UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Ok, so I'm a total beginner when it come to unix shells, but my friends and I are starting to get into it.

It turns out that I have an extra computer lying around and I want to set it up as a server se we can run shell commands on it.

Does anyone know of any guides on how to set up the server? Again, I'm pretty new to all of this. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

First question would be, what variety of UNIX are you installing on it? Most Linux distributions come with sshd, so setting up remote access is relatively simple.

Second question is, how remote? If you want people to access it across the internet, you may or may not need to arrange things like port forwarding with your ISP, depending if you're behind a firewall or not, what ports they block, etc. If you just want to give people on a LAN access, you don't need to worry about that.

Corona,

Thanks for the quick response!

I'm not sure which version of Unix I would use. I guess that's kind of my main question. Is one more recommended than another? Which would you recommend?

We would like to access the server over the Internet. Are you saying we wouldn't need multiple IP addresses? How's that work?

Which UNIX is the "best", "purest UNIX" or whatever is the subject of religious wars, so to speak. I'd reccomend some variety of Linux because it's popular for low-end UNIX servers, and free. Something like Fedora or Mandiva would probably be best for people completely new to it. I don't understand the intent behind this question. I suspect you've misunderstood me.

The important things to know are: