Advice on open source for small network please

snollup

I have been asked as part of my job to help set up a small network of computers in a community room on a social housing estate in Dublin 8. The room will be looked after by a group of the residents.

It's a great facility for them but as usual they have very little money so it needs to be done on little to no money.

At the moment the room is CAT45 wired and there are eight pc's (Pent 3, 128 RAM, XP2). I hope to have some higher speced pc's donated to replace by Xmas.

There is a phone line & we are in the process of sorting out broadband.

I should be able to use one of these pc's as a server I hope and hope to scavenge a switch somewhere so that should be hardware sorted.

I was thinking of running the network on open source s/w and was looking for suggestions as to exactly which open source operating system might be best suited to this type of situation. The end users will not be all that used to using computers.

I had a quick look at Linux Mint the other day and liked the way it came with a lot of open source software imbedded.

Also, what open source software might be best for the server?

While I know a little about computers I will be relying heavily on the web to guide me through this so any advice offer will be great.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the length of post.

croo

Most linux versions (or distros as we say in the linux world) come in destop or server versions but it makes little difference in most cases... they are the same really it's juts a question of the what default software is installed.

Mint is really a version of Ubuntu with the software that has legal restrictions (like DVD decryption) or non-open source applications (like adobe's flash) included by default. Normally for legal reasons people required to install these themselves.

So Mint & Ubuntu are very similar. I have never actually installed Mint but only read good things and I can only say that I found Ubuntu Server edition very easy to install. But I guess my first question would be for what purpose is the server to be used?

Orion

As croo said Mint is just a more-friendly Ubuntu - go for it.

Ubuntu Server is for someone used to linux as, while it's Ubuntu, it has no GUI installed by default - it's all command line. If you're not using Linux yourself you'd be better off installing the desktop Ubuntu (or Mint) and installing any server software you need afterwards - if you need any. If it's just going to be a file server then the desktop variant will do fine.

On a non-OS note - you can pick up a new 100Mb managed switch for about 100 euro if they have that. That's if you can't scavange one.

croo

I think the server version has a GUI option too? not 100% though but nearly sure. But if not then I totally agree, just go with the desktop version.

The reason I even suggested the server edition and asked about the intended use was ... if it's as a file server or perhaps a web server then samba (for a windows file server) and lamp (for webserving) it is pretty much all setup automatically when installing the server version just check the boxes for functions needed.

Orion

You can install the GUI - sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop (or whatever desktop variant takes your fancy) - but it's not installed by default.

You can install LAMP and Samba using the alternate CD for the desktop Ubuntu too. Almost exactly like the server install - just tick the boxes. If he's going all Linux he won't need Samba most likely.

samhail

google just released their GoS OS just for browsing. installed it there and its very limited... just for web browsing mainly. but maybe thats all you want

croo

Macros42 wrote: »

If he's going all Linux he won't need Samba most likely.

agreed. maybe I misunderstood, when I read the XP2 bit in the specs I thought the OP just wanted linux for the server, but rereading you could be right okay. I guess we'll have to wait until they come back.

HarryHippo

I'd be weary of running the network on XP2. You'll have alot of looking after to do (although if you lock down internet access it could be O.K.). The specs on the PC's are pretty low so maybe you should think about moving them all to linux. For the server r PCs... if mint is sluggish you should probably give xubuntu or zenwalk a spin. You will find most linux editions will require a bit of tinkering to install them with such low ram. I'd also recommend an imaging program which restores fresh images to the pc's each day to keep your maintenance down (I'm pretty sure g4u has this functionality), that way you can just set it up and the system should look after itself (for the most part).

HH

snollup

Thanks all for your replies.

The server will really only be a file server.