Linux distro for a simple home server and something.

[kenblu24]

I've got a computer from 2007 and it's sitting in my basement acting as a simple home server (Folder sharing) The CPU and GPU are shitty, but I gave it plenty of ram.

 

I want to have it run linux, because why not. I need a distro that can share folders to windows computers on the network, and maybe even a way to access it remotely from a web based client (No ftp software needed)

And, don't laugh, I'm going to be running a minecraft bukkit server on it, or some other game server.

 

Is there a linux distro that does this better than the others? Or is Ubuntu just fine?

 

tl;dr Linux distro that does NAS dropbox style.

[Mo5]

FreeNAS?

[Dredgy]

Ubuntu will be fine. It will certainly be easier to set up and just walk you through it. Xubuntu might be a good option, to keep it barebones. Though tbh, the performance difference between Xubuntu and Ubuntu is much smaller now than what it used to be. CPU and GPU won't matter so much and you'll be able to run a good GUI, unless you don't want one. Depends on your experience with Linux.

 

Most general purpose linux distros will do this fine...Fedora, Arch, Debian, OpenSuse, Slackware...

 

FreeNAS as suggested is certainly specialized for this task so if you need some of the features it offers it is a good option. 

 

EDIT: Didn't read the "tl;dr" part of your post . 

[kenblu24]

FreeNAS?

Heard about it, didn't know it had a web client. Thanks!

 

aaaand the old piece of junk can't install from usb. *sigh* time to dig out the ol' cd writer

[MatheusSanzo]

Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu Server.

[Hikaru12]

FreeNAS is overkill for a simple sharing server. Heck, you can use your current build and throw some more drives in there and get a RAID controller or use Windows 8 software RAID. 

 

For Linux strictly, Ubuntu will work fine. Just make sure to install SAMBA server capability from the repository.