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Small Debian Howto's
Making a
Debian grub boot floppy and boot cdrom
Ripping to mp3 with KAudioCreator
Introduction
Linux is an open source operating system. For a more detailed overview of what this means visit
Linux Online. Because Linux is the work of many programmers who have given
their time freely to the project the operating system itself may not be sold for more than it costs to package and deliver
it. Some distributors such as Redhat charge for their packages but the buyer is buying support for the system
and not the product. Most of the various "flavours" of Linux can be downloaded free of charge from
Linuxiso.org
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About this server
A server like this one demonstrates the versatility of Linux. I initially ran this server with a 5 year old Pentium 1 class computer and by adding 128MB of RAM and a 15GB hard drive which I had lying around I had a workable server. I have now upgraded the system to AMD based K7 with a Duron 600 and 256MB RAM as I started running a MYSQL server.
The old socket A motherboard has done some 7 years service now and is getting a bit grumpy so have had to replace it with a new 64 bit system. The system is now powered by an Athlon 64 2.7GHz processor and 1GB RAM so should be quite quick, especially as my mysql database is getting quite big. Initial work confirms this, and is very pleasant to work with.
Installing a basic Debian Linux operating system gives it the grunt to serve up basic webpages with no problem at all. This server is connected directly to the ADSL modem/router via an ethernet network card and then acts as an Internet server, firewall and router. A second ethernet network cards feeds 2 other machines on the network. The server is running headless, meaning that it has no screen, mouse or keyboard attached to it. Linux uses a network protocol called ssh or secure shell whereby another machine on the network or on the internet with the correct login name and password is issued with a secure KEY which is kept on that computer allowing control and communication with the server using encryption. Even if someone was able to spy on activity the encryption of communication would prevent them from establishing what was going on. On a network machine the server looks and feels just like the machine that you are working on. This allows one to transfer files to and from the server quickly and easily from anywhere.
For more on how to set up a server using an ADSL connection.......
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I hope you find the information
useful and enjoy the site. If you have any suggestions or
comments or would like to contact me then please e-mail me
Rob Oats
August 2009
