32 bit operating system in 2019

[LOLZR]

Hello!

 

I bought a HP Proliant DL380 Gen3 a while back, and it has been sitting in my basement collecting dust as I can't seem to find an operating system that will work for what I want to do, is pretty noobie friendly, and also is 32 bit (which my system is.

 

My question is if anyone has any recommendations for an OS, I would like to set up a plex server, as well as a NAS for backup of important photos/documents. Maybe a minecraft server if I can squeeze it in later, but that is less important. I have tried FreeNAS, but had a hard time finding a 32 bit variant. Is my best option a 32 bit version of Manjaro?

 

Thanks!

[emosun]

The most difficult problem you'll have is the drive controller driver. Newer operating systems won't have it.

i think the last supported os you can try is windows server 2008 however im not actually seeing many people running anything newer than server 2003 on it.

Quite literally any other computer would be faster than this server though. Even the cheapest intel atom netbook should be able to outrun two netburst xeons

[Rusted]

MX Linux has 32bit version and is based on Debian.

FreeNAS has only 64bit and so does unraid to my knowledge. 32bit systems are getting so rare that many have dropped support for them, as 64bit systems have been around over a decade.

[Windows7ge]

I see what you mean by 64-bit not being an option:

Technically you can get 12GB in there but I don't know how well modern OS's will handle DDR SDRAM. Really it's probably time to retire this old beast. I wouldn't try using anything older than a system that supports DDR2 for the applications you want it to do. I think your server here would choke even if you got everything loaded in it.

[UrbanFreestyle]

I quite like my 32bit Windows 10 LTSC on my Linx 1020 tablet

[Jarsky]

Theres plenty of older distros that have 32-bit builds, such as Xubuntu & Ubuntu Mate 18.04.

Also the likes of Windows Server 2008/7 that are fairly well bedded out. 

Just keep in mind that they will for the most part be out of support. 

 

Honestly I wouldn't be using anything older than a Gen6 for reliability of backups

I wouldn't hold out hope that it could run Plex....maybe 2 CPU's could... (assuming Plex runs on 32-bit)

 

 

I'm kinda confused as well about the G3 having a max of 12GB of memory when it was a 32-bit platform, and the addressable memory space for 32-bit is 4GB

 

Edit: P.S Also a server that old would be the old SCSI Ultra320 connection...so you're severely limited to small, expensive, used drives if you need to expand or replace a drive...not to mention the heat and noise they make. 

[Dujith]

4 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

I'm kinda confused as well about the G3 having a max of 12GB of memory when it was a 32-bit platform, and the addressable memory space for 32-bit is 4GB

There is something thats called Physical Address Extension (PAE). Very simply stated: It will allow via more page tables to see more then the 4GB.

Tho thats only on the datacenter version of server 2008. I tried to get it working on a normal 2008 and no dice  

[LOLZR]

Thank you everyone that replied. I won't individually ping all of you, so that I don't annoy you.

 

Maybe it is time to retire it. I only payed $20 Canadian Peso for it.

 

I also bought an i5-3470 CPU/8 gb RAM/Lenovo MoBo combo as a project computer, this would likely be more suited to my needs?  The thought of a blade server just was so cool to me.

[mariushm]

Windows 2003 32 bit will run perfectly fine on that system. With PAE, it supports more than 4 GB of memory.

 

If you want a disc image of 2003, pm me and I may be able to help you out.

[Rusted]

1 hour ago, LOLZR said:

Thank you everyone that replied. I won't individually ping all of you, so that I don't annoy you.

 

Maybe it is time to retire it. I only payed $20 Canadian Peso for it. 

 

I also bought an i5-3470 CPU/8 gb RAM/Lenovo MoBo combo as a project computer, this would likely be more suited to my needs?  The thought of a blade server just was so cool to me.

I think I have the same Lenovo stuff, but with case and stuff. I use it as my test system also. It is good system.

But for a system with data you don't want to lose and will be running 24/7, I would look some system with ECC memory support.

 

And one thing I have said to everybody who wants to build NAS for backup, NAS is not a backup.

I have do have freeNAS running nextcloud for my file sync and easy access for files over the internet. But I do have external HDD, two sets of Blu-rays in two different locations for my backup.

 

For me NAS is for easy access and easy syncing of files, it is not reliable backup solution.