starts moving a ton of files it runs at about 50% utilization using blowfish/ssh2

 

[groovin]

if youre not experienced with unix-like servers, i would suggest freeBSD. in my experience, openBSD was the hardest to use. netBSD wasnt too much harder than freeBSD, but my experience with it was brief. see what kind of hardware you can get a hold of before you commit yourself to an OS decision... no big deal after all, BSD is free!

im sure youve done the research:

NetBSD: will run on many many many different kinds of hardware
FreeBSD: versatile, awesome server performance, easy installation.
OpenBSD: very secure because there isnt much installed... supposedly the new version is supposed to be very resistant to buffer attacks, it also has a great firewall, pf.

If youre not expecting too much HTTP visits, id say $150 could get you a used PIII (as mentioned), I have PII servers running a few dozen requests a day without any problems (using 128MB of PC100 RAM i bought at Frys for $10), but as Soybomb said, if you run SSH, it could eat up lots of resources.

oh yeah, the knowledgeable forum members reinforced my notions in another thread that a server shouldnt have a GUI, so its probaly not a good idea to install X.

 

[jhu]

That's a pretty awful argument for an operating system.

ok, i guess i'll just get rid of it then

 

[drag]

Look it the paper and get the best used computer you can find.

 

[helppls]

thanks for the knowledgeble replies. i've narrowed my search to barebone systems, which brought me to this http://www.microtechcomputers.com/product.asp?Sku=BBCEL1000MID128SDR ...

1 ghz celeron
128MB SDR
Soyo 7IWM/L