Any advice welcomed

[traineerichie]

HI- I am about to attempt setting up a web server(very small) to practice for my course work. I am planning to use win 98 - if any one has done this before and has any advice to offer it would be very welcomed, particularly if it spares me wasting precious time (for example win 98 will not sucessfully support a web server?)
Cheers Richie.

[HAL9000]

You can with Win98, but the security sucks. Try something like Mandrake Linux which has the Apache web server built in and far more secure.... free too.

[Tuf]

I have set up servers with Win 98 before and my advice to you is to read the previous post over and over while you download the latest "distro".

[traineerichie]

Thanks for the replies - I have never used linux but I am keen to learn,

I just have one question the system I intend using is old - pentium -166mhz 95mb RAM and a 3gig hard drive, my question is whether or not the lastest mandrake will run on this system, or whether I would be better off opting for an ealier version?

cheers again for the help.
Rich

[GaryRouth]

Just noticed we hadn't recommended a Linux version yet: seems like something in the neighborhood of RedHat 6.1 would be Ok. That's a pretty small hard drive, so anything newer you'd need to be careful or it'd fill it up.

Look in your local paper: new 40gb drives can be had for $50 these days, then you wouldn't have to worry about space (though you might have to try a bios upgrade for the motherboard, or a drive overlay program to use all of the larger drive with the older motherboard - - if you can find a sub-$50 30gb drive, that would avoid the 32gb barrier) [of course, an add-on PCI/IDE controller card would only cost $10 and be a nice solution]

Any distro would probably be OK, so long as it dates from about 1997 or 1998. If you get a larger drive, you can probably go with something fairly recent, and just limit the background jobs to a minimum.

If you don't have broadband, and don't want a lengthy download, an older Linux book at your local computer store might have a distro on CD included: this way you get a nice reference book and the distro too - probably for about $15 (USD).

. . . Gary

[MaXimum SMOKE]

In the 'older books with disk category' 2 titles come to mind:

"Setting Up A Linux Internet Server Visual Black Book" (CoriolisOpen Press) Mine had Red Hat 6.0 CD in it.
Suggested user level Beginner to Advanced

"Red Hat Linux 6 In Small Business"
IDG Books.
Mine had RH 6.0 on CD
Suggested user level Beginning to Advanced.

These are both old, and I would look for a copy very reduced in price before buying.

These should run on older equipment, and I thought they 'read well'. They give you a good beginner's perspective on how things operate, in general. This is all good for theory and learning, but would require far more patching and updating, (for security's sake) than I would think a new user would, or could attempt, before connecting as a 'real' internet server, today.