creating a network server

my interest is to finally rid my home of it's dwindling PC population.

my goal is to creat a network file server.

my fiance has a 2 year old p4 dell and i have 3 old drives that would bring up the storage space to 600GB or so...

Can I/should I create a Unix server with these materials? Linux server?

any better suggestions...

if so what is the best way to go about this?

thanks

I would suggest you to think about a NAS solution. This way you don't have to run 2PCs to keep your network LIVE.

i was hoping to not spend money... other than ease of packaging,what other benefits would there be to this type of device? how much will this cut down on energy waste? will it be faster or slower than the p4?

The store-bought NAS devices simply are, for the most part, Linux boxes with drives attached in a RAID array. (The SC101 novice recommended seems to run a proprietary OS that's only recognized by Windows. I skimmed this review for the info.)

My suggestion would be to follow your original plan: connect the drives to the Dell, load up your favorite flavor of Linux, and pop it on your network. You won't have the protection of RAID, but you'll be able to accomplish what you set out to do.

any thoughts on which OS to run. shall i yield to the cries of ubuntu's greatness (sorry for the wordy approach, it just sounded better, almost storylike...)

if so my next question will be reguarding my concerns for hardware setup. basically, should i have any... remeber this is my first adventure in the world of linux.

Ubuntu 6.10 would be an excellent choice. It is easy to install and their forums and online resources are extremely helpful.