hi guys as some of you may know i have been working on a new website for my pictures and stuff and am now sorting out a dedicated computer as a server for this purpose.
needs to be able to run complex scripting such as php/asp and http.
first problem is that i'm a student and have a very small budget and to this end wanted some advice,
at the moment i have:

case with 350W PSU
Asus M2N-MX SE plus motherboard
AMD Sampron CPU
1GB DRR2 RAM
DVD drive

- i have no hdd at all yet and was wondering what the most realisable and suitable set up would be on very low budget?
i know RAID is the ideal but cost in an issue !

- also some advice on operation systems would be good needs to be an open source Linux disro really as i cant stand windows and no money for expensive software anyhow

Cheers
ferret 😉

Hi Ferret,
here goes for my two pennyworth.
On the OS front I'd personaly use Ubuntu since it's so well documented. There's a tutorial on a 'LAMP' setup http://www.ubuntugeek.com/ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon-lamp-server-setup.html .
As to the raid/no raid. Well go with what you can afford. I'm assuming the m/board is ide rather than sata but I personally would think two drives are a safer bet than one. I suppose you can't afford to get the site on a commercial server system where all you'd have to do is update and respond to queries. These services can be quite reasonable for none commercial use.
Good luck

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true but I'm doing it partly to learn how to ;)
also I'm trying to bring myself up to speed on scripting formates for another project so need a base i can run cold fusion, php, asp and the like and the websites i build with them...

as to the Linux disro i have never really used it before but again its a learning thing and i am so sick of Microsoft:curse:

any more advice on setting up ubuntu??

p.s. the MB has two sata sockets.

OK first things first, this http://ubuntuforums.org/index.php  link is to the Ubuntu forum. More help and advice than you can shake a very large stick at. Secondly, no matter where you live there will almost certainly be a Linux Users group ( a bit like AA meetings for geeks 😮 ) within a few miles who can and will help. I live in rural Herefordshire and there are two groups within 15 miles from me. You can download the iso of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron from here http://www.ubuntu.com/  which has links to both desktop and server editions. If you don't have broadband you can even ask them to post you a copy completely free of charge (takes about 3 weeks).
Give it a try.
Point two. given you have sata and the price of memory now you could probably get two smallish (50Gb) drives from ebay or from an advertiser in Micromart magazine that won't break the bank then you can 'ghost' the drives to give belt and braces security.
I should say that I personaly have no experiance of running a server but the guys on the ubuntu forum will have for sure.

John

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Rent one 🙂 Let somebody else worry about the hardware...

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but that's no fun?!?!

but that's no fun?!?!

So let me get this straight. 1 you like going down dark, wet, dirty holes in the ground. 2 you enjoy getting down and coding at the command line interface ?
And you do these things for fun ???

I know you're young (from where I am anyone below 40 is young 😞 ) but really...dunno wut the worlds cummin to...youth of today.......mutter mutter..... ::)

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hehe yeah :angel:
Nothing like UG photo trip with a nice sporting trip to get the pic location and then spend few hours after the trip processing, uploading and posting the photo's on this other sites and coding them into my website
which ever expands and as i do like a nice bit of coding have decided to move to its own stand alone webserver
(Oh this gives me a chance to learn more about the fascinating world of computer programming. hardware setup and software design) :o

So when are you going to give us the url so that we can see the result of all this crawling and coding then ?
:thumbup:

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are well at the moment the site is split up here there and everywhere (part of the reason for new server).
the site WILL be at www.darkelement.co.uk but at the moment there is nothing at that domain.

apart from the pics on here check out my old googlepage site at http://ferret41.googlepages.com/home  (apologies for the rather basic site but you cant customise these free sites much and this one has no adds at least) and my redbubble account at http://www.redbubble.com/people/ferret  which will be integrated into the new site when its dun

Honestly, rent one 🙂 It'll give you so much time for the exploring!

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nah its the learning curve i like 😉
always have to challenge yourself or life's just boring

Seal that up in an envelope young man, and look back on it when you've done 10 years of server admin and your hair is a silvery grey :lol:

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hehe - but its a life lived is it not?? 😉

hehe - but its a life lived is it not?? 😉

Trust me then, I've seen what it's done to him! :o

Rent it!

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hehe - but its a life lived is it not?? 😉

Trust me then, I've seen what it's done to him! :o

Rent it!

There! Straight from the horse's (or in this case alpaca's) mouth.
😉

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well i just invested two 250GB WESTERN DIGITAL HDD [sata II, 16mb buffer] for the server so its going ahead!
gonna put one in the actual machine and the other in my current desktop and sync the two drives daily to back up data and increase security.

Best of Luck then.Are you going to give Ubuntu a try? If you prefer a more 'Windows' look :devil: you can try Kubuntu. Same backend but the KDE desktop rather than Gnome. If you run into bother PM me (I don't think you'd ever hear the last of it if Simon found out ! :lol: :lol: :lol:

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