Hey,

This isn't a problem so i don't need to set my speakers to stereo or anything.

I have my old computer sitting about and i was wondering what can i do with it?

I was thinking of making it into a gaming server so like 4-5 of my mates could play online with it. However how would i do this?

I've looked up how to do it on google and stuff and i understand how you do it but there's another issue that the reason i got a new computer was because my old one totally fucked up when i reinstalled XP on it. So basically it's sitting at the moment with a semi-functioning version of XP on it.

Basically because it's unusable at the moment and i don't want to have to fork out like £50 to buy a new XP i was thinking of going for linux, more specifically:

http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop

If i used this would i be able to still install server components on it.

Like when i say use it to host games i mean games like Blood and Duke Nukem 3D. Perhaps TF2 and L4D. The main games though Blood and Duke use DOS though, would that have any bearing on using linux?

Like the server program (YANG specifically) seems to be able to be ran with Linux so i dunno if it's really a problem or not and the specs of the computer i am using is pretty crap (we are talking like 2003 standard) however i'm led to believe that it's not a big deal, it has sufficient ram and a decent processor and since i'm not really using Linux itself really it should be able to be used.

Is there a better way to do this or am i going about this the wrong way?

Cheers.

Slayer1 wrote:

With the Valve games, some of them come with dedicated servers in the Tools section of steam.

Yeah i know that but i'm looking for a server to play oldish games on.

No one really hosts servers for Duke or Blood anymore they are really quite hard to come by and they are such good games they deserve to get played online!

I've also set up the old computer now it seems to be working better than i thought, however it's stuff in "pre-factory settings" if that makes sense i.e. windows appear about installing the os and stuff.

Knyte wrote:

Well, Ubuntu is a great choice for an OS, as it is physically light in requirements and doesn't use a lot of system resources when running. The downside is, a lot of games do not have linux support for running dedicated servers. You would have to run them using Wine (A free windows software emulator) for linux. Which may or may not give you favorable results. For the DOS games such as Duke 3D, you will need to run DOSBox and then try to configure your network adapter to be properly recognized by it. Go here: http://appdb.winehq.org/ Here's the database of what works with Wine and how well. It's going to be a bit of work to get everything you want to work, but don't panic, it will be great once you do. Also, not everything will need wine. There are alot of older games. (Especially OpenGL based) that have native Linux installs. (Such as the Quake series and Unreal Tournament series.)

So should i just go ahead with Ubuntu? I've just downloaded an .iso so i can install it.

Knyte wrote:

Also, for DOS based games, I would recommend running Windows 98SE, has it was the last Windows release (Other than Windows ME, which you don't really want to touch) that features full DOS integration. So, install WIN 98SE 1st, then Ubuntu. Tell Ubuntu to install along side the other OS. Then whenever the computer boots, you will have a menu (Called GRUB) that lets you select which OS you want to boot into. This would also aid you, in that you wouldn't have to mess with all the WINE and DOSBox stuff to make everything run. Use the Linux for Linux installs, and Win98 for the Windows & DOS installs.

Ah right cool, now i just need to "acquire" Windows 98.

EDIT: I've got Windows 98. I'll tell you how it all goes!

GPFontaine wrote:

Alowishus, Out of curiosity, what kind of machine is it. As specific as you can be with processor, speed, ram, etc... Also, what are you currently running?

My old and new computer?

My old was a Packard Bell, it's specs are:

512mb ram.
Pentium 4 CPU 2.93GHz
Graphics card - i've no clue.
It was running XP media centre edition.

As for fine details i have no clue.

My current computer is a HP.
6GB DDR3 ram,
Nvidia GT230M
Intel Core i5 CPU @ 3.20GHz
Windows 7 - 64bit

Why do you ask?

GPFontaine wrote:

If you were running an i7 with quad core + hyperthreading, I would have suggested that you run 98SE in a virtual environment rather than using another computer. With a Core i5, you have dual core with no hyperthreading, so you would feel a performance hit with the VM running. It might be worth trying, since it will still run faster than the P4 in a VM, especially if you dedicate 1GB of RAM to it. If you want a dedicated server for games, I would run that in Windows 7 if the option arises. Windows 7 has much better network performance than any of the other OS's Microsoft has offered up to this point. I realize that this would cost money, so Ubuntu might be an option... I gave up on playing with Linux a while ago though. Linux is great, but I'd rather let other people waste their time with it as I enjoy the open source software that comes to the Win32 platform as a side benefit.

I understand what you're saying. I don't think i'm computer ignorant and i am capable of more using a computer more than the average individual. However creating virtual environments is not something i would really go into. I would literally just fuck it up.

The reason i am using my old computer is that if it fucks up, who cares lol, i never have to use it. It was most likely going to get scrapped eventually anyway, so i may as well make some use of it.

It's just finishing installing Windows 98 now. I'm gonna put linux over it after, then have a mess about with it.

This is more of an experiment for someone who knows not so much about Linux and creating servers etc.