pankaj wrote: > For example, I could configure: > 1) The cheapest Celeron mother board available (Is Celeron Ok?). Which > one? > 2) The minimum amount of RAM required to run the OS and SlimServer (how > much is adequate?) > 3) Would Win XP Home be adequate, or must I use Win XP Pro? > 4) A Linksys/Netgear (?) Wireless card > 5) A 200GB HDD (?) > 6) A CD-ROM Drive > 7) A USB port so's I can sync my iPod to the iTunes library > 8) The smallest profile cabinet I can get
First, there is no one answer, just opinions. These are mine. The first question is do you want the cheapest or smallest? The really small cases cost much more than a moderate mid-tower. I'd build it using a modest AMD, something like a 2400+, you can get the CPU and motherboard for less than $100. It is going to have a built in Ethernet nic, so I'm not sure about your Wireless card. You may end up with a more flexible system running a wire from the built in NIC to a wireless WAP/Router. Any modern motherboard is going to have at least two USB ports for you iPod. Ram is cheap, and more is better. Unless you are a geek, you are probably better off with more RAM and spend less time optimizing it. I always buy a gig of Ram, you might live with less, but I would not think of less than 512 The CD drive is either very important or totally not. My SlimServer is in the basement, I never touch it. So I rip CDs on another computer and just move the files. For for me, the cheapest $10 CD drive works fine for the once a year upgrades of the OS. Always get more disk drive than you think you'll need. The price difference between your 200GB and a 250GB disk is maybe $10. Going to 300 or more is a very small increment. What you care about is disk quality, as you don't want to deal with replacing it anytime soon In your system, the legal Windows OS license is a huge part of the total cost. I can see your system costing about $300 or so with $100 for XP. You do not need XP pro, and I would strongly suggest not using Windows at all. There are tons of free distros for Linux, you get buy them for under $10 from places like cheapbytes. If you get on such as Mandriva 2006, it is as trivial to install as Windows. And then there is the SlimServer CD from Mike, with Knoppix and slimserver ready to go with one button push. You need some video, not much, and most motherboards have enough for a headless Slimserver. You will also need a keyboard, mouse and monitor at least for the installation. You don't need it for operation if you have a normal network in your house and other computers to manage the SlimServer over your network. I just pull an obsolete monitor off one of my basement shelves for the setup. You do not need to pay more than $20 for the video card, you probably can get one built in. I would not pay for a floppy drive, not even the $5 that most shops charge to throw one in. Not used enough to be worth it. YMMV -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
