- Backup facility
- Shared files for use around house
- More control over network traffic
- A MacBook Pro
- Two Acer Aspires running Ubuntu
- Dell PC dual booting Win XP and Ubuntu
- HP laptop dual booting Vista and Ubuntu
Crucial 1GB kit (2x512MB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 Lifetime Warranty - £12.36
Impressively spacious and unbeatably reliable, the Antec 300 Three Hundred is an unbeatable enclosure. Despite its eminently portable frame, the Antec 300 Three Hundred has enough room for an NVIDIA 8800 series graphics card, as well as six hard drives and a standard ATX motherboard. A cable management compartment keeps your system organized and the airflow unobstructed. A 120mm rear fan and 140mm top fan ensure that the case runs cool even when playing the most demanding games, while the sleek black finish gives it an extra stylish edge.
Features:
* No PSU included:
To optimize performance of your Antec 300 Three Hundred, your choice of power supply is crucial. Antec strongly recommends choosing from our NeoPower or TruePower series.
* 9 Drive Bays:
• External 3 x 5.25"
• Internal 6 x 3.5" for HDD
* Cooling System:
• 1 rear 120 x 25 mm TriCool™ Fan with 3-speed switch control Included
• 1 top special 140 x 25 mm TriCool™ Fan with 3-speed switch control Included
• 2 front (not included) 120 mm fans to cool the hard drives
• 1 side (not included) 120 x 25 mm Fan to cool graphic cards
* Washable air filters reduces dust build up in your system, which helps keep your system cooler
* Perforated front bezel for maximum air intake
* 7 expansion slots
* Top mounted I/O ports for easy access
• 2 x USB 2.0
• HDA & AC’97 Audio In and Out
I already had some hard drives I could use (including the original 120GB from my MacBook Pro), but I also bought this one....
Hitachi DeskStar 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM - £43.45
Plexus Serial ATA 2.0 7-pin Cable (Red) 46cm / 18" - £1.73
(From ebuyer)
VIA iDOT PC2500E PC-1 Mainboard - 1.5Ghz C7-D @ £36.40 ex VAT = £36.40 ex VAT
Spec was as follows:
Please Note: The PC2500E Mainboard has both a 20pin ATX power connector and also a 4pin 12V Power Connector (P4 Power Connector). Power must be applied to both connectors for the board to work correctly. If you need any advice on suitable power supplies for this mainboard, please contact us via email or telephone.
The VIA iDot PC2500E solution is based on the FlexATX form factor providing a processor and motherboard in one low cost solution. It features the latest technology within the 1.5GHz VIA C7-D processor, an ultra power efficient processor based on the Esther core. The VIA C7-D processor is also the worlds first carbon free processor.
The PC2500E Mainboard provides full desktop performance and a rich digital media experience and also boasts leading memory, multimedai,connectivity and storage technologies including DDR2, hardware MPEG-2 decoding acceleration and SATA.
The PC2500E Mainboard is fully compatible with Windows XP and Linux Operating systems.
Specifications:
- Processor: VIA C7-D 1.5GHz
- Chipset: VIA CN700 + VT8237R Plus
- Memory: 2 x DDRII slots, Up to 2GB Max (2 x 1GB)
- LAN: VIA VT6103L PHY 10/100 Base-T Ethernet
- Audio: Realtek ALC655(support 6 channels)
- Graphic: VIA UniChrome Pro IGP(VIA CN700)
- Storage Interface: 2x PATA connectors(Up to ATA133) & 2x SATA connectors(Up to SATA150)
- Rear Panel I/O Ports:
- 1x 10/100 LAN port
- 1x VGA connector
- 4x USB 2.0 ports
- 1x Line out / Line in / mic jack
- 2x PS2 connectors
- 1x Parallel Port (LPT port)
- 1x Serial Port (Com port)
- Onboard I/O:
- 2x USB 2.0 connectors (for 4 additional USB 2.0 ports)
- 1x Front-audio connector (Mic and Line Out)
- 1x Front-panel connector
- 2x PCI Slots 1x Floppy drive connector
- 1x CD Audio-in connector
- 2x Fan connectors: CPU/Sys FAN
- 1x ATX 20pin Power Connector
- 1x +12V 4pin Power Connector
- 1x CNR Slot
- 1x IR connector
- Power Management: Support ACPI S1/S4/S5 Mode
- Dimensions: 190mm x 228mm (W x L) (FlexATX Form Factor)
The intention was then to temporarily borrow a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and then manage everything remotely, hence no expenditure there. I suppose the thing that stands out is actually how inexpensive this all was - really only a couple of hundred pounds!
So, assembly.
Well, this wasn't too difficult actually. The rear of the case opened easily, and attaching the motherboard was straightforward, as was adding the PSU in the correct section.
The box has a multitude of bays for hard drives, and attaching these was straightforward too.
So, turned the PSU on. Little blue light came on, but it wouldn't power up properly. Only after reading properly what was said about the motherboard did I notice that there are TWO places where power needs to be connected. Once done, that was fine.
So now to install an OS. I stuck with Ubuntu, as I was already familiar with it, and this would work well on a server. I can do this by USB, I thought. Well, it turned out I couldn't, despite formatting a USB stick several times, it resolutely failed to boot.
As can be seen from the foregoing, I had not bought nor installed an optical drive. However, as the Acers also do not have optical drives, I had also purchased this:
LiteOn eSAU108 Slim 8x DVD±RW DL & RAM Hi Speed USB - Retail Box White - £41.26
This allowed me to work from an optical drive install.
I tried Xubuntu first, the theory being that I didn't need Open Office, Games, and other standard Ubuntu install elements. Sadly, this also meant that other aspects I would need would not be available either.
So the server is now running Ubuntu!
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