setting up a home network

[Cristatus]

i wanted to use my dad's very old laptop to setup a home network, and using the laptop as a server.

the specs of the latop is:

• 120 MHz processor

• very little main ram (i'll check it out properly later)

• 15360kb extended ram

• 771MB HDD

i was planning on using Windows 2000, but these specs aren't enough for even an install of Windows 2000

what are the other alternatives for OSes on a server machine that is going to be used on a Windows (the other three machines use windows XP for their OS, if that makes a difference) based network

 

[ColdZero]

By server, do you mean for files or for internet routing?

 

[Need4Speed]

a simple debian install (woody) is about 120mb

 

[polm]

Originally posted by: logic1485
i wanted to use my dad's very old laptop to setup a home network, and using the laptop as a server.

the specs of the latop is:

• 120 MHz processor

• very little main ram (i'll check it out properly later)

• 15360kb extended ram

• 771MB HDD

i was planning on using Windows 2000, but these specs aren't enough for even an install of Windows 2000

what are the other alternatives for OSes on a server machine that is going to be used on a Windows (the other three machines use windows XP for their OS, if that makes a difference) based network

What "services" will you be running on this server ?

 

[Cristatus]

ColdZero: for files, and for logging on users and authorising them by using the machine

Need4Speed: sounds like a good idea

polm: well, my original intention was to use the computer as a file server, and logon server, but since i can not use it as a file server, i'll have to get a seperate machine to use as a file server

/me wonders if any of this makes sense

seriously, i have always wanted to have people to be able to logon on any computer, and have access to their files from anywhere, and i'm not willing to spend any extras on resources, because i just can't afford it at the moment.

i might have newer laptop with better specs (Windows ME install, 1.0 GHz, etc), but i think i will use that as the file server...

/me seriously hopes this makes sense

(i have never done any networking at all before, and i'm just hoping that this is possible)