Dell PowerEdge 2400 P3 Server

[thesisko76]

I have a Dell PowerEdge 2400 Server, 2 X 1ghz pentium 3 CPU, 2gb Ram, 4 scsi 73gb HDD, and pretty much all the trimmings that was available for it back in 2000. I’m just wandering what would be the best OS to use on it as a file server for 3 windows xp pentium 4 pc’s. I just want to use it as a central hub for all my files and maybe the odd bit of music or video streaming. 

[Crunchy Dragon]

Probably some form of Windows Server from back in the day?

 

Maybe some distro of Ubuntu that doesn't require much power. A lot of my 2Gb RAM systems have trouble with Ubuntu, so make sure to check the requirements. Also, see if you can expand the memory at all.

[MrBucket101]

Any form of linux should work on it. Legacy support is always good with Linux.

 

I recommend giving FreeNAS a shot if you want something easy.

 

5 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Probably some form of Windows Server from back in the day?

 

Maybe some distro of Ubuntu that doesn't require much power. A lot of my 2Gb RAM systems have trouble with Ubuntu, so make sure to check the requirements. Also, see if you can expand the memory at all.

Thats for the desktop experience. Ubuntu Server only needs 256mb of ram

[Electronics Wizardy]

Really Id toss it. This system will be very power hungry, and cost much more than a newer low power system will do.

 

And you have tiny hdds, you don't even have much storage on here. A basic one bay synology, or a system like this https://www.amazon.com/ODROID-ODROID-HC2-Home-Cloud-Two/dp/B0794DG2WF/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1525371093&sr=8-2&keywords=odroid+nas&dpID=4128GU5%2BTWL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch 

would be a much better idea, and cheaper.

[Gikero]

That is a nice older system!

You will most likely be limited by your network throughput with that older hardware, fyi.

 

Alternative idea if the file server doesn't work the way you want:
Make a retro gaming PC, something that runs older versions of Windows. If this idea interests you, check out PhilsComputerLab on youtube. He goes over all kinds of old games and how to use newer hardware on older PCs. i.e. SATA to IDE adapters that can do DMA. 

 

[Salv8 (sam)]

4 hours ago, thesisko76 said:

-snip-

even if the unit runs linux, it will be so slow and power hungry that it wouldn't be worth using it for anything

i say install windows 2000 or windows NT 4.0 for fun and learn how older servers worked compared to their newer counterparts

but their might not be drivers for those OS's so a bit of a warning for ya

[Erkel]

Toss it,  You should be able to get lot more recent Dell 1950/2950  or similar vintage for basically nothing, even the resellers will not touch them.