sebflipper Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 (edited) Hi, I have an old Pentium MMX 200MHz with 32MB RAM and 2.43GB, 1.7GB Hard Drives, which is just lying around and I want to use it as a wireless broadband server for a student house. I am just wondering which Unix/Linux distribution to use? It will be using a D-Link DWL-700AP Wireless Access Point (connects via a network port) and a USB Telewest Broadband 512Kbps modem. I will probably want to run a Apache/HTTP/PHP server and FTP server from it as well. I have only used Linux Mandrake 9 for a about a few days with its user friendly GUI so I am pretty new to Linux, but I heard that Mandrake 9 needs a powerful computer to run on. At the moment I am just thinking of using Windows 98SE and just sharing the connection, but it seems too unstable to leave it running 24/7 and I want to give Unix/Linux a go as it?s meant to be more stable:cool:l: Any suggestions on which distribution to use:happy:y: Edited March 17, 2004 by sebflipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpugeniusmv Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 i have slackware 9.1 installed on a 50 mhz box with 400 MB hdd and 4 MB of ram... so installing it on that box would be no problem, however...if you were going to configure a GUI you would probably have to spend a little time doing some reading :D i'd recommend one of the lighter WMs (ie: not KDE or Gnome.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted March 17, 2004 Veteran Share Posted March 17, 2004 I often see *BSD recommended when talking about a dedicated server like you are mentioning. Still a *nix variant, but a different flavor. (very secure/reliable) As for what to put on it, use minimal necessary. The more you add, the greater the risk for problems or security risks. If you can handle command-line only, I recommend NO window managers, nor X. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kongit Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I would say bsd, slackware, or gentoo. :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I'm running OpenBSD on a P133 with 72mb ram and a 1.6gb hard drive. Supported network cards out of the box, secure by default, and setting up apache was a 1 line change and a reboot. It has no problem handling a small website (100 visits per day on php/mysql it's extremely responsive). SSH is blazingly fast as you would expect, and it generally does the jobs I ask extremely well. Obviously I'm not running X11 on it - but that's what I have 'real' computers for. Right now it sits sans keyboard, mouse, or monitor in my crawlspace behind the freezer with a CAT5 cable and power cable connecting it to the world: she just keeps on chugging. Installation isn't terribly tricky: just one floppy disk and the ability to download about 80mb should do the job. check it out: http://www.openbsd.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_daemon Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I'm running Gentoo on a P200 - 192mb ram actually. It's my router, firewall, tinyfileserver and web server. Running Gentoo is great, if you don't mind the... *counts mentally* 47 hours of compile time from stage 2 it took in my case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebflipper Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 I have decided to give OpenBSD 3.4 a go, I have just downloaded the whole 3.4 folder of their FTP site. I am not sure what system to use, but I am guessing i386? As I am a n00b to Linux I am assuming that I write all the files in the folder "OpenBSD\3.4\i386" to a CDR and as my P200 isn't able to do a CD-ROM boot, I should use the "rawrite.exe" file in MS-DOS to create a Linux boot floppy disk. Also are there any good guide throughs for installing OpenBSD, and getting the broadband sharing/routing, HTTP and FTP working? Have I chosen the right system and is there anything I should be aware of while installing for a P200? :unsure: Cheers for all the help :happy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted March 17, 2004 Veteran Share Posted March 17, 2004 Yes, i386 indicates it will run in an Intel 80386 CPU system (or compatable AMD, Cyrix, etc.) or better - including Pentiums, Athlons, whatnot. :yes: As for installation... :unsure: I have never done it, but there should be TONS of documents that can be googled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordHatrus Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I would highly suggest that you compile anything, ex. the kernel, on a different machine ;) It will save you a few days :rolleyes: :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted March 17, 2004 Veteran Share Posted March 17, 2004 Does he have to compile from source??? I don't think that is the only option for BSD is it? I see FreeBSD available as an ISO set at LinuxISO.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 http://openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html Read the install guide: you've already downloaded too much. From memory the steps are: 1) download the file FTP://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/3.4/i386/floppy34.fs 2) if you DON'T have access to a *NIX computer, then download FTP://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/3.4/tools/rawrite.exe 3) write the image to a floppy disk: UNIX: fdformat /dev/<floppy drive> dd if=floppy.fs of=/dev/<floppy drive> bs=32k WINDOWS: rawrite source image: floppy34.fs destination drive: a insert disk and press enter. 4) shove the floppy into the computer you want to install bsd on 5) turn on that computer 6) choose "install" by pressing "i" then enter when prompted 7) press enter a couple times to use default terminal/keyboard choices 8) use the whole disk? (yes, unless you want to install several OSs on this machine) 9) create partitions: - this is much easier to follow if you just go by what's in the guide. if you're lazy you can a a [enter] [enter] 1800M[enter] [enter] / [enter] a b [enter] [enter] [enter] [enter] [enter] w q write new lable? y ** [enter] means press the return key. This makes one big partition for everything mounted under / and leaves about 200mb for swap space assuming you have a 2gb drive. I highly recommend reading the manual for this part it'll ask you to confirm labels now - just type "done" and press enter enter a hostname: myserver This is where you'll setup your network card. Available interfaces: ne3 (Yours might say something different, but it usually doesn't matter) setup interface: ne3 (type whatever the available one is) change media: n ipaddress: dhcp domain name: my.fake.domain.local dns server (some.ip.address.here): enter (dns server should be provided by dhcp) use server? y default route: dhcp edit hosts: n done root password: again: choose an install source: f (for ftp) enter address: [enter] display a list? y browse for a mirror near your house. and remember it's number. there are about 80 enter address: (number of the mirror) address: [enter] path:[enter] user:[enter] you'll get a list of packages now with the defaults selected. that's good good enough. so just type: 'done' press enter. wait for the packages to download/install it takes about 3 or 4 minutes on a descent connection. making nodes: this takes a while - 5 minutes maybe more. do you plan to run xwindows? n timezone: <your timezone here> finally it will tell you that you're done. type "halt" press enter, wait, then till it says your good to shutdown, pull out the disk and reboot the machine. with a little luck you'll have openbsd running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaKeY Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 wow... you have a good memory evn show lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebflipper Posted March 19, 2004 Author Share Posted March 19, 2004 Cheers for all the info, I have got OpenBSD running and the install was only about 5-10 mins! :happy: Just got a few question, as I am a n00b to Unix. setting up apache was a 1 line change and a reboot.What was that line? hehe.Also I would like to run it as an FTP server (as Unix isn't very friendly with its command line interface, plus I have some files on my other machine that I want to shove on it), does it come with an FTP server or do I need to install one? I haven't got the Broadband USB modem yet, but I was just wondering how to go about setting it up, eg getting OpenBSD to see it, then connecting to the Internet (with username and pass) and sharing it to all the other Windows based computers on the network. How do I go about it? I bet these questions are in their FAQ somewhere, but I haven't really read though it yet :laugh: Thanks again :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 you have two choices to start apache: 1) as root (or by sudoing) run: apachectl start that will start apache, but it won't run every time you boot. so again as root or by sudoing: echo "httpd_flags=NO" > /etc/rc.conf.local then do (as root) apachectrl start from then on in apache will be running whenever your computer starts. OpenBSD apache starts up "chroot" by default. For most servers with only one site this is a good thing. basiclly this means apache starts up normally as process with root permissions which is bad because if someone exploits apache it can do anything it wants! so what it does is drops privileges to normal user status one it's running. that's good. The other thing it does is changes it's root directory to (from memory the default is /var/www - i could be off) this is good too because if someone tries to directory traverse or otherwise exploit apache the only folders they can EVER access are the ones in /var/www/ which aren't vital to the system and should never contain private data. There are two problems that I've encountered with this: 1) The stock mysql installation doesn't like this but 3 or 4 config file edits will fix that 2) Using /home/<user name here>/public_folder for "users" websites doesn't work right. again a couple of config file edits can probably over come that. The details of how to get around those issues i'll talk about if you come across them. The "hack" method is to start apache without chrooting. for that just open up rc.conf.local in your text editor of choice and change the line: httpd_flags=NO to httpd_flags="-U" Good luck. ftp FTP is kind of a crappy service because it's 100% not secure by design. Fortunatly OpenBSD ships with a great alternative sftp (sercure FTP): it's like ssh but it's for moving files, and otherwise behaves just like FTP. Best of all, it's already running. I'm not sure what OS you use on your desktop computers but sftp clients are easy to find (os x and most other unix-like-os' already have one built in). sftp/ssh is one of IIRC 4 other services* running by default on OpenBSD so you can probably trust them because openbsd wouldn't have it otherwise. also, (you said your kinda new at this): have you made a local user and given it 'sudo' powers so that you don't always have to log in as root? * the other servicse are Inetd, syslogd, and sendmail (only delivers mail locally), and cron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 ** I CAN'T EDIT THE ABOVE ** echoing to /etc/rc.conf.local is not recommended unles you are 100% sure it's empty. A better idea would be to create it with a text editor like vi, emacs, or nano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pringlex Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Unless you've already bought the AP, I'd stay away from the D-Link 700AP, I've used a couple and they're nothing but trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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