Thinking about getting a linux box

[Nitemare]

What should I get like minimum requirements and stuff? Hardware and software

This is mainly for tinkering around and I'm going to install Apache Web Server on it to try to create a pseudo-intranet for testing purposes. I might turn it into a file server at a later time.

Will probably use it as a juke box as well so what mp3 player should I get?

I'm thinking of FreeBSD or Redhat as the OS and a P2 or K3 as the CPU

 

[yakko]

A lot of Linux distros will work on 386s so minimum requirements are nothing to worry about. Decide on the distro you want to try, find out their supported hardware and then build the crappiest machine you can live with.

 

[Nitemare]

ok, I'm familiar with AIX and Solaris so which distribution would resemble these as well as handle the demands of being a router or file server and a mp3 player?

Guees my priorities would be stability, functionality and then everything else. I know alot of people like FreeBSD. What does it have that Redhat, SUSE or Mandrake doesn't have?