I have a distant history with Dos based systems so I'm not overwhelmed, but my Unix experience is entirely limited to hacking my Tivo.

So I'm kindly requesting a pointer in the right direction specifically asking which Linux would best suit my needs...

What I want to do
I wish to use an old Dell XPS-T450 Pentium 3 PC with 512MB Ram as a file server for my music, and possibly my movies for a multi-room distribution.

Ideally I'd like to be able to install 3 large x NTFS partioned hard drives and a smaller Linux boot hard drive.

The sole purpose of this machine is to stream media files via a 100MB Full Duplex Wired NIC to other Windows XP PCs and SliMP3 devices around my home.

I'm overwhelmed by the number of different Linux types available, could anyone suggest....

Which linux, hopefully freely downloadable and minimalist, linux distribution would be best for streaming fileserving purposes?

Many thanks in advance for any help,

Mark Ward.

Searched some more but still none the wiser as to which to go for.

Due to a sort out of my spare hardware I thought I'd add some more info.

I'll now be using an Athlon 2400+ & 512Mb of PC3200 Memory which I'll buy a mobo and Gfx card for that has good Linux support. Would now like support for USB2, Firewire, Gb Lan (and 100Mb Lan on a separate port). I also have a RocketRaid Controller which I intend to use.

A degree of auto detection within the distribution installer would be nice, and the ability to automatically recognise any additional NTFS partitioned drives I install later.

Is this possible?

The thing I REALLY need to know is WHICH linux to start with.

A big thanks for the name of the distribution I should be installing.

Mark.

Found what I need in a thread on the Unix beginners Forum.

Downloading Fedora as I type, also downloading ClarkConnect which has also been suggested to me.

If these are the wrong way to go please say soon as they are HUGE downloads!

Mark.

Hi
Fedora has a low level of stability;
If you want a more stable distribution you can use
"Libranet GNU/Linux"
Its a disto built on the base of debian sarge and has a high stability;
But if you have a high speed connection to internet I prefer
you to download the debian sarge after 15 september.
That distro has 14 CD`s but is new stable and fastest
distribution yet;
Good Luck

__________________
Love is the key of Victory

HamidNassiby, if you have a link to this distro, could you post it please? Thanks.

Just to confuse you even more i'd like to chime in and suggest Slackware.
It's fast and simple and has very few distro specific quirks, perfect for a file shifter.

Thanks for the suggestions...Seems like everyone has their own favourite, though I bet they'll all do the simple tasks I need.

I installed ClarkConnect on the suggestion of a friend which had a super easy wizard at the front end and recognised all my hardware correctly, however under the "stand-alone" option I chose I couldn't fingure out how to get a bash promt, let alone filesharing & samba. All I get is the DNS config screen, even the Help command doesn't work, apparantly I don't have permission.."Directory Broswing is not allowed!"

I chose stand-alone as I didn't really want any internet bits installed, no proxy, smtp, ftp, http servers etc. Just a box to load up with files that my XP PCs and SliMP3 devices can read.

I have been downloading Fedora, but low-level of stability doesn't sound like my thing so I'll get SUSE instead, apparantly the latest build is quite recent and has some modern touches.

I undertood from my research so far that Slackware is great if you know what you're doing, but less than ideal for the beginner. Is this the case? I'm definitely a beginner, less than 4 hours total Linux experience.

Also, I think I've mis-understood what SAMBA is, I thought it enabled you to install NTFS partitioned drives in your Linux machine and have them served to the network. Having read a bit further I now think that it merely allows Linux volumes to be seen as if they are NTFS partitioned drives. Is this correct?

If so, how straight forward is it to add another HDD everytime the current one gets full? I'm wondering whether I should maybe give up on Linux, but then I'm enjoying the learning experience so I'll persevere a little longer.

Thanks again,

Mark.