Hi Guys,
My home server is getting an upgrade, thanks to a free mobo and a CPU from Twist.
Im thinking this is the time to upgrade to Ubuntu as opposed to Win XP Pro, my main concern is that my Linux knowledge is currently very small so this will be an educational exercise as well as just an upgrade, and will help me get used to Linux! ... Might even upgrade my main machine at some point once Im a little better accustomed.
I will be using it for file sharing / back-ups / torrent / mail server and vpn.
Just after advice/recommendations really, anything I should know or any programs that you would suggest?
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1263/1360808205_5057c09eb7.jpg)
Cheers Guys
XE
Yeah, i would recommend something that doesnt use Gnome as its user interface. If you _really_ want Ubuntu then slap the KDE front end on it. As a more serious user youll quickly get annoyed at Gnome.
haaha I looked at the pic & thought it was a full rackmount setup with a large screen & 3 Racks down the bottom :mrgreen:
Quote from: Eggtasticohaaha I looked at the pic & thought it was a full rackmount setup with a large screen & 3 Racks down the bottom :mrgreen:
Heh Heh!
No Its a case I managed to get hold of with 2 x 3 bay units, the bottom three are obviously removable HD bays and the top is a custom built screen, modded from a PSone screen. Once the server has had its next upgrade itll prob make it to my modding blog.
I havent really looked in to the Pros/cons of Gnome vs KDE yet, what are the advantages of using KDE (Bearing in mind that Im still a Linux novice) I have chosen Ubuntu as I guess its a good starting point, not yet ready for 100% command line, and might put Ubuntu on my main PC.
Thanks
Quote from: XEntityI havent really looked in to the Pros/cons of Gnome vs KDE yet, what are the advantages of using KDE (Bearing in mind that Im still a Linux novice) I have chosen Ubuntu as I guess its a good starting point, not yet ready for 100% command line, and might put Ubuntu on my main PC.
Thanks
KDE is more "Windowsy" than Gnome. Ive found the people who are more advanced Windows users pick up KDE very quickly. It also gives you many more options to customise and more complex functions are easier to get to. With Gnome they have discussions about what features they want to take OUT. There are many Gnome evangelists, and many KDE ones, I just use what works the best, and I find KDE just works better.
Also, think openSUSE if you have any hardware problems with Ubuntu. Yes its a more advanced version of Linux, but its not difficult to use, and the documentation is as good as, if not better than redhat. YAST is also an awesome package manager, once you have added in the right repos. Redhat is actually my personal preference for servers, but its a PITA if you arent familiar with Linux.
Cheers for the advice!
Has anyone got any recommendations for which software to use, especially vpn and backup?
Cheers Guys!
And Cheers Twist got the CPU today..
XE
Where as I find KDE too much like a kids playroom.
All the toys, with all the mess.
Gnome is a lot easier to find your way around within, doesnt suffer with cartoon like nonsense going on, and is fairly damn simple to get to grips with :)
Everyone I know personally prefers gnome. KDE is seen as pretty but messy.
Plus... its default with ubuntu :).
Backups.. depending on if you want to save money or not, Id go with cron jobs, tarball up the important files, and copy them across to wherever you need them. Voila... set and forget.
Quote from: M3ta7h3adWhere as I find KDE too much like a kids playroom.
All the toys, with all the mess.
Gnome is a lot easier to find your way around within, doesnt suffer with cartoon like nonsense going on, and is fairly damn simple to get to grips with :)
Everyone I know personally prefers gnome. KDE is seen as pretty but messy.
Plus... its default with ubuntu :).
Backups.. depending on if you want to save money or not, Id go with cron jobs, tarball up the important files, and copy them across to wherever you need them. Voila... set and forget.
Gnome is the "I cant be arsed actually learning anything" option. Sometimes you WANT the mess because the mess gives you the right options. Ubuntu comes with Gnome because its SUPPOSED to be a distro for the technically illiterate.
and fedora?
Quote from: M3ta7h3adand fedora?
Fedora gives you the option to install whatever front end you want, as does SUSE. neither of them would be considered suitable for people not willing to learn. Last time i installed Fedora it actually ran me through a series of options including what X-Windows i wanted, what the role for the computer was, and then asked me if it was interfacing with Windows machines. Nice setup selection tbh, and i still installed KDE with it.
Ubuntu does come with Gnome, but there also exists something called Kubuntu, which is basically Ubuntu with KDE as default.
Quote from: BeakerQuote from: M3ta7h3adand fedora?
Fedora gives you the option to install whatever front end you want, as does SUSE. neither of them would be considered suitable for people not willing to learn. Last time i installed Fedora it actually ran me through a series of options including what X-Windows i wanted, what the role for the computer was, and then asked me if it was interfacing with Windows machines. Nice setup selection tbh, and i still installed KDE with it.
"role for the computer" is simply a set of predefined installation sets.
Anaconda is a damn nice installer (assuming they are still using that, last time I saw it was on shrike) agreed, but pretty much the default fedora install is Gnome.
Sure you can choose KDE, but you log in without selecting one, and itll pick gnome.
Gnome doesnt "hide" things away, it just doesnt cartoonify things.
I dont need a graphical doodad to get in the way of me configuring a network card, I can do it in a text file loaded up by going to Gnome System Preferences simple enough.
KDE oversimplifies the experience I guess. Which if your a newbie is a double edged sword. Yes easy to use, but you will not know how to do half of the things in gnome. Where as in Gnome... you at least know what files your editing.
KDE = Playpen, messy disorganised affair
Gnome = Toybox, neatly catagorised into what you need, so you can get at it when you need it.
At least thats my 2 cents :)
Fact of the matter is you want to run it as a server, default for a linux server is no x windowing system at all. Which I happen to agree on. Who needs one when all you are going to be doing on said server is setting it up, and leaving it do its job. :)
Sorry guys... I didnt mean to start a big debate.... Did I mention how PCs are better than Macs.... :D
Hehe!
The main reason why I want to use an X-Windows interface is that firstly Im a novice and will give me the best of both worlds while learning, secondly I might migrate my main machine over, so want to see what its like and thirdly I want something pretty on the in-built screen :D ... And if need be I can stop it from loading at boot and boot in to the console.
Cheers again.. will look in to the back-up side of things, thought it would be a cron job, but currently no idea on how to do it, should be interesting learning tho! ... As for saving money... I dont want to spend any money on it really, always been a fan of open source and freeware.
There is nothing cooler looking than an ncurses screen :D
For an example...
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1405/1367620015_d8637c5abe_o_d.png)
:D
Mmm, great way to use that £200 graphics card :lol: :lol:
Quote from: M3ta7h3adKDE oversimplifies the experience I guess.
i wouldnt say that, nor in fact would Linus Torvalds who recommends KDE to anyone who isnt scared of options.
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS8745257437.html :lol:
yeah but linus is a twat. :)
Quote from: White GiantMmm, great way to use that £200 graphics card :lol: :lol:
lol :D Mplayer with the ascii movie plugin... ahhh that is king! :D lol
http://ftp.pcworld.com/pub/screencams/ascii-matrix.html
Quote from: M3ta7h3adyeah but linus is a twat. :)
aye, but hes The Twat rather than being A Twat. TBH I agree with him, Gnome annoys me, KDE Lets be do tweak far more, and i am quite specific about certain things.
Hopefully Im going to try and give you some useful pointers here.
Firstly for you Id recommend ubuntu (that is with gnome, not kde). The reason for this is not necessary because gnome will be "better" but the community support for is much better.
More people install ubuntu than kubuntu or xubuntu, thus you are more likely to find help when you need it..... and anyway, its a server - most of the time its gonna sit in a corner with its monitor turned off anyway.
...and no I cant recommend OpenSuSE. We are currently migrating all our workstations at work from OpenSuSE to Ubuntu for 3 reasons.
1. The package mangement is far better
2. The documentation is much more comprehensive
3. The applications are a lot more stable.
I regularly use many linux distros including: slackware, suse, redhat, slackware, gentoo, x/k/ubunutu. Currently I run gentoo on my workstation, debian on my servers and ubuntu & slackware at work.... oh and xubuntu on my laptop
Now for each of your requirements:
File Sharing
You want to install and configure samba. See
https://help.ubuntu.com/7.04/server/C/configuring-samba.html and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpSamba
Backups
Not sure what you want out of this. Just a file share to backup stuff to ? Just share your home directory on your server and backup from your windows boxes to that.
Mail Server
Ive used many mail server applications and the ones I recommend are exim for smtp and dovecot for imap.
Details can be found at:
https://help.ubuntu.com/7.04/server/C/exim4.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/7.04/server/C/dovecot-server.html
VPN
For VPN I use OpenVPN. There is a thread about installing it here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=239219
the windows GUI can be found here:
http://openvpn.se/ (get the dev version if youre using windows vista.
Bittorrent
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BitTorrent?highlight=%28bittorrent%29
Hope all that helps you out :)
....and for the record I use gnome + beryl on my workstation ;)
Cornet
Cheers, thats great and very thorough! Will look at all the links when I get home. Just put the system together last night, just piled up, will move to the server box when installed and ready, so I have minimum downtime. Will prob get on to the Ubuntu install over the weekend... Will let you guys know how it goes...
Thanks again
XE
Just a quick question, will Open VPN give me acess to all computers on the network and does it support UNC names? or will I have to use IP addresses (as you do with windows VPN?)
Thanks Again!
Id rethink the OS
FreeBSD would be a better choice, imo.
If you want the ultimate in security, try OpenBSD
Both (and NetBSD) are more stable than any Linux distribution.
For a server especially - network performance is higher, the system is continuously audited, not hacked together with patches every 15 seconds like linux (Good for development etc, bad for stability) Version control is also good, imo.
I also dont know what improvements have been made to the ext file system, but UFS is much more highly regarded.
Youre not going to be unsure as to whether or not your apps will compile on whatever the flavour of the month distro is vs the one youre using at the mo either.
And dont let anyone BS you about hardware compatibility or software.
Go check out the HCL (FreeBSD has much better support for USB and wireless imo), and the ports collection is huge. So you have freebsd software that goes back for years, and years worth of linux software to boot.
If using Free/OpenBSD would that be easy to use for the novice user? And would I be able to use gnome/kde? ... Bearing in mind that I dont have a lot of a clue yet... And its more of a learning exercise than anything, the reason for using Ubuntu is that Ill probably use it on my main PC at some point when I become more accusomed to it.
Installed Ubuntu yesterday just to have a play around with it and just had my first Gnome problem when booting up this morning....
"I have detected a panel already running, and will now exit"
Causing the interface not to load, now Im thinking if I am having problems with gnome already, and not actualy having done anything other than a couple of updates! then KDE might be the way to go!
freebsd is relatively straightforward and has a good installer. Open is a bit severe for a starter. KDE and/or Gnome can be installed at initial install time or after you have your system up - same as linux really
Just trying to sort out my "Ive detected a panel already running, and will now exit" problem...
Im currently in the gnome desktop when this error appears but its just the background and no menus, it there a shortcut key for bringing up a console? for that session...
Or does anybody have any ideas on what to do, Its a bit disheartening when its broken after doing nothing :cry: might just install KUbuntu or freebsd even maybe.
A known issue. Take a look at the bug tracker - there may be some help there,
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=309506
Quote from: XEntityJust trying to sort out my "Ive detected a panel already running, and will now exit" problem...
Im currently in the gnome desktop when this error appears but its just the background and no menus, it there a shortcut key for bringing up a console? for that session...
Or does anybody have any ideas on what to do, Its a bit disheartening when its broken after doing nothing :cry: might just install KUbuntu or freebsd even maybe.
Ive had this before, but not for ages on ubuntu. Anyhoo here is the fix (although you will lose a few application settings)
Reboot the computer so you get to the login screen.
Hit Ctrl+Alt+F1 and this will drop you to a console. Login using your nomal credentials.
Then type the following commands:
rm -rf .gnome*
rm -rf .gtk*
rm -rf .gconf*
rm -rf .config*
This will remove all your gnome custom settings.
Then hit Ctrl+Alt+F7 to get back to the graphical login and login as normal.
Hope that helps :)
Cornet
Sorry to revive this post just wanted to say thanks to Cornet for his response. I had left the server upgrade for a while (other commitments).. But this weekend decided to go for it and setup most of it on the new Gutsy Gibbon release. Im very impressed not 100% up and running yet, will add to it over the next few weeks, just got the basics running at the moment, and even installed it on my laptop.. forcing me to actually use and learn linux :D.
Will probably be back with a few queries, already learnt a lot.
Thanks
XE