Ms-dos And Webserving?

[Dudelive]

Alrighty, before someone says "WHAT, and why would you want to do that" let me clarify something. I have an old very OLD 200 Mhz PC that I was hoping could be useful for me. Is it possible since MS-Dos is the fastest choice I got for an OS right now, it does have a nic card. I dont know if there are any DOS Drivers for nic cards. I was hoping to put apache on it and webserve from that, it would be fast and no windows OS overhead. I dont know much linux or unix, so I wouldn't be to comfortable trying those out. Or would I be better off just to trash the computer? So is there a webserve for Dos? Dos NIC Card driver? It does have win98 on it now, but DOS boots up in 1 sec and would take 1 minute to install, much much more better. Would this affect transfering of files (If I didn't use DOS) because of the processor speed.

Thanks,
Dudelive

[mikeh420]

It would be slow of course, and the m/b's bios might have a limitation on HDD size, either 8GB or 32GB max, but if it still works, why not. My P-233 had a limit of 8GB for HDD until I updated the bios.

I hate throwing away computers. I still have my 286-20 m/b w2MB sipp!

[craftyc]

Dudelive, I think your best choice is to put a *nix on there. MS-DOS is old and I doubt it if Microsoft are still making paches for it. Whereas with most *nix's you can put the latest version of the OS on.

As regards to your uncomfortability (is that even a word?) with *nix, what have you got to lose? It's an old PC that you're about to throw away. At least this way you get to learn about one of the other OS's on the market.

Are there any webservers available for DOS anyway?

Having just reread my post, I guess you're still going to disregard everything I typed anyway.

[PCTech]

Nice post, I'll make sure my pop gets this! I tried to tell him a linux or unix based system would be the way to go, but he wouldn't listen to me! Now that I have backup, maybe he will listen! Which *nix version would be best for that old 'puter?

Thanks,
~PCTech

[Dudelive]

After thinking about it the better idea may be either trash the most of it or make a music box out of it as long as it is connected to the network so as to update the music. Other ideas are more than welcome.

Thanks
Dudelive

[craftyc]

Quote:

Originally posted by PCTech@Dec 22 2003, 10:19 PM
Nice post, I'll make sure my pop gets this!  I tried to tell him a linux or  unix based system would be the way to go, but he wouldn't listen to me!  Now that I have backup, maybe he will listen!  Which *nix version would be best for that old 'puter?

Thanks,
~PCTech

On old computer, *nix is always the best choice, for two (major) reasons. First, it will be supported, second, you will receive security updates.

How old is the computer? Is it like the one Dudelive has or older (or slightly newer)? If it is the same spec as Dudelives, I'd suggest putting Gentoo Linux on. It is considered a difficult distro to use, but with the docs and forums you're more than set. Once you understand the basics you should be able to do all you need with it. If you do decide to go down the Gentoo route, use GRP packages. Compiling everything on your system will take way to long.

Take a look at Distrowatch for a list of distros that you may like to try.

Hope this helps.

[Edit] The URL thingy doesn't seem to be working.
Here are the list of links that I put into my reply: -

• Gentoo Linux - www.gentoo.org
• docs - www.gentoo.org/doc/en/index.xml
• forums- forums.gentoo.org
• Distrowatch - www.distrowatch.com

[PCTech]

Quote:

Originally posted by craftyc+Dec 23 2003, 01:12 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (craftyc @ Dec 23 2003, 01:12 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-PCTech@Dec 22 2003, 10:19 PM
Nice post, I'll make sure my pop gets this!&nbsp; I tried to tell him a linux or&nbsp; unix based system would be the way to go, but he wouldn't listen to me!&nbsp; Now that I have backup, maybe he will listen!&nbsp; Which *nix version would be best for that old 'puter?

Thanks,
~PCTech

On old computer, *nix is always the best choice, for two (major) reasons. First, it will be supported, second, you will receive security updates.

How old is the computer? Is it like the one Dudelive has or older (or slightly newer)? If it is the same spec as Dudelives, I'd suggest putting Gentoo Linux on. It is considered a difficult distro to use, but with the docs and forums you're more than set. Once you understand the basics you should be able to do all you need with it. If you do decide to go down the Gentoo route, use GRP packages. Compiling everything on your system will take way to long.

Take a look at Distrowatch for a list of distros that you may like to try.

Hope this helps.

[Edit] The URL thingy doesn't seem to be working.
Here are the list of links that I put into my reply: -

• Gentoo Linux - www.gentoo.org
• docs - www.gentoo.org/doc/en/index.xml
• forums- forums.gentoo.org
• Distrowatch - www.distrowatch.com

[/b][/quote]
my pop is Dudelive! I tried to tell him linux or some unix form. I told him its just like DOS and easy to pickup! He was like I dont like DOS so I dont wanna try that, but if its the best and only option then I'm sure I can convience him to do it!

Thanks,
~PCTech

[Gfields]

Have a look at ClarkConnect
/http://www.clarkconnect.com/
It is a full server/gateway, with mail, ftp, http etc plus they throw in dynamic DNS.

The whole thing is configured by menu, or remotely by web interface, or even a windows based admin prog. Runs on next to nothing and free for home use

[Nichotin]

If you are real paranoid i guess you should take a lok at openbsd. its as secure as it gets, plus you get all the benefits of a bsd system

www.openbsd.org

apache is included as well.