Lorn
2009-01-21, 06:08 PM
A computer has died.
And guess who gets the carcass... the only person in the house who would be able to do anything with it. Yours truly.
I already have a fairly nice computer, does what I want. I plan on turning the old one into a file server - of a kind.
The thing we need to keep it for is a camcorder that is incompatible with Vista - which all our other computers now use.
So basically, the old one will be turning into a server. On this I plan on having pretty minimal everything - UI (explorer.exe, who needs it!) to programs. All it'll really need to do is be able to rip video from the camera via Windows Movie Maker or something, and if possible run an Enemy Territory: Quake Wars server or something. This, however, is a secondary concern; it doesn't have amazing memory, though this can be changed.
At the moment, I'm dealing with conceptual stuff. Won't end up implementing much (the monitor will be added to this computer, been planning something like that for a while.
As I said, CPU will likely become a file server/compatability thing. This is the bit I'm unsure about; networking and hardware are not good bits for me.
The plan, so far, is:
-Max out hardware storage space with an extra 1TB HDD, assuming I have space.
-Possibly get rid of graphics card.
-Network to current machine.
-????
-Profit!
So, my questions here are:
-Is there any benefit to keeping the graphics card - will it be needed with no monitor?
-Windows XP. How easy is it to set this up so I can network to it via remote desktop connection? As I said, this is for compatability reasons - some things just don't work on Vista, which is why we're keeping the older computer - or at least, why I am, and allowing the others who need it to use it.
-Networking. It's basically grab a network cable and connect them, right?
As I said, this is all conceptual. I have no plan on even beginning to get this setup started till halfterm, which is a few weeks off, and that would be basically just the monitor. Everyone else has a widescreen, I'm jealous...
But yeah. Any input, ideas?
Cheers.
And guess who gets the carcass... the only person in the house who would be able to do anything with it. Yours truly.
I already have a fairly nice computer, does what I want. I plan on turning the old one into a file server - of a kind.
The thing we need to keep it for is a camcorder that is incompatible with Vista - which all our other computers now use.
So basically, the old one will be turning into a server. On this I plan on having pretty minimal everything - UI (explorer.exe, who needs it!) to programs. All it'll really need to do is be able to rip video from the camera via Windows Movie Maker or something, and if possible run an Enemy Territory: Quake Wars server or something. This, however, is a secondary concern; it doesn't have amazing memory, though this can be changed.
At the moment, I'm dealing with conceptual stuff. Won't end up implementing much (the monitor will be added to this computer, been planning something like that for a while.
As I said, CPU will likely become a file server/compatability thing. This is the bit I'm unsure about; networking and hardware are not good bits for me.
The plan, so far, is:
-Max out hardware storage space with an extra 1TB HDD, assuming I have space.
-Possibly get rid of graphics card.
-Network to current machine.
-????
-Profit!
So, my questions here are:
-Is there any benefit to keeping the graphics card - will it be needed with no monitor?
-Windows XP. How easy is it to set this up so I can network to it via remote desktop connection? As I said, this is for compatability reasons - some things just don't work on Vista, which is why we're keeping the older computer - or at least, why I am, and allowing the others who need it to use it.
-Networking. It's basically grab a network cable and connect them, right?
As I said, this is all conceptual. I have no plan on even beginning to get this setup started till halfterm, which is a few weeks off, and that would be basically just the monitor. Everyone else has a widescreen, I'm jealous...
But yeah. Any input, ideas?
Cheers.