UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I hacked my TIVO a few months ago. I made a computer specifically for this, but I only used a UNIX boot disk to get all the TIVO goodies to work. I am intersted in getting some version of UNIX on this machine and getting it onto my network. I only want to do some simple file transfers, maybe telnet, maybe some other really basic stuff too. I want to use some old drives I have sitting around too. What version of UNIX should I acquire that will have network card drivers, not require a huge drive, and will support basic features? Any suggestions?

any version really. but maybe you should look into a ramdisk unix variant. there are some good linux ones, these things will run just off of a single floppy. they are not user friendly though, you have to know what you are doing. i dont remember the site address for what i used for my router, btu just search google for 'single floppy linux distro' you might find something that suites your needs very well.